SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
SYMPOSIUM ON PRISON MINISTRY
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
OCTOBER 16-17, 2009
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A Message from the Chairman of Prison Ministry for the American Association:
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
A symposium on Prison Ministry being practiced by the American Association of the Order of Malta
was held at the Renaissance Hotel at Newark Airport on Saturday, October 17, 2009. The enclosed is
a report of this symposium.
I would like to thank our presenters but, more importantly, I thank them for what they do for our
incarcerated brothers and sisters, people largely forgotten in our society.
The activities reported on are but a small part of the Prison Ministry program being carried out in 21
of our 27 areas of the American Association. May God continue to bless all who are involved in this
most important apostolate.
Robert J. Fredericks, K.M.Ob.
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Papers Presented at the Symposium
Page 4
Problems of Re-entry: Finding a Place to Live and a Job by William F. Benedict, K.M.
Page 12
Bringing Our Criminal Justice System Out of the Dark Ages by Fred P. Crowe, K.M.
Page 14
Setting Things Right: Making Justice Our Aim (Malta Restorative Justice Apostolates)
by Deacon John M. Powers, K.M.
Page 22
Malta Prison Volunteers of Connecticut by John S. Santa, K.M.
Page 25
Pen Pal Ministry in St. Louis by Thomas F. Schlafly, K.M.
Page 28
Working With Children of the Incarcerated by Joseph W. Sokolowski, Jr., M.D., K.M.
Page 30
Three Phases of Prison Ministry by Andrew J. Vissicchio, Jr., K.M.
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The Problems of Re-entry: Finding a Place to Live and a Job
William F. Benedict, K.M.
I would like to begin my presentation today by providing an overview of the New Jersey Order of
Malta Prison Ministry, Inc (NJOMPMI).
My involvement in Prison Ministry began some 30 years ago, as a Trustee for our parish. I received
a telephone call from the pastor informing me that a long-time parishioner had been arrested and was
being held in the county jail. The pastor asked if I would accompany him to the jail and talk with this
person whom I knew through parish activities. I stated that I would be willing to help, but I had
never been to a jail before. “What can we talk about?” I asked. The pastor said, “Don’t worry Bill; he
will do all the talking!” Unfortunately, this man had little family support following his arrest, which
is a sad, but frequent occurrence. I visited this man a number of times, until he was moved to a
Federal prison, distant from our area. I will never forget the call that I received from the pastor some
years later, concerning a young man that was well-liked by everyone in the parish. This man, in his
20’s, a college graduate with a master’s degree in music, was an accomplished musician who came to
our home, twice a week to give our sons guitar lessons. I visited this man many times while he was
in prison. He was sentenced to 8 ½ years for attempted murder. Since his release from prison, he has
turned his life around. Over the years, a few other parishioners were jailed for a variety of reasons,
and I visited with them and family members, where possible. I never gave too much thought about
visiting with a person in jail, as a ministry, to me it was an opportunity to share God’s goodwill, and
be of help in any way possible.
In January 2004, at the Investiture Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, NY, His Eminence
Edward Cardinal Egan spoke about the great need for people to get involved in Prison Ministry. We
gave this message some serious thought. All vocations are a calling from God. We were willing to
consider God’s call in a way that we hoped would be personally and spiritually fulfilling.
We are reminded of the words of William Arthur Ward, the great inspirational writer, “If you can
imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.”
Our dream began, following our investiture as a Knight and a Dame of the Order of Malta. My wife,
Theresa, and I started “Books for Prisoners,” a Prison Ministry in New Jersey, to distribute bibles and
prayer books to inmates at the federal and state prisons and county jails.
Prison Ministry was spearheaded in 2005, by organizing the New Jersey Order of Malta Prison
Ministry, Inc (NJOMPMI) with Officers, a Board of Trustees and an Advisory Board. Our Board
includes a Magistral Chaplain, a Conventual Chaplain, and a Deputy Chaplain of the Order of Malta,
with over fifty years of prison chaplaincy experience, 20 Knights, Dames and Auxiliary members and
19 Associates (namely: priests, nuns, and lay persons). The NJOMPMI initiated the Order of Malta
“New American Translation” Bible Program, and the Order of Malta Prayer Books in either English
or Spanish, for New Jersey and the American Association of the Order of Malta.
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With grants from the Order of Malta, thousands of bibles and prayer books have been distributed to
inmates in New Jersey prisons, by trained chaplains, which is only a small part of our work. The
Order of Malta, American Association has designated Prison Ministry a national project. Our
structure has served has a template for rolling out Prison Ministry in 21 areas of the American
Association plus Louisiana and New Mexico. In 2009, the NJOMPMI received the approval of the
Internal Revenue Service, to operate as a 501(c) 3 exempt organization. Our future plans include
raising funds through government grants, foundations and fund raisers, and other sources.
Our Malta mission is to serve the sick and the poor, and to defend the faith. It would be hard to
imagine a place in New Jersey where we could find a greater concentration of sick and poor people in
need of spiritual support than exists in the prison system.
Spiritual help is essential so that inmates and parolees have some religious feeling that spurs a sense
of compassion and caring for others. Filling the spiritual void can help inmates/parolees deal with the
five known predictors of recidivism: anti-social values, anti-social peers, poor self control, family
dysfunction, and absence of accepting responsibility for past crimes. Spiritual influences can take the
edge off attitudes hardened by years of crime and prison life.
Following the successful introduction of the bible and prayer book program, the NJOMPMI began to
investigate additional aspects of Prison Ministry. Our new interests centered on mentoring, job skills,
creating an employer database, job placement and related social services. We surveyed the following
Faith Based and Community Organizations (FBCO) across the country to evaluate their ministries.
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DISMAS Ministry, Milwaukee, WI
Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Wilmington, DE
Chaplaincy Network Program, State of NJ Department of Corrections, Trenton, NJ
Offender Aid & Restoration (OAR), Newark, NJ
Straight & Narrow, Paterson, NJ
Catholic Charities, Paterson and Newark, NJ
House of Mary, Jersey City, NJ
Eva’s Village, Paterson, NJ
Coming Home
Ex-offenders often find adjustment to the community overwhelming upon their release from prison.
We recommend a “game plan” in order to get organized and keep on track towards achieving goals.
First - think about goals and what has to get done in your first week out. Where do you want to be in
six months? There are lots of things that other people need you to do – your parole officer, for
example, and your family – but you also need to think about what you can expect of yourself. In
order to get a job, apply for public benefits (such as general assistance, food stamps or Medicaid),
other programs, job training, applying for an apartment, you will need as many identification
documents in hand as possible. While many people lose these documents when they are incarcerated,
the good news is that they can begin to collect them pre-release by mail or through a counselor.
Prepare an I.D. checklist of important documents that you “Have/Need,” such as: a Social Security
Card; Birth Certificate (NJ Bureau of Vital Statistics); Driver’s License (pending any period of
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suspension/payment of outstanding fines); Certificate of Naturalization; Green Card; Military
Discharge Papers; Passport; High School Diploma/GED Certificate; Prison Release Papers. Other
things that need to be done (get prescriptions, attend a support group, etc.). In addition to personal
information, most companies ask questions about background and experience. If you don’t have a
resume - prepare a list of information to utilize when filling out a job application, or for an interview
with pertinent dates (education, work experience and references).
The first days after getting out can be the toughest. Where do I go to find food, shelter, clothing,
money, and other emergency needs? Some pointers for the first days out: Be Prepared: Put all
paperwork in one place, a folder or an envelope and have it with you, so that you can answer
questions; Keep Records: Write down the full names and phone numbers of people that you have
talked to, and when you spoke to them. Keep copies of any money orders or receipts for expenses
that you have paid for, and for any letters that you’ve received from government agencies, the courts,
or organizations that are helping you. Be Patient: Try to be patient and polite! When looking for
housing, food or other basic assistance, start with a “first stop agency”, which can provide referrals to
shelters and food pantries.
Federal law prohibits public housing authorities from admitting people convicted of
methamphetamine production, and those who are subject to lifetime sex offender registration.
Generally the housing authority will find applicants ineligible for a period of three years (after
completion of the sentence, probation, parole, or payment of fines, whichever comes last). A person
may be added to another family member’s lease by submitting to a background check and a credit
check.
Finding a job is usually one of the most important things people need to do when they get out of
prison. You need money coming in to support yourself and help your family and you want to get on
with your life and do something productive. Not everyone can get to work right away – sometimes,
things like getting drug treatment, dealing with housing, health or family situations may come first.
For most people, though, finding work is the first step to getting back on your feet. It will be very
challenging to get a job once you have been in prison, but it is not impossible, and you need to be
persistent and patient.
Things to Know Before You Start a Job Search - have all documents in order – I.D., school
diplomas and training certificates; list of references. Presentation Matters: Look as neat, clean and
organized as possible, no matter what the job is. Be polite and respectful. Criminal Record: If you
are asked about your criminal record, you should not lie. If you do, and you are later found out,
you’ll probably be fired for lying. Many employers perform criminal background checks. Before
you apply for a job, think about what you will say when you are asked about your criminal
background: you can be upfront, but still stress what your strengths are, what you have to offer, what
you have learned from your experience. Practice with a friend. What is important is to be honest,
answer the interview or application questions that are asked. If asked about a felony conviction
during the past seven years, you don’t have to volunteer information about any misdemeanors, arrests
that did not lead to convictions, or convictions of more than seven years ago. If you have to work
around appointments with parole, keep in mind that this will have to be worked out with the
employer, which means telling him/her that you are on parole, even if you weren’t asked. If you have
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been out of the job market for awhile, or have never had a job, you need to build a work history, and,
of course you need to earn some money. Take whatever job you can get for now – it’s not for the rest
of your life. Do this job well – even if it is not a great job – and it can help you get a better job in the
future. A year of good job performance will make your criminal record matter less. Legal
Restrictions on Employment: Criminal convictions on a person’s record can exclude them from
certain job categories such as: (aircraft/airport; paid public school employees; banks; school bus
drivers; liquor sales, etc), discuss with counselor. Benefits for Employers Who Hire ExOffenders: Work Opportunity Tax Credit; Federal Bonding Program. Communities benefit when
qualified people have the right to earn a living. Instead of paying thousands of dollars each year to
house an inmate in prison, it is more cost effective to help individuals earn a living and contribute to
the tax base. Partnerships with Employers are Critical to Make Re-entry a Success! Studies
have shown a direct correlation between employment and recidivism. Getting ex-offenders into fulltime employment quickly upon release is good for employers, ex-offenders, their families, and the
community.
The Problems of Re-entry---Finding a Place to Live and a Job
Each year, more than 700,000 former inmates from state and federal prisons return to communities
throughout the U.S. A far greater number reenter communities from local jails, and for many
offenders, this may occur multiple times in a year. According to the Bureau of Justice statistics, over
50% of those released from incarceration will be in some form of legal trouble within 3 years. Many
of these men and women are returning to resource-poor neighborhoods, and the only positive place
available they have to turn to in many cases is to a local and trusted faith-based or community
organization. As more and more prisoners are released into America’s communities, it is
increasingly vital to connect them with sustainable employment and caring mentors to keep them
from relapsing into a life of criminal activity. Oftentimes, Faith-Based and Community
Organizations (FBCO) are uniquely well-positioned to provide quality transitional services to men
and women returning from prison.
Local FBCO re-entry programs can provide ex-prisoners with the compassion and services they need
in order to thrive in the communities that they are returning to. Placing ex-prisoners in steady
employment that matches their abilities and needs is an important effort that helps ensure the safety
of the streets and the successful integration into communities. Recidivism is a vicious cycle of crime,
prison, more crime, re-imprisonment, and so on. According to criminal justice experts, an attachment
to the labor force through stable employment, in concert with family and community connections, is a
key element in helping ex-prisoners break this cycle.
Oftentimes, former inmates face numerous barriers to successful employment, including: (1)
employers often are hesitant to hire ex-prisoners for various reasons; (2) ex-prisoners often lack skills
to properly market themselves to potential employers; and (3) ex-prisoners frequently lack the needed
social supports that allow them to enter and remain in the workplace. These and other obstacles to reentry, such as substance abuse and housing, create a demand for structured re-entry programs.
Employers in need of qualified workers are more likely to hire ex-prisoners who are supervised by a
re-entry program than those who are not. A well-structured and highly-regarded program can make a
big difference in the lives of ex-prisoners in your community.
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We narrowed our search of appropriate Faith-Based and Community Organizations in our area by
inviting their leadership to participate at our board meetings. As a result of these meetings, an
agreement was made to commence working with Eva’s Village, Catholic Charities and House of
Mary.
Who is Eva’s Village and exactly what do they do, you might ask? When I explain Eva’s story
you will see why the NJOMPMI dovetails nicely together with Eva’s Village.
“Eva’s Village – Where Hope Begins…”
Eva’s mission is to feed the hungry, shelter the
homeless, provide medical care to the sick, and rehabilitate the addicted, respecting the individual
rights and dignity of each person.
Eva’s Village was founded in 1982 by Msgr.Vincent E. Puma, as a simple kitchen to provide meals
to the homeless and hungry in the inner city of Paterson, New Jersey and adjacent areas of Passaic
County. Eva’s is a tax exempt, non-profit organization, with its own Board of Directors, independent
of state and church control. Their program provides medical care, sheltering, and rehabilitation from
substance abuse to men and women, as well as hundreds of meals a day, 365 days a year – all without
charge to clients.
Through more than 26 years of service, Eva’s Village has established a unique record in facing
community challenges and empowering the hungry, homeless and addicted. During that time, Eva’s
mission has expanded dramatically to meet the needs of those they serve. From the 30 hungry people
who showed up when they first opened their doors in the basement of a small convent to the largest
comprehensive poverty program in New Jersey.
My wife, Theresa, and I are proud to say that Msgr. Vincent E. Puma, Founder of Eva’s, has been a
friend of ours for many years, and was very helpful when we began our Prison Ministry.
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Eva’s Kitchen, with seating capacity for 240 people, serves a hot lunch 365 days a year. It is
a safe and welcoming place closed off from the busy streets of Paterson.
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Eva’s Central Intake began as a vehicle to assess, counsel, and refer clients to the substance
abuse programs for men and women. It has evolved into an active community outreach program that
offers extensive case management for the poor. A person just released from prison/jail may need to
contact a family member, a battered woman may need a safe house for herself and her children, a
person may need to undergo detox, or want to enter one of Eva’s Recovery Programs for drug or
alcohol abuse. Others may need medical care, vouchers for food or clothing, shelter or permanent
housing.
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Eva’s Emergency Overnight Shelter for Women provides emergency shelter beds for
chronically homeless single women 18 years of age or older, who are mobile and able to take care of
themselves. In addition to daily shelter, food, and clothing, the program links the women with
resources in the community to aid them in moving from homelessness to self-sufficiency. Many of
these women are ex-offenders.
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Eva’s Emergency Overnight Shelter for Men provides similar services as stated above. The
homeless men in this program often suffer from mental illness, addiction to drugs and alcohol, lack of
education, lack of money, and lack of resources.
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Eva’s Shelter for Women and Children provides a safe and comfortable home for the
mothers and children who have been left homeless due to fires, domestic violence, a job loss,
sickness, poverty, prison, and drug and alcohol abuse.
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Eva’s Recovery Programs are residential treatment programs for both men and women
comprised of three phases that last approximately one year:
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Phase I – Orientation: During the first two months, clients participate in intensive education
classes, group and individual counseling, attendance at AA/NA meetings, the Job Readiness
Program, performing on-premise maintenance responsibilities, and restricted living.
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Phase II – From the third to the ninth month in residence, clients continue education,
counseling, and group meetings. They have earned more privileges, and must be employed. Twentyfive percent of their net pay, after child support and any penalties are collected as rent, and clients are
also required to establish a savings account.
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Phase III – Transitional Housing: Clients have by this time achieved certain milestones –
such as unsubsidized employment and completion of treatment plan goals and objectives – that can
make them more capable of living in an independent environment while continuing with group and
individual counseling. They are preparing for discharge, strengthening career options, searching for
permanent housing, and intensifying life skills. Transitional housing allows clients the opportunity to
prepare for the responsibilities of permanent housing by strengthening their independent living skills,
building cash reserves for the expense of security deposits, rent advances, utilities and transportation,
and by maintaining their obligations to pay child support, restitution, and/or court fines.
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Eva’s Intensive Outpatient Program - offers counseling, group therapy, education, and
aftercare based on the American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria, and a full range of
psychosocial services.
All of Eva’s growth has been a natural progression in what has historically made the Village unique.
It is the ability to wrap arms around the clients in comprehensive continuum care. Each of the
programs is vital to the mission of feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, treating the addicted,
and providing medical care for the poor. The overriding goal is to help each person find physical,
emotional, and spiritual healing in a warm and nurturing atmosphere. Eva’s Village offers dignity,
hope, and the path to self-respect, self-sufficiency, and independence. Eva’s has grown into the most
respected anti-poverty program in New Jersey with its proven record of accomplishments.
A Future of Hope: New Vision, New Projects - the Board of Directors and the Administration of
Eva’s Village determined that certain key areas should be expanded further.
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2009 - The New Jersey Order of Malta Prison Ministry, Inc. (NJOMPMI), members are working
with Eva’s Village with an emphasis on employment-focused programs that incorporate mentoring,
job training, interview skills, job placement and other transitional services.
Designed to be a collaborative endeavor between the NJOMPMI and Eva’s Village the mentoring
network program will help to make a successful transition for ex-offenders to society. When one
person mentors, two lives are changed! Areas of challenge include:
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The recruiting, screening and training of persons who are willing to serve as mentors
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Number of active mentors at any one time
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Confidentiality issues
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Commitment to allocating a certain amount of time each week, month, number of hours
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Identifying, screening, and preparing clients who have demonstrated a change in their lives and
a commitment to maintaining that change as productive crime-free citizens
· Carefully matching clients with persons who have been approved and trained to serve as mentors;
monitoring mentor/mentee matches
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Developing and utilizing a reporting mechanism that will provide a means of measuring the
success of the Program.
Recently, we met with a small group of men who are participants in the substance abuse program at
Eva’s Village. Ex-offender comments ranged from “Eva’s has given me a second chance to improve
my life, and I am extremely grateful to all of the people here;” “They have taught me how to use a
PC and prepare my own resume;” “I would be dead by now, if it wasn’t for Eva’s – I can’t tell you in
words, what this program means to me;” “I want to do better, I have a family at home that needs me
and I need them.” These are very powerful statements and more reason for being involved in this
ministry.
Other Faith Based Community Organizations:
Catholic Charities, Paterson and Newark, NJ: Catholic Charities offered to transport clients to job
interviews, and to and from places of employment. Transportation is a key issue to job placement,
especially when places of employment are far from public transportation.
Beth Miriam, Jersey City, NJ: is a home for (6 to 8 women) in transition from prison/jail to
society. In response to the high rate of recidivism, aftercare is an effective tool in the reintegration
process. Aftercare assists ex-offenders with the often difficult post release period of incarceration.
We have been working with Fr. John Corbett, founder, to provide him with furniture and related
accessories for this home.
Ex-offenders can find help assimilating back into society through a network of existing social
services now being woven together by Diocesan Prison Ministry, Catholic Charities, Eva’s Village,
the NJOMPMI and other agencies.
This work will require everything from you; so if you aren’t willing to give yourself completely to it,
don’t even consider doing it. Many FBCO are committed to countering recidivism with effective
planning. In order to achieve a successful re-entry program in your area, collaboration with a reliable
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and trustworthy FBCO that offers counseling and supervision is essential! Do your homework! Just
getting started requires a lot of leg-work and networking. You must be committed to succeed!
Join the American Catholic Correctional Chaplains Association (ACCCA), the official Catholic voice
in corrections, and a source for Prison Ministry information in the USA.
Email:
info@catholiccorrectionalchaplains.org
Two weeks ago, my wife and I were deeply honored and grateful to receive the 2009 Caritas Award
for Convening from Catholic Charities, Diocese of Paterson, NJ. This award recognizes our work in
Prison Ministry throughout the state, and our efforts to call others to work in support of this ministry.
Each year Catholic Charities, awards up to three Caritas Awards, one each for Convening, Advocacy
and Service. Talk about networking! I spoke with the recipient of the Caritas Service Award, the NJ
State Deputy of the Knights of Columbus, about our mentoring network program and Prison
Ministry. Further discussions with the NJ state officers of the Knights of Columbus will take place in
February 2010.
Employers of pre-screened ex-offenders:
ARAMARK
Best Buy
Chevron
Comfort Inn
Fairfield Inn
Harley-Davidson
Holiday Inn
J.C. Penney
Lord & Taylor
Manpower
Morgan Stanley
Office Depot
Proctor & Gamble
Restaurant Depot
Target
Value City
Walgreens
Bank of America
Boston Market
Chilies
CVS Pharmacy
Fedex
Head Start
Home Depot
Jiffy Lube
Lowes
Marriott
NBC
Olive Garden
Quality Inn
Sears
U-Haul
Verizon
Whole Foods
Bed, Bath & Beyond
Catholic Charities
Comcast
Econo Lodge
Habitat for Humanity
Hilton Hotel
IKEA
K Mart
Macys
Merrill Lynch
NEC
PETCO
Red Lobster
Staples
UPS
Wal-Mart
Wyndham Hotel
Sources: Bur. of Justice; Strive; Eva’s Village; DISMAS; NJ DOC; NJOMPMI.
When we are asked, why we have undertaken such a monumental task, we say, “In our early
years, we were learning, then we were earning, and now we are returning.”
New Jersey Order of Malta Prison Ministry, Inc.
PO Box 2369
Wayne, NJ 07470
E-mail: NJOMPMI@optonline.net
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Bringing Our Criminal Justice System Out of the Dark Ages
Fred P. Crowe, K.M.
I have been involved with the Prison Ministry for 12 years, primarily visiting a maximum security
prison whose inmates have committed serious crimes. I have found it to be an enriching experience
from several standpoints, especially, the interaction with inmates which gave me a better
understanding of them and the realization that they are still “children of God” despite their past
crimes. Considering the deplorable family situations many of inmates grew up in with little parental
guidance and abusive care, it is no wonder they got off to bad start. The most enriching experience is
to see the rehabilitation of some of the inmates who have realized the errors of their past and now
seek to change their lives.
The distressing part of the Prison Ministry is the realization that the criminal justice system in our
country needs a major overhauling from the sentencing, inmate treatment, rehabilitation absence, and
prisoner support after release. As you have read, our country incarcerates 5 times more people than
any other western country. The present prison population exceeds two million and has doubled in
the last twelve years. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, states that
this incarceration rate indicates we are either the most evil country in the world or our criminal justice
system is all screwed up. He believes it to be the latter and wants to set up a national commission to
overhaul the system..
The initial sentences which have doubled in the last thirty years are too long. Moreover, states have
created many new categories of crime, especially related to drugs.
This together with the
incarceration rate has resulted in prisons being overcrowded and in need of more facilities to where
the cost has become a major factor in state budget considerations. The escalation in the prison
population is also the result of a “get tough on crime policy” started twenty-five years ago which has
done little to reduce crime or control the drug problem. Despite our long sentences and incarceration
rate, our crime rate is no better than other western countries.
The drug problem is thought to account for a major portion of the incarcerations. Several states
including California which is drowning in debt are reviewing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. Some suggest we entertain a national discussion on the advisability of some
form of legalized drugs believing we have lost the war on drugs to the mobsters we are unable to
control.
The basic premise for incarceration is to provide rehabilitation to the offender. A review of which
would at best indicate mixed grades with certain prisons treating inmates as so much cattle. We also
have the super-max prisons where prisoners are isolated in their cells 23 hours a day with little or no
personal communication. Psychiatrists have indicated that such treatment leads to a mental
breakdown or worse outcomes. The super-max prison is a development of the last 20 years
ostensibly to take care of the “worst of the worst.” Even the “worst of the worst” are entitled to
humane treatment.
The recidivism rate exceeding 50% nationally evidences the lack of effective rehabilitation programs
and also lack of support programs upon a prisoner’s release. The mere $75 plus a bus ticket doesn’t
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work when he finds employers are reluctant to hire him and landlords reluctant to give him housing.
Saddled with these obstacles, the only option to survive is to revert to criminal behavior. Ipso facto,
crime wins. Society loses; Florida’s Prison Ministry program addresses this problem of identifying
employers willing to employ offenders. Indiana is in the process of developing such a program.
Sentencing, inmate treatment, lack of rehabilitation and inadequate after- release programs are in dire
need of massive revision. Presently, there appears to be a great opportunity to bring our criminal
justice system out of the dark ages with the advent of distressed state finances looking to reduce
expenses and the national commission sought by Senator Jim Webb. The Order of Malta could be a
major force in seeing this come about. Our support through the 23 Prison Ministry chapters and
membership contacts with Washington could be a key influence in reinventing our criminal justice
system. Let’s join together with Senator Jim Webb in his effort to reform. Let’s get the wheels
moving through our Prison Ministry chapters and contacts with Washington. The problem is too
great to wait much longer.
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Setting Things Right: Making Justice Our Aim (Malta Restorative Justice Apostolates)
Deacon John M. Powers, KM
Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a
stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and
you visited me…Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did
for me.
(Matthew 25: 34-36, 40)
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly
entertained angels. Be mindful of prisoners, as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated
as of yourselves, for you are also in the body.
(Hebrews 13: 1-3)
I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice. I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you,
and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring
out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
(Isaiah 42: 6-7)
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring
glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to
the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication from our God, to
comfort all who mourn.
(Isaiah 61: 1-2)
For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of His own nature He made him.
(Wisdom 2: 23)
Enforcing our nation’s laws, while simultaneously purging these laws of various harmful
consequences, must remain a fundamental goal of the successful human enterprise the United States
aspires to be. On one level, as Alexis de Tocqueville remarked in Democracy in America, “A nation
that demands of its government only the maintenance of order is already a slave at the bottom of its
heart.” On another level, however, providing all the residents of our nation with basic opportunities
to prosper under a balanced and equitable system of laws – with a genuine chance to pursue their
social, economic, and moral well-being – represents a superior guarantor of our collective security as
a unified body of individuals.
Unfortunately, the American criminal justice system over the past several decades has in many
instances devolved into an unmistakably disinterested and vindictive dead-end that sometimes
ignores the needs of the victims of crimes and their families, while often arbitrarily punishing
criminals, their families, and ultimately all of us. Recent U.S. Department of Justice surveys show
that our nation’s rate of incarceration escalated catastrophically during the last forty years. The
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overall prison population now stands well in excess of two million, having increased two-fold in the
past fifteen years alone. Among the factors influencing this inordinate growth:
1)
Sentences imposed on offenders have more than doubled since 1970, while
Probation opportunities have grown much more restrictive.
2)
64% of inmates have reported mental illness issues.
3)
Due to the pervasive absence of meaningful rehabilitation programs for
prisoners upon their release, national recidivism figures have surged past 50%.
4)
Statutes have created new categories of crime with draconian penalties,
especially related to the illegal use of drugs.
Most perplexing of all, these days the United States imprisons a vastly higher percentage of its
residents than any other developed or semi-developed country in the world. Our nation indeed
incarcerates its residents at a rate five times higher than the countries of Western Europe and twelve
times higher than Japan.
When one translates these shocking statistics to reflect upon the incalculable harm inflicted on the
victims of crime and their families or on the families of those who have been placed behind bars, the
gravity of this poisonous situation is readily apparent.
The American criminal justice system more often than not negates the inherent human dignity and
ignores the potential human worth of victims, prisoners, ex-offenders, and their families without
offering them any viable scope for reconciliation and rectification. They frequently encounter
enormous obstacles in ever again deeming themselves esteemed participants within their
communities. Human beings, no matter who they may be or what they may have done, should never
be made to feel expendable or beyond the pale.
Victims and perpetrators of crime, and certainly their families, urgently need to discern their inherent
privilege and obligation to live and thrive as people created in the image of God (cf. Genesis 1: 2730). If the rest of us give them no rudimentary respect or assistance, they will find it awfully difficult
to establish a sustainable right relationship between themselves and those around them in their
community. Gaudier et Spes(12) accordingly states: “For by his innermost nature man is a social
being and, unless he relates himself to others, he can neither live nor develop his potential.”
In the case of men and women who end up contravening civil or natural laws, the elementary ideas of
personal integrity and consideration for the welfare of others may perhaps be unknown quantities to
them. A properly developed sense of God and self-awareness, so necessary to “any full development
of human society (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2441)” may be entirely foreign notions for a
crime’s victim and perpetrator alike.
For this very reason, Catholic social teaching has begun to espouse restorative justice initiatives by
observing, judging, and acting upon the disturbing implications posed by contemporary trends in
crime and punishment, and our nation’s inadequate response to these trends; not merely to palliate the
ills ensuing from the prevalence of criminality and recidivism, but additionally to heal them.
Restorative justice endeavors to restore the victims of crime and their families and likewise the
perpetrators of crime and their families – the whole community – to a tolerable level of functioning
that might or might not have existed prior to the commission of a crime.
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Americans today euphemistically refer to prisons as correctional facilities or penitentiaries or
reformatories. Such nomenclature seems ironic and misleading. Incarcerated men, women, and
youth certainly conclude their stay in prison sorry for the bad experience, but few do so feeling
personally culpable. If they have undergone neither rehabilitation nor conversion, how can they have
any objective conception of the damage done to themselves or to others, or of the role they were
always meant to play in promoting the common good of respect for the human person, social
equilibrium, or peace? In many cases their incarceration has not definitively altered their criminal
tendencies, nor has it properly equipped these people for lasting re-absorption into the general
population. At best, their punishment has been retributive but hardly emendatory.
The result is that alarming rate of recidivism we presently face, much to the peril of our fellow
citizens as future victims. No less lamentable, the families of criminals must continue to suffer too;
and their children, missing a cohesive domestic environment, are in turn liable someday to follow
their parents to chronic confinement behind bars. It is this disillusioning cycle that restorative justice
seeks to break, in order that the common good be oriented to the progress of everyone, “founded on
truth, built up in justice, and animated by charity (CCC1912).”
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church concisely examines these problems:
Punishment does not merely serve the purpose of defending the public order and guaranteeing the
safety of persons; it becomes as well an instrument for the correction of the offender, a correction that
takes on the moral value of expiation when the guilty party voluntarily accepts his punishment (CCC
226). There is a two-fold purpose here. On the one hand, encouraging the reinsertion of the
condemned person into society; on the other hand, fostering a justice capable of restoring harmony in
social relationships disrupted by the criminal act committed….Unfortunately, the conditions under
which prisoners serve their time do not always foster respect for their dignity; and often prisons
become places where new crimes are committed. Nonetheless, the environment of penal institutions
offers a privileged forum for bearing witness once more to Christian concern for social issues: “I
was…in prison, and you visited me.” (CSDC 403) This particular Catholic social teaching aptly
defines the ideal purpose of criminal justice, a paradigm not supported by the previously mentioned
recidivism statistics. When prisons simply put criminals away for protracted periods without any
serious regard for their reclamation, prisons serve as an insidious breeding ground for crimes not yet
committed.
Pope John Paul II’s masterful encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, eloquently alluded to the implicit flaw in
modern criminal justice:
The problem must be viewed in the context of a system evermore in line
with human dignity and thus, in the end, with God’s plan for man and
society. The primary purpose of the punishment which society inflicts is
“to redress the disorder caused by the offense (CCC 2266).” Public
authority must redress the violation of personal and social rights by
imposing on the offender an adequate punishment for the crime, as a
condition for the offender to regain his or her freedom. In this way
authority also fulfills the purpose of defending public safety, while at the
same time offering the offender an incentive and help to change his or her
behavior and be rehabilitated.
(EV 56)
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Although John Paul II specifically advanced this argument to criticize the death penalty, his
comments are entirely apposite to an unfavorable analysis of contemporary American crime and
punishment in general. What he suggests “(is) more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the
common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person (CCC 2267).” To think
otherwise denies respect for the sanctity of all human life.
The late Holy Father amplified these reflections several years later in his message for the Jubilee in
Prisons:
We are still a long way from the time when our consciences can be certain
of having done everything possible to prevent crime and to control it
effectively, so that it no longer does harm and, at the same time, to offer to
those who commit crimes a way of redeeming themselves and making a positive
return to society. If all those in some way involved in the problem tried to…
develop this line of thought, perhaps humanity as a whole could take a great
step forward in creating a more serene and peaceful society. (9 July 2000)
What John Paul II inferred is this: while crime and the fear of crime obviously harm and fragment
society, increased and harshly retributive incarceration will not necessarily furnish us with the
requisite safeguards we deserve as a human right; whereas true justice tempered with mercy,
forgiveness, treatment, and rehabilitation can accomplish a positive outcome. In other words, we are
compelled always to uphold a consistent ethic of life consonant with the inalienable worth and
dignity of each of God’s children, “good” or “bad” notwithstanding.
Later on in the Jubilee Year, our nation’s bishops published their own restorative justice statements
about the anthropological dimensions of criminality, the possibilities for its prevention, and the
repercussions of the ways we do and do not maintain public order. The Catholic Bishops in the State
of New York produced the insightful Restoring All to the Fullness of Life, while the United States
Catholic Conference of Bishops thoroughly covered this multi-dimensional conundrum in
Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration. Both statements offered traditional Catholic social
teaching perspectives in their perceptive appraisals of how America fails to deal constructively with
crime and punishment.
The USCCB document reminds its readers that the interrelated principles of subsidiarity and
solidarity lie at the core of the dilemma, insofar as they correctly recognize that the rights and duties
of human dignity are best fostered by the smaller social units most proximate to it within the greater
national context. Subsidiarity entails solving the root causes of crime at the family and local levels.
Solidarity in turn directs us to feel a joint responsibility for those around us so as to promote a just
milieu beyond our personal boundaries. All of this presupposes that any community of individuals
must concern itself with solving the difficulties of its constituents.
Subsidiarity and solidarity enjoin us to insist upon our brothers’ and sisters’ direct responsibility that,
should a crime occur, the offender would receive not only a penalty commensurate to the crime’s true
gravity but furthermore get a suitable opportunity to make reparation and achieve rehabilitation; the
desired outcome being that the victim of the crime, its perpetrator, their loved ones, and the entire
community can eventually regain a degree of normalcy presumably existent prior to the commission
of and atonement for that crime. At the same time, if the community in which the crime occurred
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was already dysfunctional and thereby engendered the crime, then the root causes for the
community’s dissipation ought to be aggressively diagnosed for lasting resolution.
One really has no need to spell out yet again the manifold sources of modern criminality. The
American media daily remind us in minute detail how poverty, poor education, unemployment and
underemployment, mental illness, substance abuse, racism, materialism, relativism, or numerous
other societal imperfections lead our neighbors to break the law repeatedly. One must instead ponder
how better to accompany our neighbors along the difficult pilgrimage of their lives and
sympathetically share with them their vulnerabilities, their struggles, their strengths, and their joys.
Applying the tenets of Catholic social teaching, and especially our essential option for the poor and
the vulnerable, the USCCB’s Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration gets to the heart of the
matter:
The challenge of curbing crime and reshaping the criminal justice system is
not just a matter of public policy but is also a test of Catholic commitment.
In the face of so much violence and crime, our faith calls our church to
responsibility and action. A wide variety of Catholic communities has
responded with impressive programs of service and advocacy…yet more
is needed.
Nevertheless, few Catholics in contemporary America bother to think seriously about crime and
punishment, while most are reluctant to do so.
Crime victims, perpetrators, inmates, ex-offenders, and their families may today be one of the closest
analogues to the lepers of Jesus’ time. Most Catholics regrettably have preferred to overlook these
“forgotten” people. Their existence strikes a lot of us as something inconvenient and distasteful; far
better to keep them out of sight and out of mind. Their unmistakable presence among us, on the
contrary, cries out for our immediate attention.
The Order of Malta, as a gathering together of concerned Catholics with diverse viewpoints, talents,
and experience, has for many years offered a synergistic response to “a request for companionship,
sympathy, and support in the time of trial…[the] plea for help to keep on hoping when all human
hope fails (EV 67).” Just as Christ always did, the Order is determined to seek out socially ostracized
men, women, and children to afford them a fair chance for remediation and survival. In like manner,
we are now called to evaluate and confront the origins of those criminal justice problems
contradicting God’s eternal plan for humanity.
How could the Order of Malta become further involved in curbing crime and reshaping the criminal
justice process? How might committed Knights and Dames formulate new and creative programs of
action? Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration furnishes an extensive list of different issues
to consider as the Order of Malta weighs its options:
1)
Basic methodologies for differentiating actual causes, optimal prevention, and
proper adjudication of crimes arising from violence, theft, and abuse.
2)
Serious commitments to confront the aforementioned sources of modern
criminality, and how society fails to respond to them.
3)
Promotion of a consistent culture of life and the dignity of the human person.
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4)
5)
Outreach to victims of crime to help them heal and deal.
Outreach to perpetrators of crime, both prisoners and ex-offenders to help
them heal and deal.
6)
Outreach to the families of victims and perpetrators to help them heal and deal.
7)
Encouragement of restorative justice programs providing mediation between
victims, perpetrators, and their families, while offering appropriate restitution
for crimes committed.
8)
Rejection of rigid, mandatory sentencing procedures.
9)
Rejection of cruel and unreasonable prison conditions.
10) Insistence that just punishment have a constructive and rehabilitative purpose; and
that incarceration is not merely another word for “warehousing.”
11) Insistence that viable alternatives to incarceration do exist, especially for nonviolent crimes.
12) Insistence that prisoners and ex-offenders beset by psychological or addiction
problems and/or lacking intellectual and vocational skills deserve to receive
intensive treatment and training.
13) Equitable and humane treatment of immigrants in detention or threatened with
deportation due to past criminal activity.
14) Education of the entire Order in better understanding Catholic social
teaching; the virtues of mercy and forgiveness; and how restorative
justice can empower the community to regain its sense of security and
equilibrium.
15) Continued examination of fresh approaches to crime and punishment, as
they are developed, tried, proved, and improved.
This lengthy (and by no means complete) catalog of restorative justice priorities might initially seem
somewhat overwhelming to our already busy Knights and Dames.
Over seven years ago, Edward Cardinal Egan very kindly wrote to me stating his belief that a Malta
prison apostolate was an excellent idea; but he warned me as follows:
Permit me, however, to express this caution – without in any way working to
lessen your enthusiasm – such work should not be expected of the majority
of our members inasmuch as it is demanding, involves many hours and
requires a temperament that all members do not have when it comes to
dealing with prisoners and the prison system.
I must admit that at the time I did not yet fully appreciate the wisdom of the Cardinal’s words: a long
learning curve lay ahead of me. To tell you the truth, I had little idea of where to begin; so I contacted
the Director of Criminal Justice Ministries at the Catholic Charities offices of the Archdiocese of
New York to get his perspective. He patiently explained that I was naïve to think I could simply
decide to start a prison apostolate in my Area’s correctional facilities: there were many formidable
regulations and other obstacles to impede my progress, and it would be almost a full-time job. Did I
really know what I was up against? How I could make myself useful, he suggested, was to volunteer
at a place named Abraham House in the Bronx.
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Founded as a residential alternative to prison in the 1990s for first-time offenders, Abraham House
had recently evolved into a holistic program involving both offenders and their families, predicated
on the theory that the social and economic pressures afflicting disenfranchised families almost always
lie at the heart of criminal behavior.
Abraham House offers the incarcerated and their loved ones a refuge of hope where troubled lives
can be rebuilt and broken families mended; where men, women, and children deeply marked by
crime receive the spiritual, social, and practical tool necessary to become productive citizens through
the original alternative to incarceration program, a family and pastoral center, an after-school
program, and a community outreach program. Its overarching goal is to break the cycles of poverty
and crime which run through generation after generation of families that have been affected by
incarceration.
Abraham House asked me to volunteer in their fledgling After School Program, and it is there that I
have served on a weekly basis since then. This has been an enlightening as well as life-affirming
experience for me, and I have grown with the program. The children and young relatives of
offenders attend our daily sessions year-round. The focus is on such essentials as reading, writing,
and mathematics, complemented by the arts, athletics, and other worthwhile pursuits. We help them
complete their homework; we activate their minds; and, more to the point, we get them to envision
the future promise in their lives.
Frustration, fear, anger, shame, and a sense of futility often poison family relationships in these kids’
homes. Abraham House never loses sight of the fact that half of the children of prisoners in America
today eventually commit a crime by the age of eighteen and wind up behind bars themselves. As a
result, we seek to motivate our kids within a secure, harmonious, disciplined, and creative
environment in which they can overcome the tremendous odds they face and discover their potential.
We generally succeed in keeping these young people reasonably well enough on track to realize the
dreams any normal child should have, by means of academic achievement, intellectual stimulation,
and an ample dose of respect for their innate human dignity.
Recently, Abraham House suggested that I also participate in their new Catholic Bible Study Program
at Riker’s Island, metropolitan New York’s notorious detention facility. I shall now do my best as a
deacon to be an effective herald of the Gospel’s values to our incarcerated brothers and sisters there.
I am extremely pleased to note that the American Association of the Order of Malta has given
Abraham House its solid support. This past year we made an initial, generous grant for its programs;
while that eminently gifted musician, Celina Charlier, currently in preparation to become a Dame,
offered a truly wonderful course to teach our children how to play the recorder. I optimistically look
forward to further collaboration between Abraham House and our beloved Order.
In conclusion, I would remind all of you that we have never known the Order of Malta to shrink from
the sometimes extreme demands of charitable service to our neighbors, the poor and the sick. We
have only to think of the selfless effort we make, each in our own way, during our spring pilgrimages
to Lourdes; and many of our Knights and Dames live every day of their lives as though they were still
at Lourdes. While outreach to prison inmates, ex-offenders, and of course their families does indeed
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present daunting challenges (“such work should not be expected of the majority of our members” –
Cardinal Egan), at least some of us have already found that we can make a meaningful difference.
Above all, whatever we end up doing to promote restorative justice and however we end up doing it,
we must recall Blessed Teresa’s sage advice: “We can do no great things; only small things with
great love.” A blend of small things most certainly will enable the Order of Malta to pursue its quest
to develop an admirable network of restorative justice apostolates. Let us continue to do our parts to
ensure success. Let us continue to be the kind of Christian apostles who give the mercy of God to
prisoners, ex-offenders, and their families; and then give them back to God.
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Malta Prison Volunteers of Connecticut
John S. Santa, K.M.
We would begin today with expressing our most sincere thanks to the Order of Malta in general and
Bob Fredericks in particular. Without the support, aid and encouragement of so many of our fellow
members of the Order or without Bob’s decisive yet gentle leadership, we would never be where we
are today: with all of these accomplishments and a conference like this in which to share them. It has
been said that not only CAN a small group accomplish great things in the world but it is actually
ONLY with a small group that great things can be accomplished. Our Malta national prison ministry
activities are proof positive of that. It is both and honor and a pleasure to be able to enjoy with you all
this unique opportunity to live the Gospel message today.
Like John Powers and so many more of you here today, our journey into prison ministry began with a
friend and loved one who went to prison. Our story is perhaps a bit unique in that when our friend
and long time family company attorney went to prison, we were also his victim. The oft-told sad
story of an attorney who turns trust funds to personal use is what sent Stan away. He had no untoward
habits that caused him to do that but it really doesn’t matter - he took money that was not his and paid
a huge price for that transgression. When he sent a letter of apology to each of my three brothers and
me, it became for me what the academics call a “teachable moment”. I have said the Our Father as
often as any of us, but was I really ready to “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us”? An excellent question!
So there was our first test and lesson in prison ministry. Did I really believe in redemption of our
sins? Was it possible to believe that good people could do bad things and yet not turn into bad
people? Fortunately for me, years of faith and study in our Catholic faith kicked in and the answer to
both those queries was a resounding “YES”. The grace of God enabled me to well recall how, before
he broke the law, Stan had very generously helped my beloved and only sister who was then (and still
is!) in recovery as an alcoholic to regain custody of her children. And typical of Stan, he refused a fee
for all that effort, knowing my sister’s delicate financial condition. That was only one example of
many good and generous things that he had done over many years. He too was a good Catholic and a
product of strong Catholic education. And so the light bulb lit and after more than five decades of
reciting the Our Father, it really came to life – in prison, of all places! (We note with some
considerable joy that Stan is now a Board member at Malta Prison Volunteers of Connecticut and is
also a Malta Auxiliary.)
As fate would have it, I was in formation for the Order when I first began to visit Stan in the Fall of
1996. It was also most fortunate that people were so good and thorough in my preparation to become
a member. For that reason, I came to understand our essential mission of serving our Lords, the sick
and the poor. When visiting Stan and seeing and talking to his fellow inmates, it was immediately
apparent that here, right before our eyes, was a large accumulation of our Brothers and Sisters in
Christ who were both sick with all manner of compulsive and addictive behavior issues and generally
poor as well. Simultaneously, I also noted that members of our Order were in leadership positions not
only in their church but also in their communities and professional associations. It already had the
portent of a very rich resource/need opportunity.
22
As time went on and we became more active in pursuit of this important social service mission, we
began to see certain substantial obstacles to engaging our fellow members of the Order in this
mission. First of all, we note that members were already so busy. That was in the nature of being in
the social service leadership position that made us Knights and Dames to begin with. Secondly, we
noted a natural reluctance on the part of people who have never been to prison to considering going
in to visit and minster to the inmates – television shock-shows have done a great job of reinforcing
that thinking! Finally, there is a tendency to put prisons far from population centers which again
makes it geographically difficult to do the visiting that might be considered the more normal way to
do prison ministering. Hence the thinking emerged to formulate and start the Prodigal Project.
Simply stated, Prodigal Project is a program in which Order of Malta members can utilize their
connections and positions as community leaders to convince others of the wisdom of opening up job
opportunities for qualified ex-offenders. For a more complete description of what could be expected
on a Prodigal Project Advocate, we encourage you to visit our website at www.mpvct.org or look
into the packets that we have distributed to you today. We would also note that when we use the term
“qualified ex-offenders” we are referring to those individuals who:
Have self-selected into programs to help their re-entry while they are still incarcerated.
Have aligned themselves with a qualified, proven and capable social service agency that can
support and assist them before during and after their release and re-entry into society.
We would further note that we have built this program with all of you in mind. This can be used in
any state, in any community and with any sized group of members of the Order. We stand ready,
willing and able to help any and all of you move forward on this mission.
Realistically speaking, we must all remember that with Prodigal Project or any of the other
wonderful programs that you have begun, we are really on a prophetic mission. And we use that term
NOT in the sense that we are seeking to be individuals revered by some distant past generation. We
mean it in the more elemental Biblical sense: we are prophets delivering a message that the world
does not want to hear: a counter-cultural message – just as Christ did. That is what prophets have
done and still do today. Deliver a message that the world needs to hear for the sake of not only our
incarcerated brothers and sisters but actually for the sake of our own faith as well. Matthew 25:31 is
clear: “what you do for the least of our brothers, you do for me.” These are our least brothers and this
is our opportunity to bring that directive/opportunity of Matthew’s Gospel to life. It is as though we
are treading the path of the great prophet, Jonah, entering the enormous city of Nineveh, unsure of
how in the world he would convert them to repentance. That is completely analogous to our coming
to this enormous situation of incarceration in America with the hope that we can prevail just as Jonah
did so long ago. With God’s help; with support of the Order; with sharing and encouragement such as
we all are receiving today and just as Jonah did at Nineveh – we will prevail!
With the outstanding support of the Media Center at Fairfield University, we have produced a video
to help in the advancement of the Prodigal Project. The one that we will show you today has a special
introduction which helps to frame the reason why this program is particularly suited to the Order of
Malta. The more elemental purpose of the piece is to illustrate how vital and crucially important
employment is to successful re-entry of an ex-offender. Employers, Corrections officials, social
service agency professionals and, of course, ex-offenders themselves have all been assembled to tell
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this story in a most eloquent and persuasive way. We hope that you enjoy it. We welcome your
comments and suggestions on its improvement and use.
24
Pen Pal Ministry in St. Louis
Thomas F. Schlafly
The Archdiocese of St. Louis consists of ten counties in eastern Missouri, plus the City of St. Louis.
With a population that is a mix of urban, suburban and rural, it looks a lot like the rest of America.
Throughout its history St. Louis has been where East meets West and North meets South. As a
microcosm of the nation, St. Louis was divided during the Civil War. The Gateway Arch on the
banks of the Mississippi marks the point at which westward expansion symbolically began. The
population center of the United States is in Missouri; and Missourians have voted for the winner in
every presidential election since 1904 with only two exceptions. When Pope John Paul II visited St.
Louis in January of 1999, he was coming to Middle America.
With the eyes of the world on St. Louis, much of what transpired was typical of papal visits anywhere
in the world. The liturgies, motorcades, security and media frenzy were what one would expect.
What was completely unexpected, however, was something that happened at the end of an
ecumenical prayer service in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, which happens to be my parish
church. At the end of the service, the Pope walked down from the high altar towards the center aisle.
He then detoured towards a pew in the front row where Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan was sitting.
He paused to speak to the governor and then continued towards the back of the church. From my
vantage point five rows back, I had no idea what the Holy Father had said, nor did anyone else.
It was later reported that Pope John Paul had made a plea for the life of Darrell Mease, who was
awaiting execution by lethal injection at the Missouri state prison in Potosi. To the astonishment of
many (and dismay of some), Governor Carnahan, a Baptist from outstate Missouri, granted the
request and commuted Mease’s death sentence.
Over a decade later, I am involved in a pen pal ministry with inmates in this same prison in Potosi.
While the impact of this ministry is certainly not as dramatic as what was accomplished by the papal
plea and does not directly involve a matter of life or death, it is nevertheless very fulfilling for
everyone involved. It’s also extremely effective, especially in light of the level of commitment
required, which is not terribly demanding.
To get some sense of the effectiveness of this particular ministry, one need only consider that for
some inmates, letters from pen pals are the only mail they ever receive. Many of them have been
completely disowned by their families. Week after week, month after month, year after year their
names are never announced at mail call. One can imagine the sense of alienation this rejection would
produce in an individual who was already somewhat troubled.
It is precisely these inmates who have the highest priority for participation in the pen pal program run
by the Criminal Justice Ministry of the St. Louis Archdiocese. Those who have the least hope of
corresponding with anyone else in the outside world are deemed to have the highest need of doing so.
Because the prison in Potosi is a maximum security facility, 52 of whose inmates are on death row,
it’s not surprising that many of those housed there would have lost contact with the outside world. I
am currently corresponding with two of them.
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Eric’s case is particularly poignant. I know from the website maintained by the Department of
Corrections that he was convicted of some pretty heinous crimes. He was a gang member involved in
the drug trade and is serving several life sentences for homicides. It’s not surprising that members of
his family are ashamed and want nothing to do with him. The one family member to whom he had
been relatively close before going into prison was his grandmother.
After we had been writing to each other for a few months he told me that someone had sent him the
program from his grandmother’s funeral. He was sorry that he hadn’t been able to attend, but hadn’t
realistically expected to be able to do so. What really hurt him, however, was that he was not listed
in the program as one of the surviving family members. He added that I was the only person in
whom he could confide how much this omission pained him. In Eric’s words, if he showed
vulnerability or weakness in front of the other inmates, “those dudes would eat me alive.”
If I had ever entertained any doubts about the efficacy of a pen pal ministry, that particular letter
would have erased them. At the same time, it’s important to add that the inmates aren’t the only ones
who benefit from the program. As with any ministry, those of us involved in it will agree that we get
as much out of it as those whom we’re seeking to serve. I genuinely look forward to receiving letters
from my pen pals and will open them first when the mail is delivered.
Another important aspect of a pen pal ministry is the ease of engaging in it, as compared with other
forms of Prison Ministry. In Missouri, as in most states, it’s not easy to visit prisons, which tend to
be located in rural communities far away from the metropolitan areas where many potential
volunteers live. The distances involved can make visiting the prisons extremely inconvenient. There’s
also the issue of time. Many programs in prisons (such as tutoring, conducting prayer services etc.)
require going to the prison on a regular schedule. A lot of people have professional or family
responsibilities that prevent them from making the commitment to come to the jail or prison when
allowed by the institutional schedule. Finally, there are some potential volunteers to whom I’ve
spoken who say they simply don’t like the idea of going into correctional facilities.
Whatever reasons people might have for not visiting prisons, most would not apply to being part of a
pen pal ministry. All that’s required are 15 minutes and a 44 cent stamp. Period. Volunteers can
write letters when it’s convenient for them to do so; and they can do so from wherever they happen to
be. People with summer homes in northern Michigan or winter homes in Florida can participate fully
in the ministry as long as they have access to a mailbox. People with qualms about going into prisons
can be part of the ministry without leaving the comfort of their homes or offices.
This is not to say that there aren’t hazards associated with a pen pal ministry. Prisoners can be
manipulative and can sometimes seek to take advantage of kindness on the part of their pen pals.
Some of them have committed some very serious crimes and are capable of doing so again. And
some are in communication with some very unsavory people on the outside.
For all of these reasons, the Criminal Justice Ministry of the St. Louis Archdiocese makes it possible
for people to serve as pen pals anonymously. I correspond with inmates using an assumed name. I
26
use the address of the Criminal Justice Ministry as my return address; and this is where inmates write
to me.
In order to participate in the pen pal program inmates are required to agree in writing to certain
guidelines. These include not seeking romantic attachment, not requesting financial assistance and
not seeking to continue the relationship after being released from prison. Because I am a lawyer, I
have included an additional condition in correspondence with my pen pals: no free legal advice.
Prisoners have a lot of time on their hands and sometimes spend much of it coming up with ingenious
theories for lawsuits and appeals. I have had to emphasize more than once that my reason for
participating in the pen pal program is not to provide legal counsel, especially on matters far removed
from my area of competence.
When the American Association of the Order of Malta made Prison Ministry a national priority and I
was asked to start a program in St. Louis, I didn’t know where to begin. Fortunately, I discovered the
Archdiocesan Criminal Justice Ministry, which offers multiple programs for current and former
offenders, their families and victims. These address everything from housing, employment,
education and socialization skills to crying spiritual needs. Members of the Order in St. Louis were
able to piggyback our efforts on what was already an exemplary ministry. Not having to re-invent the
wheel was a tremendous advantage.
In that regard, I can’t say from personal experience how to initiate a pen pal program from scratch.
The best advice I can give for someone seeking to do so is to speak to Sister Rose Rita Huelsmann,
the coordinator of volunteers for the Criminal Justice Ministry in St. Louis. Her telephone number is
314-881-6019. The mailing address of the ministry, which is operated by the Society of St. Vincent
de Paul, is 100 North Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, MO 63103. Sister Rose’s e-mail address is
roseh@svdpstl.org.
I should add that some prison administrators aren’t receptive to pen pal programs. I would encourage
anyone who wants to participate in this ministry, but is encountering insurmountable bureaucratic
obstacles in his or her own community, to get in touch with Sister Rose. We in St. Louis are not
seeking to poach volunteers from elsewhere, but we are happy to accept them if the doors are shut
elsewhere. There are hundreds of inmates at Potosi and the other prisons in the St. Louis Archdiocese
who would benefit spiritually and emotionally by corresponding with a pen pal, wherever he or she
may live.
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Working With the Children of the Incarcerated
Joseph W. Sokolowski Jr. M.D., K.M.
The geographic focus of our ministry is the city of Camden, New Jersey situated across the Delaware
River from Philadelphia.
In the past, Camden was a thriving metropolis with New York
Shipbuilding Corporation, RCA Victor and Campbell Soup providing substantial employment and
resources for the community. Today Camden is a city of despair, poverty and crime fueled by the
illicit drug industry. The current population is at 79,000 documented residents and possibly an
additional 10,000 undocumented residents. It is reported that 20% of the residents (2008 Census
data) do not have health insurance and 44 % live below the federal poverty level. New Jersey is
reportedly the wealthiest state in the nation, but Camden is the poorest in New Jersey and the nation.
Since 2002 the State has controlled Camden City government as well as its police department and
school system. In 2003 the Morgan-Quitno report described Camden as “the most dangerous city in
the U.S” Since then it has ranged between #1 to #5 despite the State Police, the Camden County
Sheriff’s Department, the Camden City Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Marshall’s Service and the
Federal Drug Enforcement Agency supplementing the activities of the under-staffed Camden City
Police Department. In 2008 the “Safe Surrender Program”of the U.S. Federal Marshall’s Service
registered 2500 felons with outstanding warrants in a three day program, which was second in
number only to Detroit.
Data confirms that the children of the incarcerated, concentrated in Afro-Americans and loweducation parents, are at risk for incarceration, depression, physical aggression, and homelessness,
poor school performance with truancy, financial instability, and drug/ alcohol addiction. It is
variously reported without statistical evidence that 10-70% of the children of the incarcerated will
become imprisoned themselves. The opportunity exists in Camden where crime, poverty and limited
access to healthcare are endemic, to provide an opportunity for its children to choose lifestyles that
are at variance with those selected by their parents. It is stated that mentoring programs for these
children will reduce the potential risks to 50% or less.
The Order of Malta in conjunction with other social agencies in Camden has developed a
collaborative program, Project C.O.P.E. (Children Obtaining a Positive Environment) whose goal is
to empower the youth of Camden with one or more parents incarcerated to make positive life choices
to maximize their potential. This is a hybrid program since it is in part a Faith-Based Initiative as
represented by the Order of Malta.
Mentors are trained jointly by a program provided by the Center for Family Services of Camden and
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties (N.J.). Mentors provide an
on-going one-to-one relationship with a young boy or girl, ages four to eighteen, serving as a positive
influence while participating in mutual activities and building self-esteem and motivation in the youth
to achieve academic and career goals. The mentor makes a one year commitment to spend a
minimum of four contact hours per month. The obligation includes an initial training session and
subsequent group events, mentor support groups and program recognition ceremonies.
The
mentoring program includes establishment of goals, building trust, recognition of cultural diversity,
reliance on staff for support and recognition of accomplishments. Prior to assignment to a youth, the
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mentor has a background check and provides appropriate character references.
mentors have been trained and 72 assigned to children.
Currently 100
Joseph W. Sokolowski Jr. M.D. KM
Msgr. Michael Mannion STL
Kelly Jernegan BSW
Judyann Gillespie MSW,LSW
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Three Phases of Prison Ministry
Andrew J. Vissicchio, Jr. K.M.
Good morning, Chairman Bob, distinguished guests and all the Knights and Dames involved in the
Malta Prison Ministry. Let me begin by reading a section of the Compendium Of The Social Doctrine
Of The Church, Item 403:
“Punishment does not serve merely the purpose of defending the public order and guaranteeing the
safety of persons; it becomes as well an instrument for the correction of the offender, a correction that
also takes on the moral value of expiation when the guilty party voluntarily accepts his punishment.
There is a twofold purpose here. On the one hand, encouraging the re-insertion of the condemned
person into society; on the other, fostering a justice capable of restoring harmony in social
relationships disrupted by the criminal act committed.
In this regard, the activity that prison chaplains are called to undertake is important, not only in the
specifically religious dimension of this activity but also in defense of the dignity of those detained.”
For me, this comes very close to defining the Malta Prison Ministry mission. I would add only one
thing, not only is it our task to defend the dignity of the incarcerated, but also to instill in all inmates,
the knowledge that as a child of God, they inherently have dignity and worth, and it is their obligation
under heaven, to act accordingly.
Of all the Malta ministries, I believe that Prison Ministry is one of the more complex of our
undertakings. The issue is that inmate’s fundamental problems are not always readily apparent. If
members of the Order of Malta see starving people, we feed them; if we see sick people, we try to
minister to their health requirements. In Prison Ministry, we are often dealing with hidden afflictions,
deep psychological and emotional trauma, poor environments, poor education, poor family formation
and family instability and often a lack of spiritual direction. All play a role in trying to sort out the
problem issues of an inmate, in order that we can have the proper conversation, offer the proper
words of comfort and develop the right vision for corrective action. The permutations of different sets
of difficulties are many, and that makes it difficult to isolate the enemy. It is a very complex menu of
circumstances indeed.
The cures are less complex to grasp, but often difficult to achieve, because unlike Malta’s other
undertakings, where the solutions are usually more under our control and readily apparent, in the
Prison Ministry that is not always the case. The criminal justice department in my home state of
Florida for example, is often governed by a nineteenth century perspective regarding punishment, and
does not show the degree of concern needed to deal with an inmate’s set of complex issues, nor does
it have a vision of what a solely punitive environment does to the future of the incarcerated and their
families. In a powerful book about the effects of incarceration on families entitled, “Imprisoning
Communities” by Professor Todd Clear, it describes the enormous consequences incarceration has on
the family unit and as well as on entire communities. It is not only the human tragedy of a life marked
with the scarlet letter of “felon”, but also the financial burdens that taxpayers bear to support a broken
criminal justice system. These human and financial costs become generational and are imbedded into
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our society like a cancer depriving the body of nourishment, nourishment required to support other
important activities that speak to improving the human condition and relieving suffering.
So now let me outline for you the strategic and functional plans that I have set before me, to try and
improve the plight of the incarcerated in the South Florida area that I’m involved with.
The areas I participate in for the distribution of bibles and prayer books are the Diocese of Orlando,
the Diocese of West Palm Beach and the Archdiocese of Miami. I participate in the Diocese of West
Palm Beach ministry by visiting the Palm Beach County Jail and lending whatever support I can to
the prison ministers in the other two areas. These three areas minister to over fifty-thousand inmates,
more than half of Florida’s 100k inmates; so it is a large undertaking in just three dioceses.
The strategic plan is to attack the issues of confinement and recidivism on three levels, the first,
which I call Phase One is the meet, greet, comfort and console phase. This incorporates personal
visits to the county jail and other places of incarceration, with group and one-on-one contact with
inmates. The second effort, Phase Two, is the re-entry phase, wherein Malta helps support “Fresh
Start”, a local re-entry program to bring the released inmate back to society in a buffered
environment, giving the opportunity to adjust properly to the outside world, with spiritual and secular
guidance. Phase Three is governmental intervention, which leads to changes in public policy. In this
phase we approach government at many levels to advocate for changes in public policy that will lift
prospects for the ex-felons future success and improve human needs while incarcerated. These three
phases, none more important than the other, must work in concert to improve the total prison picture.
I will now take these phases one at a time to explain our activities in each.
Phase One:
Our encounters with inmates in jail take two directions, the first in a communal meeting of between
thirty and forty inmates. We almost always have a priest in attendance and therefore can offer the
Sacrament of Reconciliation and Holy Mass. These are one hour gatherings and are attended by
Catholics and non-Catholics alike. We see many non-Catholics go to confession and are truly
overcome with remorse and obtain the satisfaction of talking to a priest. Even though these gatherings
are very public, it is not uncommon to see men emerge from confession, sobbing. It demonstrates the
deep introspective evaluations that take place here. Even for those who do not attend confession,
there is a good deal of soul searching as various topics are discussed with the group. No one hears the
truth and stays the same. Whether or not there is an external reaction to what is preached; it doesn’t
mean the message wasn’t received.
This is also a time for an expression of brotherhood and mutual support, a joke or two, but always
drawing inmates into the word, and our mutual responsibilities to God and to one another. Some
inmates have never heard these kinds of conversations before. Those with a broader view of
responsibility, find themselves disappointed with their behavior. It should be pointed out that our
prison ministers never present themselves as anything other than one of the common group, with the
same worldly struggles and the same desire for personal peace. It is our job, to show inmates as best
as we can, a way to deal with those struggles and to achieve that personal peace.
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We have been blessed with a group of extraordinarily gifted priests, who present effective,
sometimes humorous and always moving homilies that help make the hour a memorable one for all.
In addition to bibles and prayer books, the ministry also provides prayer cards and other reading
materials for “take aways” so that the inmate can continue in his prayers and reflections in the dorm,
or may share these items with other inmates. I must mention that at one time we had an inmate who
spent his week talking about the Catholic service and encouraged everyone to attend. While he was
incarcerated the weekly numbers jumped to over fifty inmates on a consistent basis. I told him we
needed him there; please don’t get ideas of leaving us. It‘s sad however, that in a jail population of
over 1700, we only see thirty to forty inmates each week, and the Catholic service is usually the one
most heavily attended.
Besides these group meetings we also see inmates on a one-on-one bases. Anyone who submits a
bible request and that request should miraculously reach us; we will have a bible hand delivered by
one of the ministers. There are issues that surround the distribution of bibles at this facility. I told
them frankly, if we couldn’t deliver these items ourselves, I would pull the program from the jail.
Handing out bibles personally gives us the opportunity to meet, comfort and console. It affords an
inmate a private setting in which to discuss any and all topics of concern. And in my opinion, it is the
only reliable means to address bible requests. It should be pointed out that inmates do not have to ask
for a bible in order to be visited by a prison minister.
A prison minister becomes advisor, psychologist, spiritual director, teacher, mother, father, friend and
sounding board for a host of issues and it is my experience that ministers do a remarkably good job in
fielding the issues raised by the inmates. Prison ministers often discuss among themselves their
encounters with inmates and learn from each other, better ways to deal with specific situations.
Sometimes these very intimate meetings are intense encounters. Life changing? I like to think that in
a few cases they are life changing; at least they appear to be. The reality is, who knows how long the
remorse lasts, or how long before secular circumstances produce another deluge of pressures, for
which a person is really not equipped to take on alone. The most powerful encounters, and they are
rare, are the ones in which depression makes an inmate speak about past attempts of suicide. It is
here, in this serious and private moment that the minister looks for God’s grace the most. In four
years, I have had only two such encounters.
One-on-one opportunities are very important aspects of the ministry. If only that we can assist with
the formation of a proper disposition toward God and their fellow man, and lend consolation to a
defeated spirit. It is our hope to produce a sense of responsibility to live a moral life as a child of God
and remind inmates of their moral responsibility and accountability to family and community for
their actions. Additionally, that the concept of loving God and one another is in fact a call to action,
and not just a soft and fuzzy abstract.
Ministers instruct inmates that as a child of God they have dignity and self worth, and with those gifs
is the responsibility to use them as God intended. We instruct that all of us meet someone who rubs
us the wrong way; we all meet some form of temptation, prejudice, etc. Not everyone has the strength
to overcome these circumstances, but there is, for all of us, a source of strength that we need to seek
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with diligence and fervor. Violence, retribution and self-abuse are not the answers God intends for us.
If in his death he can forgive all who harmed him, who then are we to see the world differently. The
minister is always pushing the issues to a higher level of resolution. Inmates are reminded that their
personal relationship with God will dictate how they answer the challenges set before them, and that
relationship is a lifetime in the making.
Phase Two:
Phase Two is commonly referred to as re-entry; that part of the effort that seeks to reinstate an exfelon into society, with some degree of care and assistance. This is a vulnerable and dangerous time
for inmates. The temptations of drugs and sex are waiting for them, occasionally in the jail’s parking
lot.
Temptations to the weak and vulnerable are powerful obstacles to effective re-entry. It is necessary to
provide a proper intervention to these temptations that will give an ex-felon a fighting chance to find
himself/herself back to a relatively normal and moral existence. Usually, the longer a person is
separated from their old way of life and in that separation are offered new perspectives on life, the
better are the chances of a total commitment to doing the right things right.
It is in this arena that the Order of Malta has chosen to support a re-entry effort called. “Fresh Start”,
sponsored by St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Boca Raton, Florida. The construct of this ministry
is to review applications submitted by inmates through the Prison Ministry, for placement in the
program. Inmates who will be released in a homeless condition, as well as those who have a place to
live are eligible. In a study just released by the Colorado Criminal Justice System, it clearly states that
“homelessness is a barrier to success in re-entry and should be avoided to the greatest extent
possible.”
Applications for admission to the “Fresh Start” program are evaluated by the full committee, based
on an inmate’s prospects for meaningful improvement, and the recommendations of prison ministers.
The program assigns mentors to each participant, as a support mechanism in both secular and
religious matters. It should be noted that not all participants are Catholic, but regardless of a person’s
religious affiliation, the mentor encourages each participant to worship in his/her own faith and to
establish a growing relationship with God.
Inmates are met at the jail by a volunteer and taken immediately to a halfway house. There is good
reason to be there at the time of release and avoid circumstances that will work against the effort. The
stay at the halfway house is for one month, although under special circumstances a week or two more
can be granted, but this is rare. The participant is assisted in finding work, permanent housing,
provided with a bus pass, bicycle or helped to arrange other transportation. Food and clothing are also
provided through the church and the Red Cross as necessary.
The key is the mentoring. In a study released this January from the U.S. Labor Department, it was
found that mentored ex-felons do better by a factor of two to one over non-mentored ex-felons in reentry. It is a practice of “Fresh Start” to provide two mentors per participant, to ensure availability at
all times. This is a very difficult service to provide; it’s hard to find
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people who willingly give their phone number to an ex-felon, or will care enough to stay with and
work to improve an ex-felon’s prospects, for as long as it takes. Nevertheless, in four years, no one
has been taken into the program with just one mentor. We hope that God will continue to provide that
vital resource and key to the program’s success, although as the program grows, it becomes more
difficult to provide two mentors per participant.
Mentors are not there just to provide assistance; they are also an example of how life’s obstacles and
setbacks can be overcome. It is in the conversations by phone and in person, that wisdom is
transferred and example given. It is the trust and availability of the mentor which demonstrates
personal commitment that participants come to respect and appreciate. Someone, perhaps for the very
first time in their lives, has shown the interest and energy to help the inmate, no matter what. There is
a mentor who still communicates to the very first “Fresh Start” participant from four years ago. The
participant had a fall from grace two years ago, but was reconnected to family and job through the
continued efforts of her mentor. This is not uncommon; some relationships between mentor and client
continue long after participants graduate from the program.
Most of the participants have drug problems and currently there are no longer funds available through
federally funded programs that our halfway house can avail itself. “Fresh Start” uses all its available
funds to get people into the program, which is roughly $1000 per person. There are currently twentyone participants scheduled for this year, therefore, “Fresh Start” has no money left to institute a
counseling program of its own, which it believes is needed to improve on the success rate of 67% last
year and currently tracking at 62% year-to-date. “Fresh Start” believes women are the most
vulnerable in their attempts at rehabilitation from drugs, and are most in need of counseling for this
purpose. Hopefully, we will able to attract funds for group counseling in the future, and provide this
service to all participants. “Fresh Start” does not have the capacity to track graduates of the program
for any length of time, therefore, it deems a person to have successfully completed the program when
that person has found full time employment, has established his/her own permanent residence and has
an apparent means of self-sufficiency in daily life.
“Fresh Start” has been featured on local television, was front page news in the “Life” section of the
Fort Lauderdale “Sun-Sentinel” newspaper and appeared twice in “The Florida Catholic”, a statewide
Catholic newspaper, all applauding its efforts and results for those it serves.
It should also be noted that three graduates of the program over the last four years were again rearrested and again taken into the program. I remember the debate that took place that evening when
one side argued that funds were scarce and re-arrested applicants should not be taken back to the
program and I remember the other side of that argument which said, “What would Jesus do?”
I must point out, that whether it’s Phase One or Phase Two, every minister gets much more from the
effort than they give. I recall a young woman inmate who had a critical drug problem, penniless and
with no one to turn to; she wrote her name on a slip of paper and put it in her shirt pocket. She said
she expected to die on the street of a drug overdose and wanted the authorities to know who she was,
that she had a name and she wanted that name on her grave. While in jail, she slipped and fell on an
unmarked wet floor and broke three vertebrate in her spine. She lay on her cot for three days before
the jail responded by taking her, by ambulance, to a hospital.
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After some time of healing, the District Attorney’s office offered to release her. Just before she left, a
colleague and I went to visit her and upon leaving that meeting my colleague said, to her, “Do you
intend to sue the county for how they treated you?” To which she responded, “Oh no. I forgive
everybody, everything”.
Phase Three:
Government intervention and public policy review. It is at this point that I would like to stop and take
a pill, but in an effort to shorten my purgatory, I will suffer through my reflections of this phase of
the ministry.
Ms. Vicki Lukis, former chair of Governor Jeb Bush’s taskforce on ex-felon re-entry, advisor to the
former Secretary of Labor, currently Vice-Chair of Florida’s D.O.C. re-entry advisory council and a
scholarly person, intimately knowledgeable in all criminal justice maters, at the local, state and
federal levels said to me, “Andy, this ministry is not for the faint of heart. But it does bring us closer
to Christ.” This part of the ministry does not come with a warning label. If you think that logic and
financially responsible governance can respond to the needs of the incarcerated, think again. Florida
has consistently refused to apply proper resources into meaningful rehabilitation and therefore
continues to out-grow the other large states in annual increases in inmate population.
Many large states have taken steps to reduce criminal justice costs and improve rehabilitation and
recidivism. New York for example, has actually reduced the number of incarcerated. Texas,
Michigan and even California have all reduced the percent of spend in their respective criminal
justice systems. Only Florida, of all the major states, spends over nine percent of their budget for
criminal justice, second in the nation only to Oregon, which spends over ten percent.
The Pew Foundation, in its 2008 report on the criminal justice system in the U.S. entitled, “One in
One-Hundred” showed Florida to be embarrassingly short sighted in their approach to improving
their criminal justice system. Jake Horowitz, a Senior Associate for Public Safety at the Foundation
asked me, “What’s wrong with Florida?” I asked that very same question to Mr. Richard Davison,
Assistant Secretary for Florida’s Department of Corrections, at a meeting we had about a year ago,
for which he had no answer.
As I mentioned earlier, Florida has about 100k people under lock and key, at a cost of close to $3b.
This is an increase from 92k inmates only four years ago, while other large states have improved
costs and the human experience in their criminal justice systems.
Through freedom of information, I asked the Palm Beach County Jail for the cost of incarceration per
inmate, per year and the cost of rehabilitation per inmate per year. After three months, I was given the
figure of $20,485 to incarcerate one person for one year and when asked for the line item amount for
rehabilitation, I was told, “We don’t have one”. When I asked the jail to provide, on their letterhead,
what they thought they spent on rehabilitation, they answered, $40.75 per person per year and I saw
items on that list that I might challenge, like the purchase Catholic bibles. Remarkable, isn’t it taxpayer money growing each year to meet the increased demand for inmate housing with no real
plan to curb that expense.
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Because of Florida’s lack of commitment to improve recidivism or criminal justice costs, and its
apparent lack of effort to meaningfully engage inmates while incarcerated, as well as a post release
assistance, I set out to develop a series of programs that are “no cost” or very little cost” in an effort
to hear for myself, from my government, why these recommendations, or similar recommendations
could not be developed for Florida. Having read the many reports and research papers in this area, to
prepare myself for meaningful dialogue, I developed a list of recommendations that in their objective
were not all new, but in their approach were either “on cost” or very little cost. Ideas such as a free
educational program that could be given by the volunteers of the “Learning Coalition of Florida”,
who expressed interest in participating in this kind of work at many of Florida’s prisons and jails. I
could have obtained a free textbook, from a Florida agency. This is an enormously important program
since the average Florida inmate has only a six grade educational level. How do you face a job
market with the reading proficiency of a sixth grader? Nothing was done.
I asked for the establishment of faith based coalitions in each county, to provide free mentoring and
stewardship to released ex-felons, helping with some of the same services provided by “Fresh Start”.
Nothing was done.
I advocated for an old idea, namely to review the current third degree felony laws to see which ones
could be reclassified as misdemeanors, thereby avoiding the felony stigma, which is a job killer. This
idea had some traction a while ago by some of Florida’s Supreme Court justices, but nothing
developed. It should be noted that this approach has been done successfully in Texas and elsewhere.
I asked that the jails stop charging eight dollars a day for room and board to prisoners involved in
Work-Release programs. The prisoner worked for the money and needs it more that the state upon his
release. The taxpayer was already charged for the room and board and that this practice is a shameful
expression of unethical conduct on the part of government. Nothing was done.
I asked for better resource information upon release from prisons and jails, so ex-felons have some
guidance as to where to turn for, help both public and private. Inmates are now released with only the
knowledge gained from other inmates as where to get outside assistance. I asked that printed, bound
pamphlets be made available to assist released inmates. Nothing was done.
I believe that jails are the incubators for future crimes and a halfway house to state and federal
prisons. Fifty percent of America’s inmates are in nine percent of its jails. I asked that reform
programs take a priority in the state’s jails. I have personally spoken to a fourteen year old and a
fifteen year old in the county jail; albeit on a separate floor, these youthful offenders have no business
being in that kind of environment, especially where there is no meaningful reform program.
These low cost or “no cost” items and other suggestions were presented to the Assistant Secretary for
Criminal Justice for the state, the Speaker of the House, and the Chairman of the House Criminal
Justice Policy committee. Through the efforts of Bill Mattison, Jr. K.M., I was trying to develop a
meeting with the President of the Florida State Senate to enlist his support for these issues; however,
in April of this year, after obtaining an agreement from the Chairman of the House Criminal Justice
Policy Committee, to develop a bill for criminal justice reform, the Chairman was fired and the effort
36
ended; the new Chairman wanted nothing to do with reform. Since this kind of legislation must
originate in the House, the meeting with the Senate President never happened.
After over a year of letters, phone calls and meetings, the system won, but through the help of
Hershel Smith, K.M., I was introduced to the chairman of the “Smart Justice Coalition”, Reverend
Allison Defoor. Smart Justice is an offshoot of the Collins Center for Public Policy. The coalition is a
group of very influential allies and I was overjoyed that the Order of Malta now had the ability to join
this broader effort for criminal justice reform. There are currently twenty-eight major signatories
from some of Florida’s most prestigious organizations, including the Associated Industries of Florida,
which includes some of the state’s largest employers, the Florida Catholic Conference, Florida Police
Benevolent Association and three past Attorneys General of Florida, ex-Florida governor “Buddy”
McKay, and former Speakers of Florida’s House and Senate, among others.
The coalition has just released an open letter to the Governor and the citizens of Florida requesting
the following:
1.
That the Governor, House Speaker and Senate President immediately implement SB2000,
which was passed in 2008 and which provides for the establishment of the Correctional Policy
Advisory Council, to provide legislative focus and analysis on new policy pathways.
2.
Support funding for education, substance abuse, mental health and character-based activities in
the community and assist inmates in re-entry.
3.
Search the nation for effective policy alternatives that have proven to be successful.
The letter goes on to state, “We commit to engage in, and to gauge the progress on, this very difficult
and important issue”. I would add parenthetically that the coalition is also very engaged in job
creation for released inmates.
The Order of Malta, as a member of this coalition and signatory to this letter, and its participation in
various meetings and the letters in which the Order has advocated for criminal justice reform in
Florida, has made the Order a recognized and respected entity for criminal justice reform in the state.
Conclusion:
I’ve attempted to present an overview of the three elements that in my opinion compose the essence
of the Prison Ministry. Personal contact, re-entry assistance and governmental intervention and public
policy review. I think you’ll agree that the second and third phases of the ministry have their
challenges and that when taken collectively, points to the need for more members of the Order to be
involved in this important work. For example, it would be nice, where it makes sense to do so in a
given area, to have one Knight or Dame as the point person in each of the two most difficult phases,
re-entry and government intervention and public policy reform, coordinating activities with other
members working in these areas. This will make us more expert in each of these phases and bring
strength to our efforts through better communication and perhaps a better unified vision of the
essential programs.
Vicki Lukis was right; this is not for the faint hearted. This past spring, my wife, Pat, a Dame of
Malta and I had the pleasure to visit Fort St. Angelo in Valetta. Through the gracious efforts of H.E.
37
John Critien, Resident Knight, we were shown about the fort to include the small chapel where our
past brothers gathered for Mass before battle. I reminded myself that they knew perfectly well that
they might be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice to fulfill their promise to God, to care for the
sick and the poor and defend the faith. I think about that, and I am energized. What we are called
upon to do is far less than make the ultimate sacrifice, it is merely the fulfillment of a promise we
made before our God and if we cannot keep a promise made to God, to whom can we keep a
promise? The injustices that we see with a system that does more to create crime than to reduce it
doesn’t sit well with us. Nevertheless, we are bound to the same mindset as our former brothers; it
requires the same level of commitment.
The Prison Ministry is a relatively young ministry with the American Association, yet it has come a
long way in its effort to define the issues, in our various areas. I am confident, that because we are
self-motivated by our promise to God to help these people, we can and will make a difference in their
lives. We, after all, are certainly not fainthearted.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Post script:
The National Council on Crime and Delinquency has just announced that its research indicates that
77% of the public want to see alternatives to prison.
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