J. R. Woodgates
Tag Archives: prisons
Training inmates to become “field ministers” who serve as counselors for other inmates, lead prayers, assist prison chaplains and generally serve as a calming influence in prison yards. Let’s see more of this happen!
SEMINARIANS PARTNER WITH PRISONERS
The voices of the more than 12 million people who annually pass through one (or more) of the nation’s 3,000 jails seem absent from this process. So too are the voices of their loved ones and most dedicated advocates.
Is it really good news that Koch Industries and the MacArthur Foundation, among other deep-pocket entities, are financing prison reform initiatives? Or are they big-footing grass roots reformers?
In recent years, federal sentencing guidelines have been revised, resulting in less severe prison terms for low-level drug offenders. But…tens of thousands of inmates who were convicted in the “war on drugs” of the 1980s and 1990s are still behind bars.
The average annual cost of housing a federal inmate in general population is $27,500. The price tag for an older inmate who needs medical care – including expensive drugs and treatment – is $59,000.
THE PAINFUL PRICE OF AGING IN PRISON
Why are we keeping someone behind bars who is bedridden and needs assistance getting out of bed and feeding and clothing himself?
Not only priests minister behind bars. Catholic laity and religious can also have a huge influence on the spiritual lives of locked up men.
Since Stanford University Psychology Professor Phillip Zimbardo conducted his controversial 1971 prison experiment showing how easy it is for young men to be negatively manipulated, he has continued charting a steady decline in the academic, professional and social skills of young American Men (outlined in his 2011 TED Talk, The Demise of Guys).
Our focus is on young men who play video games to excess, and do it in social isolation – they are alone in their room.
Now, after studying 20,000 subjects, Zimbardo is warning that, because of their even greater preoccupation with video games and pornography, today’s young men are in a “masculinity crisis.”
Prison life may be a recurring theme on TV and in the movies, but prisoners themselves often feel totally ignored and forgotten by the public. The fact is, prisoners are totally ignored and forgotten by most people – including the ones responsible for their well-being.
This is John Oliver at his best, examining the indifference too many top officials have towards the conditions endured by too many incarcerated Americans. (Obscene language advisory)
Kudos to Kairos Prison Ministry International for going after the hard cases, the worst offenders, the guys no one expects to see restored by God.
It’s not just “the war on drugs” that has expanded America’s prison population. CBN News reports that a steady increase in new categories, classes and kinds of actionable offenses is also responsible.
“Overcriminalization” is making felons of Americans like never before.
There are more African-American men in prison and in jail or on parole and probation today than were enslaved in 1850 – a decade before the start of the Civil War.
In her book, The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander argues that minority (especially black) men are being deliberately targeted for disenfranchisement via America’s criminal justice system.
This conversation further explores the inequities of prison sentencing and whether the disproportionate percentage of racial minorities composing the prison population reflects a deliberate effort to disenfranchise such men. (Segment begins at 26:40)