wfn.org | Prisoners grieve for victims of September 11 terrorist attacks

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2001-326

Prisoners grieve for victims of September 11 terrorist attacks

by Val Hymes 

     (ENS) While the world focused on the September 11 destruction of the World 
Trade Center towers and the thousands of victims lost, the effect of those 
horrors on the nation's nearly two million prison inmates was largely forgotten.

     The Rt. Rev. George E. Packard, bishop suffragan to chaplains serving the 
military, healthcare and prisons, said he was concerned after one deacon 
dismissed inmates' reactions by saying, "They have televisions and safety behind 
bars."

     Calling that reaction "a naive and patronizing view of what a human being's 
requirements are in such emergencies," Packard said being able to watch the tube 
occasionally "does not satisfy the essential needs of sharing, connecting and 
reflecting."

     "Are the incarcerated not part of this society?" he asked. "Do they not 
worry about their families but unlike us cannot easily check on them? A national 
emergency is no time to look past persons in confinement as if they are 
invisible." 

Following along from 'inside'

     A short survey showed that many prisoners were deeply affected by the 
tragedies and demonstrated their patriotism.

     One resident of the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola lost his son and 
his son's wife, leaving six children without parents, wrote Michael G. Hackett of 
the Church of the Transfiguration inside Angola. "Television brought all of the 
events right into the whole population, so they were following it along with the 
rest of the world.

     "A number of other residents have close family that have been lost through 
this event," he wrote. Yet in those first few days "a collection was made and 
$15,000 was sent to New York for disaster relief--a staggering amount since the 
normal wage per hour is between 2 and 4 cents."

     Mary Ann Armstrong of Transfiguration said the volunteers and inmates held 
prayer intercessions for families and victims at the first Tuesday October 
service.

     Another Transfiguration volunteer, Texye Charleville, wrote that a 25-year-
old inmate named Jimmy Williams sent her $10 for the Red Cross. 

     "Jimmy is horrified, shocked saddened, just as we are, by the September 11 
attacks," she said. He was 17 when he committed the crime that sent him to death 
row. "He shed tears as I did for our country and the victims," she wrote.

     "The death row inmates," she added, "really believe their only hope is our 
justice system, so when our country was attacked, many could not participate in 
the religious services around the country or donate to charities. They felt a 
sense of helplessness for the victims and hopelessness for themselves. The 
incarcerated are indeed very human and felt the same horror that we felt on 
September 11," Charleville said. 

Inmates 'think about us'

     Inmates at a Maryland medium security prison, however, say the warden did 
not permit them to collect and send money or to donate blood. 

     A pre-release counselor at a "boot camp" in southern Mississippi wrote that 
the young, male first offenders "are not allowed TV, radios, newspapers or 
reading materials other than the Bible." She said the chaplain and some of the 
drill instructors and teachers informed the inmates, but that she is not allowed 
to discuss those matters formally and could be fired for bringing in a newspaper. 
She said if asked, she provided verbal or information from the Internet.

     "Although many people prefer not to think about the million-plus people in 
our prisons," wrote Connie White of the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program, 
St. Francis Academy, Inc. in Salinas, California, "the inmates certainly think 
about us."

Patriotic citizens

     An inmate population of fewer than 2,000 women at the California Institution 
for Women in Corona "recently collected and sent $6,000 to the victims of the WTC 
disaster," she wrote. "Along with the money, they sent hand-painted murals 
saying, 'United We Stand' signed by hundreds of inmates...dolls, teddy bears and 
blankets, all handmade by the women."

     The jobs they hold in prison typically pay 25 cents to 45 cents an hour.

     "This is not a one-time thing for these women," White added. "On a continual 
basis they raise money for causes such as cancer and AIDS...they volunteer in 
programs to sew hats for children who have lost their hair from chemotherapy and 
make blankets and layettes for indigent babies.

     "These women feel they are patriotic citizens. I hope we return the 
sentiment," White said.

'Only God can accomplish this!'

     A devotion for Prisoner to Prisoner written by inmate Bill Hamann at the 
Marion (Ohio) Correctional Institution said he wished that people who believe 
prisoners are "anti-social anarchists" could have been in prison with him 
September 11.

     "In a prison environment that is incessantly chaotic, we watched our 
(television) sets in stunned silence. In our harsh world of stone and iron, where 
'convicts don't cry,' I saw tears stream down men's cheeks. In a perverted 
society where prisoners and staff are often at war, I watched a warden console an 
inmate, and a deputy offer a hand of compassion.

     "In a place where many think God is dead, I saw his nurturing presence in a 
single hand-clasped prayer circle of Jews, Muslims, and Christians wearing their 
communal prison shirts," Hamann added. 

     "In the midst of the chaos, confusion and heartache we saw on television, I 
realized that we are very much a part of our society and of God's earthly 
creation. Even as prisoners we are God's children and when his people are in 
trouble we suffer and cry and pray with them.

     "Only God can accomplish this!"

      Praising the Ground Zero and crisis intervention support he and his teams 
of chaplains have received, Packard said, "But I don't want the prison population 
out of the loop." 

     As for prisoners having a "secure place to ride out the crisis," the bishop, 
who served in Viet Nam and at the Pentagon, said, "That turns incarceration on 
its ear. There's nothing cozy about any of the confinement facilities I've 
visited."

--Val Hymes is coordinator of the Prison Ministry Task Force, Diocese of Maryland. 
She lives and writes in Edgewater, Maryland, and is a member of St. James' Parish in 
Lothian.