Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Religion
Date: 16 November 2009 08:28:07
This week is Prisons Week. The aim of the week is according to the website "encouraging prayer for, and raising awareness of, the needs of prisoners and their families, victims of offenders, prisons staff and all those who care". As part of this they have provided a prayer guide for the week.
Last night one of the local prison chaplains gave one of the most kick ass sermons I've ever heard, on the subject of restorative justice. Within it he highlighted both the complexity and reality of the situation we are facing as a society and as prisoners / family or friends of prisoners/ victims/ workers within the prison system/ chaplains and so forth. This was no sugar coated Marxist sermon, whilst it may have been influenced by the thinking of New Left Realism, it was thinking through a hard issue biblically. It acknowledged that some people must be in prison for their own good and for the good of others, that prisoners make the choices which lead them to prison, but equally societies inability to deal with other issues is another factor for some and alternatives are available for many prisons. We were given some horrifing statistics, which shocked on all sorts of levels.
As part of the week Durham Cathedral is hosting an exhibition by the Forgiveness project.
I guess I have a bit of a soft spot for prisons week because of hearing about the work my dad does with offenders. I have heard the stories about artistic projects being able to help prisoners, but I have also heard loud and clear the message he gives that they have to take responsibility for their choices. If a prisoner turns their life around people like artists, social workers, educators in prisons, the prison chaplains and the prison staff may have helped them but ultimately it is the offender who has taken the choices required to turn their life around.
After last years prisons week I had a chat with my dad and realised that one of the main issues that offenders face in our thinking is marginalisation. I was talking about where my research was heading at that point and how the issues facing single parents also faced disabled people, gay people and others in the church. My dad picked up on some of what I was saying and referred to the way it also related to attitudes towards offenders too and was I going to bring them in? I said I'd love to, but I didn't have the space and so I had to focus on the more prevalent groups.....he pointed out this is the problem. In the competition for resources/ space offenders, ex-offenders and their families tend to lose out. Prisons week is the churches attempt to make sure, atleast occassionally, that prisoners and those working with them don't lose out and are remembered.
For those reading this who work have family in prison, work with prisoners as part of their job or have been victims of crime I just want to say I'm praying for you guys especially this week. (And if one person, who will know who she is, is reading I want you to know I am continuing to pray for you and yours not just this week).
One person who has sought to both use the arts to help offenders and to raise awareness is Billy Bragg. A documentary has recently been made, "Breaking Rocks" which relates to the work of his charity Jail Guitar Doors. Here is a You Tube clip from the premiere.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtTVzqjUjwA[/youtube]