Did you visit me in prison?

Britain's prison population is at an all-time high.  Around two-thirds of those released are reconvicted within two years (rising to three-quarters for 18-21 year olds).

From the coalface at Aylesbury Young Offenders Institution, coordinating chaplain Jo Williams argues that these figures can only get worse, unless our Christian communities lead the way in offering a meaningful ministry of love and God's forgiveness. 

ON 2 May 2008, the prison population was 82,501. The actual capacity of prisons in England and Wales is 81,883. The mathematicians among you will query the discrepancy. Quite.  The ‘left-overs’ were in police or court cells. Prisoner figures have gone up by an alarming thousand in the last 12 months.

You may think: ‘Good, we are locking up the violent trouble-makers. Quite right too!’
Or you might, if you are a Christian, pay some heed to Jesus’ injunctions to ‘Come, you who are blessed by my father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty… I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (Matthew ch 24 v 34-36).

We need to realise that our prisons are full of those whom our society – which now consumes rather than produces – has excluded.

Social characteristics of prisoners, compiled by the Prison Reform Trust, show that almost half of those in prison today ran away from home as a child. One in three female, and half of male prisoners (higher in the 18-21 age group) were excluded from school. The majority have no qualifications. On release one in three prisoners will have no home. Many will have no hope of work.

Again you might say they deserve it, and I certainly don’t seek to excuse their crimes. But I would say that as Christians we must come into prisons because, if we do not  show them God’s love by being willing to walk alongside them, how can we help them to love and respect themselves and others?

Hundreds of thousands of families are now excluded from our society because they do not have the money to be consumers. Hope and self-respect have been extinguished in the parents, and for the children there seems little likelihood of finding work or a home.

Add to this the fact that these children may not meet the targets and levels required by schools, or are excluded because their behaviour is problematic - symptomatic of their excluded home community, and again we are denying them hope for their future.

Add, again, the increasing criminalisation of young people by locking them up for offences that would not have received a custodial sentence 10 years ago, and then releasing them back into the same environment. Unsurprisingly we have a fast growing, ‘minority’ of disillusioned young people roaming our streets on the road to self-destruction and, perhaps, bent upon the destruction of those who do have the money to be consumers.

Most church communities and individual Christians respond as good sheep to Jesus, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, supporting the homeless, visiting the sick.

But as a prison chaplain I have become uncomfortably aware that, for many of them, visiting prisoners is not on their list of ‘Things to do before I go to heaven’. And yet Jesus didn’t give us a choice of either/or. He said quite clearly that those who have a place in his Kingdom visited him in prison.

We are called to continue Jesus’ ministry on earth by seeing the human being, not the offender or the offence. We are here to stress  that God forgives not seven, or even 77 times, but as often as we come before him.

We are a small prison here at Aylesbury, with a maximum of 440 young men between 18 and 21 years 10 months old, many of whom will then move on to adult prisons. I am the only full-time chaplain co-ordinating an ecumenical and multi-faith team of sessional and voluntary chaplains.
Whatever the media tells us, life in this young offenders prison is no picnic, with few opportunities for offenders to let down their guard and talk from the heart. Our ministry, and that of the volunteers who work with us, is ‘incarnational’. It is a servant ministry listening to prisoners, mentoring and supporting them in their needs and difficulties, reflecting God’s love for them and encouraging them to be the best that they can be.

These young men still have a lot of living to do in prison and after release. We can help build them up spiritually and emotionally so they may withstand temptation and give of themselves to others. We must help prevent future victims.

My challenge and plea to you as Anglican brothers and sisters around the Oxford Diocese, is to focus and pray: what can you offer to your nearest prison as a group, and/or an individual, as part of the outreach and mission of your church?

When Jesus asks us: ‘Did you visit me in prison?’ we can’t reply like television’s Catherine Tate; ‘Nah, and does my face look bovvered?’ Surely we are glad to respond like Mary: ‘I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me as you have said.’

Jo’ Williams is co-ordinating chaplain at Aylesbury Young Offenders’ Institution.

In their own words

Some young offenders explain how the chaplaincy service has helped them.

ACCOMPANYING  Jo on her rounds  at Aylesbury Young Offenders Institution, Sally Jarman heard first-hand how the chaplaincy and its volunteers have helped some of the prisoners. Names have been changed...

Dan is a ‘red band’ prisoner - one of the most trusted. He says: ‘I’ve been on various courses through the chaplaincy that have helped me find my faith for myself this time, and find a confidence to say this is who I am and what I believe.

‘I think it has changed the way I look at all areas of my life now, like leaving the past behind and stepping into the future.’

Again a ‘red-band’ prisoner, John takes time out from mopping the floors of his wing to tell us: ‘I’m a facilitator on victim awareness courses which are supported by the chaplaincy. I’ve seen people start these courses full of hate and leave with new insight into the effect their actions have on other people.
‘The emotional and practical support that the chaplains and volunteers give is really helpful to prisoners who are down or even suicidal, just listening and uplifting them.’

Joining us in the chaplaincy building, with its own chapel and multi-faith room, James says:  ‘There aren’t many people you can talk to in prison openly, like you can here.  I feel much more confident and comfortable about talking to people now.’

Could You volunteer? 

ELIZABETH has been a volunteer for around five years, spending each Monday at the chaplaincy centre, talking to new arrivals.

‘It’s usual for them to be anxious when they first arrive, not sure of the routine and rules. I explain that we are a kind of extended family while they are here, and that they can talk to us openly in confidence about their fears and feelings. I let them know about the courses they can take, and the weekly worship services.

‘My church is very supportive of my volunteer work on the whole. Some ask why I do it and I say that for me it’s part of the bargain if you’re a Christian. Jesus said we should visit him in prison. I believe there’s a core of goodness in every person and my job is to help them find it.’

Jo is keen to dispel thoughts that it takes a certain kind of person to help in a prison:
‘Everyone has different gifts and talents, and we need volunteers for a wide variety of tasks, from official prison visitors, to supporting education and chaplaincy studies, supporting the visits hall, supporting Victim Awarenes courses, supporting life-sentenced and ISPP (Indeterminate Sentencing for Public Protection) prisoners, or supporting prisoners on suicide watch.

‘We would welcome help with worship with music, and preaching and teaching.
‘What would be really wonderful would be if members of a church were willing to make our chapel their  place of worship on a regular basis, say once a month.’

There are a number of prisons around our diocese. To volunteer, contact the chaplain at your nearest prison.

To contact Jo about volunteering at Aylesbury, call her office on 01296 444325.