2008 Criminal Justice/Prison Reform: SOC Mini-Assembly Part 1

Prepared for UUA.org by: by Annette Marquis, Reporter; Jone Johnson Lewis, Editor

Sponsor: Commission on Social Witness
Speakers: Robert Sarly, Rev. Jan Carlsson-Bull

Under the process for Statements of Conscience (SOC), which was adopted by the 2003 GA, any amendments to an SOC must be presented in a mini-assembly. About 35 people braved the early morning hour on Friday to attend the Criminal Justice/Prison Reform: SOC Mini Assembly. Richard Nugent from the Commission on Social Witness (CSW) explained that the CSW will review amendments proposed at the mini-assembly and make decisions about whether to incorporate them into the SOC. Unincorporated amendments can also be introduced in plenary, if an individual chooses to do so. Jan Carlson-Bull , from the CSW, described the process for the mini-assembly and Robert Sarly , another CSW member, read the full text of the SOC.

Participants were then invited to express their opinions about the contents of the SOC to get a sense of the energy in the room and the level of interest in specific parts of the statement.

Eric Erickson from Falmouth , MA , referred to Line 422 and what he termed as "the most important three words in the entire SOC," the "opportunities for volunteers." He encouraged the participants to investigate Toastmasters in their local area and talk with them about their highly successful programs for prisoners.

Several people spoke to the need to focus on alternatives to incarceration, and especially the need to develop adequate public and mental health programs. A criminal defense lawyer talked about the current trend to fix societal problems by creating a new statute and adding harsh penalties. He said that we need to encourage our legislators to look at alternatives and not just create new laws.

Participants were also reminded that the need for prison reform is not an abstract concept. Our congregations have members in prison. We need to offer UUs in prison the help and support they need while they are incarcerated and especially when they return to the community.

A social worker raised her concern about the appalling sentencing practices that sentence children as adults. These children are placed in adult populations with no services. They are often abused and mistreated. She was troubled by fact that the SOC contained very little mention of children and felt it needed to include a much stronger statement about juveniles.

Other special populations that need attention in our prison system, according to two participants, were older prisoners and queer prisoners.

One attorney in the room told about her calling to work for indigent clients and how she quickly learned that "indigent criminal defenders cannot earn a living wage." This problem needs to be addressed if people without financial resources will ever get adequate counsel. She also talked about the problem with laws that sentence people to lengthy prison terms for possession of relatively small amounts of drugs, especially crack cocaine as compared with powdered cocaine.

Noelle Davis , an ACLU attorney, encouraged participants to build coalitions on both sides of the aisle. "The religious right might work with you on this issue. Don't discount them."

After approximately 45 minutes of comments, Nugent reminded people about the workshop at 8:30 on Monday morning, Implementing the Newly Selected UUA Statement of Conscience (5015) , in which they will discuss implementing the SOC if it is passed on Saturday. He then suggested that the people in the room divide into four small groups to discuss possible amendments to the SOC for the remainder of the session. These groups were:

• The Current Crisis – Lines 354-389
• New Corrections Philosophy – Lines 390-410
• Congregation Actions – Lines 411-454
• The Introduction – Lines 340-353 and the Addendum

Only the first three groups received support from the participants, so Nugent encouraged each group to look at the introduction and also to pull any material from the addendum they wanted to see incorporated. The groups were then directed to spend the remainder of the session discussing and crafting amendments. These were to be presented for discussion in Session 2033, which is Part 2 of the mini-assembly at 9:45 am .

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