The Church and our prison system

From Paul Thomas:
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Matthew 25:34-40 (NRSVue)
“Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.’ The righteous will then answer him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!’”

The passage above is quoted here because it helps us to understand what we learned and, more importantly, what we felt after finishing this Spring’s adult education class on Christianity and people in prisons and our prison system. One striking example of what the church is doing in this area was the visit we had from a Lutheran pastor whose congregation is located inside an actual prison.

New Beginnings Worshipping Community! (NBWC) is a Lutheran mission church led by Rev. Samm Melton-Hill that holds regular in-person worship services inside the Denver Women's Correctional Facility. It is open to all who wish to join the community. 
Its mission is to restore shattered lives to wholeness through the love of Jesus Christ.

Rev Samm came to CGS to talk to us about the NBWC, the prison ministry inside the Denver Women's Correctional Facility. We heard wonderful and inspiring stories about how this ministry impacts the lives of the prisoners both while incarcerated and after their release. We also learned the prisoners are supported not only by Pastor Samm’s ministry, but by the Highlands Lutheran Church in Denver where Pastor Samm also serves as part-time pastor. Nevertheless, there is always more that could be done to help this ministry and the people it serves. Once released from prison, don’t we want these people to lead useful and fulfilling lives? If the answer is “yes”, then do we have a responsibility to help inmates both while in prison and afterwards?

At the end of our class this Spring, members asked themselves what we could do. We had also asked Reverend Samm during our session what we could do to help the NBWC ministry. Rev. Samm responded that direct donations to her congregation were one solution as, unlike congregations like CGS, Reverend Samm’s community has no money and cannot collect donations from its members. Another suggestion was donations in-kind. Greeting cards, for example, would be more than welcome. It is vitally important for prisoners to maintain relationships with their families on the outside, and sending birthday and other cards to family is one important way for them to do so. Unfortunately, cards available to the prisoners in the facility for purchase are terribly expensive and out of reach for most. So a donation of cards (with appropriate postage) would be a great help. Susan Duran kindly volunteered to coordinate the collecting and sending of cards to the prisoners.

We also talked about what we might also be able to do locally -- whether there are any opportunities here. Ann Ponikvar did some research to look at what might be available in Santa Clara County. As it turns out, there are not a lot of correctional facilities in the county.  Outside of the county jail, we have the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas. It includes facilities for both men and women. The women’s facility hosts approximately 250 inmates and is now home to a library just opened last December that is run by the Santa Clara County Library District. There might be opportunities for serving the inmates in Elmwood. If anyone at CGS would be interested in evaluating the possibilities, please let me know.

If you are interested in (or considering) serving the prison population, whether in Denver or Milpitas or elsewhere, there are some resources to which you can avail yourself:

Contact information for giving to the NBWC: Give | New Beginnings Worshipping Community

Two documentaries of interest:
The Quilters follows the daily lives of several quilters inside the sewing room at South Central Correctional Center, a Level 5 maximum-security prison in a small town two hours south of St. Louis, MO. From design to completion, the men reveal their struggles, triumphs, and sense of pride in creating something beautiful in this windowless, sacred space deep within the prison walls. Watch on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/82006530
Vice, How Private Prisons Protect their Profits, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuY0LQd9Jgw

​Reading
You may also want to read the book we read for the class which is available in the CGS Library: Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, 13th ed., New York and London: Routledge, 2023.  364.973 Rei

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