3048 Community Ministry with Inmates as Social Action

Presented by Tom Lewis, M.Div.
Sponsored by the UU Community Ministry Center

While Tom Lewis was studying for the UU ministry at Pacific School of Religion, he became curious about jails and who was in them. So as part of his education, he spent eighteen months as a chaplain at the Humboldt County Jail.

Inmates and prisons are not always a popular topic, and Lewis wanted to learn more about some of the 2.1 million people who are in jail or prison. The most enlightening thing Lewis learned is that "these people are just like me. They felt like me, became sad, despondent, depressed." They made terrible choices, he said, yet when he heard their stories, he saw them differently.

Take Billy. Billy was a large guy, and Lewis knew he was prone to violence. One night he came to the spiritual support group, angry, and he was interrupting everyone. Lewis said he took a risk. He told Billy that he needed to go back to the dorm, and try again the next week. Lewis didn't know if he'd ever see him again, but the next week not only did Billy come back, but he shared about his family life. Almost every day for his first fourteen years of life, he had been beaten by his father until, at age fourteen, he hit back, and left with his sister to find a home with his uncle. Now 40, this was one of the first times Billy had talked about his childhood.

Lewis reported that California has the largest prison industrial complex in the western world. One out of every 250 people in California has been arrested or incarcerated, a rate eight times greater than any other country. There are more people in California jails than in the jails of France, Germany and the United Kingdom combined. There are half a million more people incarcerated in California than there are in all of China. No other country, Lewis said, imprisons as many people for the purpose of crime control. California spends $5.6 billion a year on jails, and only $4.3 on higher education. In the 1980s and 1990s, 20 new prison facilities were created, while during that same time frame there was only one state university and one college created. Between 1985 and today, the number of people employed in prisons in California went from 7,500 to more than 38,000. After six years on the job, a correction officer earns more than a tenured professor in the University of California system. US spending on prisons is $35 billion a year, and the human cost is greater.

The war on drugs is a good example. While many say that this is not a war that is either working or is being won, the last 25 years have seen increasing numbers of people arrested for drugs. In 2003 in California, drug-related offenses were first, second, and fourth in ranking, while only two of the top ten were violent crimes, assault with a deadly weapon, sixth, and first-degree burglary, eighth. There are more people in jail for forgery than for murder, and racism is rampant within the system. Although European males and African American males use drugs at the same rate, there are five times as many African American men in jail for drug use. Society has decided that jail is preferable to treatment, costing much not only in dollars spent but in lives wasted.

Lewis, who will be ordained this Fall, said he wasn't even sure about being a minister when he began his studies, so he wanted a field education placement that was for his own education. He was shocked, he said, because many of the men he met could have been his son. He was lucky, Lewis said, in that both his school and the program director at the jail let him create his own unique UU experience for prisoners. Every week he met with ten to fifteen men in a spirituality group where they would gather, sing hymns, listen to readings that prompted them to open up and talk about their lives, and share their stories.

Lewis shared with attendees a video by the nonprofit Prisoner Visitation and Support, an interfaith group that trains people to visit prisoners in a responsible, responsive way that is based on meeting the inmates where they are, not trying to convert them to any particular religious tradition. The inmates and visitors interviewed for the video all spoke of the visiting program as something that gave meaning to their lives. Visiting primarily those with family far away or no one to visit them, PVS volunteers provided value not only to the inmates themselves, but also to the facility by their high standards of professionalism as visitors. Although PVS only operates in federal and military installations, Lewis said that many other local or state facilities also have visitation programs, and sometimes it is easier to have access to juvenile facilities than those for adults.

Lewis believes that there is more that UUs can do in this important field. He is putting together a list of Californians who are interested in networking on this important topic (contact him at tomaslewis@juno.com ), and is looking into the possibility of providing training in conjunction with next year's General Assembly. Two members of a Texas congregation spoke of their congregation's experience. Fully one-third of the members of their congregation are involved with being pen pals, teaching creative writing in prisons, collecting belts and suitcases for released inmates, and other activities. They are also trying to get a meditation group approved.

Other ideas for involvement include reading stories to children in juvenile facilities and aiding parents in recording stories on tape for their children back home. Some have created playcare groups for the small children coming with family members to the jails, while still others help prisoners achieve their GEDs. Phone call reform is another area that needs support. Telephone service for inmates is not regulated, and the costs can easily be as high as $3 a minute with $3 connection fees. Some congregations purchase prepaid calling cards, but not every facility allows such cards to be used. Other people have provided envelopes, stamps, and paper to inmates. Still others find supplying books to be valuable, but noted that many facilities require books to be sent directly from publishers or on-line vendors so it is best to check first. Additional ideas that surfaced were: recovery groups for inmates, tutoring and training in life skills for those being released, and presents for inmates' children at holiday times. One former inmate attending the workshop reiterated how important it is to be able to reach out and touch your family members-facilitating this is one of the biggest things anyone can do to help.

For more information about PVS or a copy of the video, contact: Prisoner Visitation and Support, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, telephone: 215-241-7117.

Reported by Lisa Presley, edited by Joyce Holmen

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