Prison Ministry Symposium

 

The Federal Association, in conjunction with the American, Western and Canadian associations, hosted a Prison Ministry Symposium in mid-March in Washington DC. This joint effort is the outgrowth of the Grand Master’s request that the North American associations work together on a signature program, prison ministry. More than 600 Members of the Order are engaged in prison ministry in 31 states. The work includes distributing Bibles, prayer books, prayer cards, and a quarterly newsletter (called “The Serving Brother”), corresponding with inmates and those recently released, mentoring, helping with job placement, visiting the incarcerated, and reaching out to the children and families of those in prison.

 

More than 75 people attended the symposium, including Members of all four associations. The focus of the eight presentations of the day was “Recidivism”.

 

At the outset, the attendees were informed that more people are in prison in the U.S. (2.5 million) than in any other country; Russia is second.  We have 22.4% of the world’s inmates.  Our recidivism rate is also the highest -- about 60%. Our state and federal corrections facilities spend on average more than $20,000 per year to house an inmate and $40 per year on rehabilitation of the inmate. When a commitment is made to rehabilitate, as it is in Norway and New Zealand, the recidivism rate drops to 15% to 20%.

 

One remarkable rehabilitation effort was discussed, known as ”restorative justice”.  One of our candidates is involved in this faith-based approach to crime and harm, which is designed to engage the victim, the survivors, the offender and the community in a dialog to evaluate the impact of the crime. The emphasis is on achieving spiritual, psychological and emotional healing for all parties. Another speaker described the post-release program of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Kolbe House.  Program volunteers write to those in prison and help them after release, working with them on their journey back into society. This effort has resulted in fewer participants returning to prison.

 

Two speakers addressed efforts to reduce the application of mandatory sentencing at both the federal and state level.  These laws are an outgrowth of the “tough on crime” approach begun in the 1970s. As a result, the number of people incarcerated rose 700% from about 300,000 to 2.5 million persons in the period of 1980 to 2000.  Most of this growth involves drug-related crimes, over 50% of which are non-violent.  The combination of mass incarceration of non-violent drug offenders and diminishing public safety returns has led to a staggering increase in costs but without equivalent benefits to taxpayers.

 

Another set of speakers discussed Oxford House, which provides rented houses for former alcohol and drug addicts willing to stay clean.  The residents -- 75% of whom have been incarcerated -- run the homes. There are 1,846 Oxford Houses in the country since the program started 35 years ago.  A DePaul University study of Oxford House showed a very low recidivism rate and a very high abstinence rate.

 

Two videos were shown.  The first dealt with the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola Prison. Angola was the most violent prison in the South until Warden Burl Cain arrived in the late 1990s. The warden began a religious education program, training inmates to become prison missionaries.  Those participants who have been released are not returning to jail.

 

The other video featured Bishop William Curlin, retired from the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C., and a dear friend of the Order.  In urging Members of the Order to consider participating in prison ministry, he observed, “How can we say we are Christians and not reach out to those who are hurting the most, who are on the edge.  Jesus reached out to those no one wanted to be bothered with, the lepers, demoniacs, the woman to be stoned.  Ask yourself, what have I done for the unwanted and unloved?  Look for the ones the world is passing by.”

 

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