Hi, this is for an assignment for my pastoral care class. I needed somewhere to drop my video. But you might as well learn something new about the area I’m looking to work in after seminary.
Here are some tidbits:
“penitentiaries earned their name from being designed for inmates doing
penitence (i.e., repenting).”1
“...putting people in jail, giving them long sentences, wins votes
for the government. But building a halfway house and supporting all those girls getting out of jail doesn’t win votes. But it is [actually] cheaper to keep them in that situation [in a halfway house] rather then lock them up...”2
This is a bipartisan issue: both the political right and left have enormous influence on prison reform. For the right, they are concerned with letting the church operate through volunteers and donations which shrinks the government and cuts tax payer costs. On the left, they heavily focus on building community and reducing recidivism. The authors contend that unfortunately, the rates of recidivism are enormous, but the glimmer of hope is in those who keep religiosity practices: they have much better chances to stay out of the prison system.3
Holistic care matters: Faith is only one positive aspect to fight recidivism. Ex: Research shows that inmates who participate in correctional education programs have 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison than those who do not, and that every dollar spent on prison education saves four to five dollars on the costs of re-incarceration. And those who train for a specific marketable skill also lower those rates.4
The privatization of prisons has proved disastrous for the prison population. Rampant price gauging, use of solitary confinement, mistreatment of prisoners and general mismanagement are so prevalent, the dept. of justice is phasing them out.5 If there are 2,000 beds then not having those beds full loses money. Thus, there is little motivation to combat re-entry.
Therefore, the humanization and care for prisoners is not only good for society, but good for hearts and souls. We must remember that Paul was routinely mistreated by governments systems (and the religious!) and Jesus received the death penalty even though he was innocent. Even so, Prisoners are made in the image of God even when they sin. Not caring for prisoners is incongruent with the faith we profess and is unwise on so many levels. With more care and concern, the prison population in the US could dramatically decline!
Denney, Andrew S. “Prison Chaplains: Perceptions of Criminality, Effective Prison Programming Characteristics, and the Role of Religion in the Desistance from Crime.” American Journal of Criminal Justice 43, no. 3 (September 2018): 694–723.
Carey, Lindsay B., and Laura Del Medico. 2014. “Correctional Services and Prison Chaplaincy in Australia: An Exploratory Study.” Journal of Religion and Health 53 (4): 1786–1799.
Hallett, Michael A., and Byron Johnson. 2014. “The Resurgence of Religion in America’s Prisons.” Religions 5, no. 3: 663–683.
https://www.justice.gov/archives/prison-reform
https://www.justice.gov/archives/prison-reform
