wfn.org | [ENS] Criminal justice requires united effort, Means says (Daybook)

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service
August 22, 2005 -- Monday Mission

Criminal justice requires united effort, Means says

By Val Hymes

[ENS] -- Calling on all dioceses and denominations to help confront the
crises in the criminal justice system, the Rev. Jacqueline A. Means, the
Episcopal Church's criminal justice officer and director of prison
ministry,
has said that "the challenge ... is enormous."

Attending the American Correctional Association's 135th Congress of
Correction and visiting a prison August 6-11 in Baltimore, Maryland,
Means
said she gained a "wider perspective of the enormity of the problems"
that
impact inmates, staff, families and especially children.

"The churches need to hold joint forums on the problems and the good
things
that are happening," said Means, "and pledge to begin a united effort as
the
faith community, regardless of our own agendas."

The conference highlighted problems such as overcrowding, racism,
medical
care, mental health, disabilities, violence, prison rape, gangs and
addictions. They were countered by reports of successfully-reformed
juvenile
systems, community and faith-based partnerships and arguments for
treatment
over punishment.

Means was accompanied to the ACA conference by the Rev. Marjorie H.
Holm,
chaplain at a Virginia prison. They joined a tour of the state-run
Baltimore
City Detention Center, where a federal suit had been filed because of
past
conditions.

They also visited The ReC, a unique Reentry Center for Baltimore's
ex-offenders, which features digital learning laboratories, training,
identification, jobs, housing and child support services. The center,
created by the mayor's office, also offers business incentives to
employers
like tax credits, a bonding program and reimbursement for on-the-job
training.

A meeting with Bishop Robert W. Ihloff of Maryland signaled the
beginning of
planning for a week of camp for inmates' children next summer.

"If one child learns about unconditional love, it will be worth it,"
said
Means. Five dioceses have camp programs and more are planned for 2006.

Means also met with Maryland's secretary of public safety and
corrections,
Mary Ann Saar and her deputy for operations, Dr. Mary L. Livers. They
discussed camps, creating comfortable visiting rooms that would "bolster
family relations"; mental health training; the possibility of inmate-run
hospice care; a hope that churches outside prisons might create day care
centers for the children of prison staffs and RESTART, a new Maryland
corrections reentry program.

"In the face of the destruction brought on by criminal acts," said
Chaplain
Holm, who ministers on Virginia's death row, "God calls the people of
the
Episcopal Church to represent his grace in an ever hurting and vengeful
world. There's an urgency in our ministry to respect the dignity of
every
human being."

[A photograph accompanying this article can be found online at:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_64298_ENG_HTM.htm]

--Val Hymes is editor of Prison Ministry Network News, and a member, St.
James' Parish, Lothian, Md. Email: PrisMinNet@aol.com.
www.prisonministry.ang-md.org.