What all these people have in common is that they have made Mr. Berkowitz, 57, the beneficiary of what has amounted to a highly unusual public relations makeover.

A Christian postal worker in Texas runs a Web site on Mr. Berkowitz’s behalf called Arise and Shine that displays a photo of Mr. Berkowitz smiling and wearing a white golf shirt in front of a prison mural of a wooded lake area. The Web site promotes the book version of his prison journals, “Son of Hope” — for which he receives no money — and includes an apology from him, as well as a narrative, in eight languages, about his earlier life and religious experiences behind bars.

Tony Loeffler, a prison minister and a gospel blues guitarist, says that over the last two years he has handed out thousands of copies of a testimonial tract by Mr. Berkowitz at correctional facilities, churches, rescue missions, a large motorcycle rally and performances of his in the United States, as well as in countries like Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago.

And the politically powerful Christian group Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs conducted a radio interview with Mr. Berkowitz in 2003 about his troubled childhood, the shootings and his religious faith. According to Scott Welch, a senior producer, the segment was broadcast over some 2,000 outlets in the United States, in addition to being carried in more than 50 other countries. Mr. Welch has maintained a relationship with Mr. Berkowitz through the mail since the interview.

Infamous criminals have always had a knack for attracting followings — populated by conspiracy theorists, suitors and others. But experts in the field of prison ministry say Mr. Berkowitz’s work, through his own letter-writing ministry and the exposure he has received as a self-proclaimed redeemed serial killer, stands out as unique.

Mr. Berkowitz, a former postal employee, discussed his relationships in a recent prison interview and later in letters.

“These friendships, relationships, are a precious and priceless gift from God,” he said. “Here I am, a convicted felon, a murderer, a man undeserving of anything that is good and wholesome. Yet, there are people who have found it in their heart to love me and have concern for me.

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“Also, these friendships help to connect me with the church, and with society,” Mr. Berkowitz said, adding, “It’s not a one-sided relationship but one of mutual giving.”

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Mr. Berkowitz explained that he writes individuals and organizations about two dozen letters a week on a Swintec electric typewriter — he says he is illiterate on a computer and has no access to one — along with spending time with people who visit him at the maximum-security Sullivan Correctional Facility in upstate New York and talking to those he calls on the phone.

Inside the prison walls, the chaplain allows him to open religious services with a prayer. Most days, he works as a mobility guide, helping disabled inmates get around, and assists mentally ill inmates who may need a hand with daily activities and those who have difficulty reading or writing.

But some of those connected to the Son of Sam case express deep doubt about whether Mr. Berkowitz is truly a born-again Christian or whether he is just using religion to present himself as a changed man.

Joseph Coffey, the police sergeant who took Mr. Berkowitz’s initial confession, said his statements about his religious convictions were as believable as his amended claim that members of a satanic cult to which he belonged were responsible for some of the shootings.

“It’s a total charade to promote himself,” said Mr. Coffey, who retired from the Police Department in 1985. “I have had people who I sent to prison or put in the witness protection program find religion because it suits them by providing them access to the outside world.”

Joseph Borrelli, a homicide captain who was involved in the manhunt, said that when he saw Mr. Berkowitz in a TV interview several years ago, he seemed “different; more sincere and grounded.”

He added, “These people around him may be decent folks, but perhaps some are looking at him to see if they can get some notoriety for being part of his conversion to a good guy.”

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The group of supporters who say that Mr. Berkowitz believes that Jesus Christ is the savior — some of whom know one another — offer similar rationales for working with him.

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RoxAnne Tauriello of New Jersey routinely talks with Mr. Berkowitz, who in 1995 appeared from prison on a Christian TV talk show that she produces and hosts. Ms. Tauriello said that Mr. Berkowitz’s correspondence in the mid-1990s with an evangelist and several pastors in Ghana who were in need of Bibles led her to establish a ministry that has since sent thousands more to that West African country.

She and others also point to the stream of letters that Mr. Berkowitz has received from people around the world, from places like Kharkov, Ukraine, and Leimen, Germany.

In 2007, the chaplain of a state youth development center in Somerville, Tenn., wrote to ask him for help in dealing with students who were veering toward Satanism.

“David, I am asking you to write out for me your warnings as to the study of the satanic bible,” he wrote. “Please be thorough but also concise. I may even forward your warnings to the commissioner of the department.”

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Darrell Scott, whose daughter Rachel was killed in the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, has visited Mr. Berkowitz about four times. The two men struck up a relationship after Mr. Scott learned that Mr. Berkowitz was moved by a book that he and his ex-wife, Beth Nimmo, had written about Rachel.

“We met on one occasion about bullying in schools and the effects it has on kids,” Mr. Scott said. “He said that he wished he could go back and change things he had done because he felt that some of the people he bullied in school still carried the hurt with them.”

Others who have been involved in Mr. Berkowitz’s life have extended themselves in other ways.

Dan Nicholls, a retired public school teacher in New Jersey, says that he and Mr. Berkowitz are “best friends.” Mr. Nicholls has made him columns of address labels with Mr. Berkowitz’s name, inmate number and the prison address so that he need not spend time and typewriter ink putting that information on envelopes.

“Going to see him is one of the joys in life,” Mr. Nicholls said. “The holy spirit dwells in him.”

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Alan Jay Binger, a Rockland County lawyer who is a friend of Mr. Berkowitz’s, says he keeps much of Mr. Berkowitz’s personal memorabilia, like bar mitzvah photos, an old typewriter and letters he has received and written. In one letter, to Gov. George E. Pataki, Mr. Berkowitz said that he did not deserve parole.

And there are certainly those who say they never would have imagined having a relationship with a convicted serial killer.

“It is absolutely the strangest alliance I have developed over my 25-years-plus in criminal justice,” said Andy Kahan, the crime victims assistance director to the mayor of Houston.

As part of Mr. Kahan’s campaign against letting people profit on the sale of items from notorious criminals, he wrote to Mr. Berkowitz in 2000 to alert him that he was being exploited on several Internet sites by the auctioning of letters and other writings bearing his name.

Mr. Kahan asked Mr. Berkowitz if he would provide a statement with his thoughts and perspective on the so-called murderabilia industry. Mr. Berkowitz obliged with a three-page statement, parts of which Mr. Kahan read at hearings held by the Texas Legislature. Over the years, Mr. Berkowitz, who has received solicitations from prospective sellers, has shared his knowledge of the industry with Mr. Kahan.

“You can’t change the past, but you can alter the future,” Mr. Kahan said, “and by working with me on this issue, it certainly shows that he is trying to make amends.”

The postal worker in Texas who runs Mr. Berkowitz’s Web site said in an e-mail message that she first became interested in him a number of years ago after she stumbled across his interview on a radio program from Focus on the Family.

“I was blown away by his story because I had no idea he was now a Christian,” said the woman, who requested anonymity so as not to draw attention to herself. At the time, she was living in Virginia and was involved in a homeless ministry in Washington. “I saw David’s testimony as a way to reach a lot of these people who were straight out of prison and jail,” she said.

The woman wrote to Mr. Berkowitz, and the two eventually became friends, she said. Mr. Berkowitz’s Web site back then, forgivenforlife.com, was experiencing some problems, so she decided to create a new one for him. In August 2006, the new site, which also promotes the sale of DVDs and CDs of Mr. Berkowitz’s testimony, was operating.

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With respect to her working for the Postal Service, the woman said, “You can see that God has a sense of humor, since David also worked for the post office at one time.”