Dismas Clark
American priest
Charles Dismas Clark (1901–1963) was an American Jesuit priest based in St. Louis. In 1959, he created the first halfway house to support men coming out of prison: Dismas House. Clark knew that if a man coming out of prison could be given a decent place to live and a job, he rarely returned to prison. However, if a man did not receive such support he had a very high chance of committing another crime and returning to prison. For his work with ex-convicts, Clark earned the moniker "The Hoodlum Priest." In 1960, actor Don Murray came to St. Louis to film the movie The Hoodlum Priest on Father Clark's effort to create Dismas House.
Life
Father Clark was born Charles Clark in 1901 in Pennsylvania. His family moved to Illinois. In 1919 he entered the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus) at St.
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