And when it's time to start a new season, it's all business, from the naming of the coaches -- selected out of the prison population -- to the draft held to determine team rosters.

"They are very proud of their team," Grantham said. "They have a very solid ball team and we love their competitive spirit."

Yet as important as the competition is, for the inmates, these programs can be much more.

"I grew up playing sports," inmate Gilbert Hernandez, 38, said. "Baseball, basketball. I had scholarship offers. I just took a different path. Playing sports in here reminds me of what I left behind outside. It keeps me busy and helps me to keep my mind focused on why I'm here and where I want to go."

Hernandez, a tall, thoughtful inmate who described his family back home in Philadelphia as his "backbone," has been at MCFP since 1999 after being found guilty of conspiracy and, like Blevins, is set to be released next month.

The recreation program is like a lifeline to the outside world, reminding the men that they are more than just another sick body or work assignment inmate locked behind these brick walls and razor wire. For the few hours they are on the field, the walls seem to disappear. It's a reminder that despite everything, they are still human.

"It's like a little bit of time away from this place," Blevins said. "We appreciate it. We really do."

In the inside

This is not your normal prison. In fact, it is much more of what the name says: a medical center.

Of the 1,092 inmates currently housed at MCFP, only a select number here are healthy, both mentally and physically. They are at the facility on work assignment.

The others have either mental or physical health issues that require them to be here.

And while this is only a minimum-security facility for most inmates -- MCFP handles a range of prisoners from minimum to maximum-security assignment because of its primary use as a medical facility -- it still is a federal penitentiary and not a county jail.

These education and recreation programs that offer inmates a chance at rehabilitation, however, play such an important role in the prison dynamic that MCFP tries to provide as many opportunities and facilities -- albeit sometimes rudimentary -- for the inmates to take advantage of as possible.

The yard, which is surrounded on all four sides by early 1900s red brick buildings, features handball -- a game much like racquetball without the racquets -- courts, a volleyball pit, bocce ball, a cramped basketball court and a soccer and softball field that run together because of the tight space.

"It's a little different playing in there," Grantham said. "If you hit it into the tree (in the outfield) or into the right field wall it's only a double (because of cramped space). But if you hit it straight away or into left it can count as a home run."

"Our recreation programs are extremely popular. Some of our inmates are too old to participate in the games themselves," Mike Robbins, supervisor of education, said while pointing out two older inmates watching pitching practice on the softball diamond during a tour of the yard. "But you can bet that come game time they have some of the best seats in the house."

The prison staff recognizes the importance of these programs so readily, in fact, that according to Robbins, they will even bring activities to inmates who are too ill to get out to the yard.

The outside connection

The excitement generated from games between prison teams, though, pales in comparison to those between the prison's varsity squad and teams from outside the prison that come in to play.

Imagine hundreds of inmates crowding the prison yard, making bets amongst themselves, cheering as the home team steps up to bat against Central Assembly of God and watching a tape-measure home run break a window on a far building in center field.

"That's probably the best thing we have going out here," said Blevins, who plays on the varsity softball and basketball teams. "Everybody here looks forward to it. It's a break from the routine day for everybody.

"The outside teams ... are great people, and I think they enjoy it almost as much as we do. Where else can a team from the outside come in and have 300 or 400 fans out cheering, booing ... a little of both? It's great. It really makes our time go by."

The prison's recreation staff chooses the varsity squads at open tryouts. They try to select the best players while also considering variables such as behavior and respect for other inmates and staff.

"They are surprisingly good," said Jay Playter, a Missouri State graduate now living in Kansas City who played soccer at the prison. "They want to have fun but they take it seriously. The games we played there were always really close."

But more than making time go by, these games offer the inmates a rare opportunity to interact with the outside world.

"A lot changes while you are in here, so it's one of the only opportunities we have to hear about what is going on out there," said Hernandez, also a member of the softball and basketball teams.

For outsiders, the visits to the prison can be a daunting experience.

"It's always a little intimidating going in," Playter said. "You go through three outer fences with razor wire going to the top ... but once you get in there it's great and you don't really feel threatened. The inmates talk to us and joke around. They are just trying to have a good time."

Serving their time

Ryan Blevins and Gilbert Hernandez weren't always convicts.

"I grew up in Kansas City," Blevins said. "I came from a good family. I played baseball and basketball all my life. I had a lot of opportunities. I just made some stupid choices."

In less than a month, Blevins and Hernandez will have the opportunity to start fresh after serving their full sentences.

"It comes down to one thing," Hernandez said. "Either you learn from your time in here or you don't.

"You just have to learn to be disciplined and dedicated. Just like in sports, I'll give it my all with everything I do and that is going to be the case when I get out of here."

Both credited the education and recreation programs that serve as management tools for the prison staff as key in their ability to assimilate back into society upon their release.

"I think these programs help them to have a different attitude towards society," Grantham said. "It shows them that we haven't just forgotten about them. By taking our time to go in and play, it shows them that we remember them and that we care."