5 things your Quaker meeting/church can do to support Prison Concerns
Get educated:Get background information (if you do not already have direct experience and even if you do). Get educated on the problem of mass incarceration. Start a New Jim Crow reading group using provided study guide to actually get involved. Start a Beyond Prisons study group (study guide available). Hold a public education event using Broken on all Sides, The House I Live in, and/or video from Stopmax conference. Stopmax video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLhPLvCscx8
Bill Mefford is working to start a group of grassroots religious leaders to create a movement against mass incarceration.
You can contact him to get involved:
Bill Mefford, Director, Civil and Human Rights for
The United Methodist Church
General Board of Church and Society
The United Methodist Church
100 Maryland Avenue NE, Suite 310
Washington DC 20002
202-488-5657
Get connected:Develop a writing/visiting program within your Meeting. Write or visit with a person in prison doing a life sentence or long-indeterminate sentence. Establish these contacts expecting cross mentorship (i.e. you will mentor someone inside and simultaneously be mentored by the person inside).
Getting connected means bearing witness and developing outside oversight of prison conditions and realities. In becoming connected to people in prison, you also become a monitor of prison conditions and problems. Your meeting can develop strategies to deal with these issues once you begin to bear witness to the inhumane and problematic conditions.***
*AFSC staff members are glad to help get you started with this.
Get involved outside: Mentor the child of a person living in prison. Provide support to people returning to your community from prison. Support could mean:
§ Meeting for a meal once a week (or month).
§ Helping to provide transportation to school and/or work.
§ Helping with school applications/enrollment.
§ Helping the person find a job.
§ Providing a room to rent (rent can be many things—house work and/or money exchanged).
*AFSC staff members are glad to help get you started with this.
Other resources that may be helpful in working with folks re-entering the community:
http://www.healingcommunitiesusa.org/
Get your Meeting/Congregation inside the prison walls: Once your meeting/church has established contact with people in prison, you can begin to ask some specific questions about what kind of education, support, volunteer/prisoner run programs they need help organizing inside. Your meeting can work on developing a program curriculum--in coordination with people living inside. Recruit volunteers who are committed to being a regular dedicated presence inside and get your program off the ground.Start a worship group inside if people inside request one. If you teach higher education, get involved with Inside Out:
http://www.insideoutcenter.org/
Michigan and New York staff can offer guidance based on state specific experience if you need help. We are happy to consult.
Get political: All of the above are political actions, but you can become directly linked to ongoing campaigns in communities throughout the country. Some examples: Anti-privatization of prisons work in AZ and NH. Anti-solitary confinement work in various states throughout the country--IL, NJ, CA, NY, AZ, ME, MI. Follow Solitary Watch for up-to-date information:
http://solitarywatch.com/
Get your Yearly Meeting or Quarterly Meeting to develop a statement or minute against prison and detention center privatization, solitary confinement and torture, and/or other criminal justice related issues.
Your congregation/Meeting can also learn more about the Doctrine of Christian Discovery (DOCD) which is the collection of documents that underpinned genocide of Natives, enslavement of Blacks, the Law of Nations, Manifest Destiny, the post civil war building of the carceral system and is the backbone of Federal Indian Law and study toward potential repudiation of DOCD (New England Yearly Meeting and ME AFSC staff can answer inquiries about this. Brochures are also available with more information; see Lewis and Natalie or Lucy for handouts.)
Learn more about the Quaker Initiative to end Torture: www.quit-torture-now.org
Join the National Religious Campaign Against Torture: www.nrcat.org
***Once you are involved with people living in prison, new problems inherent to prison will surface. If your Meeting is working with more than one or two people you may discover trends in problems. It is important to develop relationships with legislators, ombudspeople, and/or corrections administrators who might be able to stop the problem/s before they escalate. We are happy to consult on how to address prisoner rights cases that may surface (access to appropriate health care, mental health care, access to parole, access to programming and education, access to visits, over-classification including the use of solitary confinement, food quality, and so on)