Salvo, the name of this 30-something man who signed up for confession at the prison where I serve as a chaplain, kept on speaking.

I wasn't sure whether he was talking to God or to me. I just nodded.

Moments earlier, my hands were placed over his, which were in handcuffs, before he held them in front of his face to pray, half in English, half in Spanish.

The two of us, he in his orange jumpsuit and me in my black clerical shirt and trousers, sat next to each other at one of the hexagonal metal tables in the middle of the cell block, visible to other inmates in the tiers above and below us.

Some of them peered out of the small plastic windows on their cell doors.

The guard who brought Salvo down from "the Hole" 15 minutes earlier, after shackling his hands and feet with chains, glanced up from his desk about 10 yards away from us as I placed my hands back on the table.

I was aware of how intimate this praying looked. I didn't mind. The tears said it all, to God if not to anyone else.

Today was a day of tears.

Unusual for the men in prison, most of whom have to keep up a tough front. Often, they keep this stance with me too, even when in private, let alone when I meet them on the cell block instead of my office, as I have to meet those who are in protective custody.

I believe if they can find one space to weep and be real with another person and before God, it will lead to their peace of mind and ability to be strong.

I wait for them to pull themselves together before they go back to their cells.

The whole dynamic of hearing confessions in prison is incredible.

Quite a few guys have told me that they believe God got them into prison to save them from heading in the wrong direction.

I use this awesome role of confessor to encourage them to foster this spark of God's love for them, not to waste it.

To ask for forgiveness from Jesus who came for this reason. And most of all, to be determined to continue this prayer relationship with God that they have discovered on the inside of the prison when they get outside.

Usually when I finish a visit with one of them, whether it is a formal confession or not, I say, "Do you want to pray?"

"Yes," they invariably say, as though it is normal for two men to share their souls together.

I open my hands on the table between us, face up. As though they are children, they place their hands in mine.

I have no idea what these hands may have done — robbed? Sold drugs? Abused someone? "Go ahead," I say, waiting for them to start.

"Oh no, you do it," most respond.

"No, you do it," I say.

But I usually have to. They aren't quite ready to launch out into this God territory with a virtual stranger, even one they amazingly trust because I am "Father" to them.

I bow my head, feeling the calloused hands of a tough guy who would ordinarily never be resting his hands in another's so vulnerably. Continue reading

• Paul Morrissey, O.S.A., is a priest in residence at St. Augustine Church in Philadelphia, Penn. He served as a Catholic chaplain at the Philadelphia Prison from 2007 to 2019. This article has been excerpted from his forthcoming memoir Touched by God: Confessions of a Prison Chaplain.

Inside its walls is a beautiful Catholic church, the Church of St. Dismas, which has enhanced the spiritual lives of inmates for nearly 80 years.

It is unique, in that it is the only such freestanding church inside a prison in the U.S. Read more

Roman Catholics are the largest group of believers behind bars after years of steady decline in the number of Anglicans, official figures show.

There are also only 1,500 fewer Muslim prisoners than Anglicans after their number rose more than sixfold since 1993. Continue reading

A quarter of the 2000 prisoners, guards and management in the overcrowded prison regularly practise meditation

It has transformed life in the prison. Suicides are down 40 per cent; there have been no reports of violence since 2012; solitary confinements are down 50 per cent. Continue reading

Msgr William Lynn is serving a minimum three year sentence for endangering children in Philadelphia archdiocese.

He had been held at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Center, while he appealed his 2012 conviction.

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit inmates at this prison in September.

But now Msgr Lynn is back at a state prison near Scranton.

Appeals courts have been split on whether he should have been convicted under a child-endangerment law and he has been in and out of prison.

Continue reading

Mark David Chapman, 59, told the New York State parole board last month about his faith journey behind bars, almost 35 years since he took Lennon's life.

Chapman told the board the reason he had killed Lennon was: "I had extremely selfish motives for my own self-glory. That's the best way I can say it."

But that has changed, the Christian Post reported.

"My focus is totally, it isn't on me anymore. God has helped me through the years to see, 'hey, there is other people in this world'. Jesus has helped me to see that he loves me, and that is what has made the difference in my life is him."

Chapman was denied parole for the eighth time, with the reason being his premeditated act in killing Lennon.

He is serving a 20 year to life sentence in a prison near Buffalo in New York State.

Chapman said a series of letters exchanged between him and a pastor was what led him back to God.

At the beginning of Chapman's sentence, he had received a letter from a pastor.

Although it took Chapman a year and half before he would respond to the letter, over the last 33 years Chapman has written over an estimated 500 letters to the pastor who has helped him with spiritual guidance.

Chapman said he meets with this pastor every now and again and is scheduled to meet with him in a few weeks.

Chapman said there is only one purpose in his life now: preach about the love of Jesus Christ to prisoners.

"I am interested in one thing and that is ministering to prisoners," Chapman said.

"Me and my wife have a ministry. We distribute brochures and tell people about Christ. These kids coming in here now, they can have an option. They don't have to go to the gangs."

The Christian Post story reported that Chapman is still married to his wife, Gloria Abe, despite her living thousands of miles away in Hawaii.

She tries to visit him about once a year.

"I can't believe she has stuck with me for all these years but she has," Chapman said.

"We are closer to the Lord now than we were on the street. So I am going to credit him with keeping our marriage together and our sanity."

Source

• Christian Post
• Image: ABC News

Meriam Ibrahim would be "freed within days in line with legal procedure that will be undertaken by the judiciary and the ministry of justice", said Abdullah Alazreg.

But Mrs Ibrahim's lawyer, Mohanned Mustapha, told Al Jazeera that the final decision rested with an appeals court.

This was also the position taken in a foreign ministry clarification.

Mr Mustapha said Mr Alazreg's statement was an attempt to take the heat out of the international coverage of Ms Ibrahim's plight.

It was not so much a genuine reflection of what might happen, the lawyer said.

Ms Ibrahim gave birth to a girl last week in prison, her second child.

The 27-year-old was raised as an Orthodox Christian by her Christian mother.

But a Sudanese judge ruled last month that she should be regarded as Muslim because that had been her father's faith.

Her father abandoned her family when she was a child.

Ms Ibrahim was convicted of adultery and apostasy for marrying a Christian.

She was sentenced to hang, under the Islamic law that has been in place since 1983 and outlaws conversions under pain of death.

Her husband is Daniel Wani, who is a United States citizen.

The court also sentenced her to 100 lashes before she is executed.

The court previously said Ms Ibrahim would be allowed to nurse her baby for two years before the sentence was carried out.

Her case has sparked international outrage and there has been growing pressure on Sudan's government to have her sentence overturned.

An Amnesty International petition attracted more than 200,000 signatures and more than 600,000 people added their name to a separate petition on change.org.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron called Ms Ibrahim's treatment "barbaric" and said it had no place in the modern world.

Her case has sparked debate in the UK as to whether the British government should cut off aid to Sudan.

Sources

• Al Jazeera
• The Guardian
• BBC
• Image: The Telegraph

Justice Minister Judith Collins implied it was ridiculous and suggested this "sort of display" is "why people are leaving the Anglican Church".

Perhaps the symbol of a fenced in cell is upsetting to the journalist and the politician but Bishop Duckworth was just doing his job, albeit in a colourful way.

Last week Anglican churches around the country were focusing on penal reform. We have some serious problems in New Zealand. We incarcerate people at a greater rate than almost all like countries and we have a very high recidivism rate.

This is a problem for all of us because a prison system that is not rehabilitating people becomes a school for further crime. That in turn puts us all at risk.

The bishop's question is, "Do we want a system that simply punishes offenders or do we want one that changes behaviour and leads to less reoffending?"

The time in the cell drew public attention to the question and allowed him a week to contemplate and pray.

We all understand the former. The latter is perhaps a mystery for some, but you have to admit that is what you would expect of a bishop.

So what is the substance? The rate of imprisonment in New Zealand more than doubled from 91 per 100,000 people in 1987 to 197 per 100,000 in 2010. Today's figure shows a small improvement, sitting on 192.

These very high imprisonment rates are well above like countries with the exception of the United States. Britain imprisons 148 per 100,000, Australia 130, Canada 118 and France 105.

The picture gets worse if we look at the imprisonment of Maori. They are imprisoned at a rate of 700 per 100,000, three and a half times more than non- Maori, or over five times more than the total Canadian rate.

So are New Zealand's streets safer as a result of all this very expensive locking up? It does not appear so because the recidivism rates are very disturbing. Around half New Zealand's prisoners (49 per cent) return to prison having reoffended over the four year period after being released.

The figures suggest some smart thinking is needed. We lock up more people than other like countries. We have a shameful ethnic bias within those figures and a very high reoffending rate.

The bishop didn't blame the Government or the justice or correction systems. He stated that his vigil was not a protest. It was a call to think, discuss and act. This problem has grown over the last 25 years under successive governments, but there are hopeful signs within the corrections and justice systems. Continue reading

Sources

• Charles Waldegrave in Stuff
• Image: Anglican Taonga

Charles Waldegrave leads the Anglican Church's family centre social policy research unit.

"You will have days when you feel down, but don't be afraid. Be strong. Everything passes," the Pope wrote to Patricio Fontanet, who is currently in a prison psychiatric ward after being diagnosed with severe depression.

The correspondence was initiated by Fontanet, who is serving a seven-year sentence.

The Pope's reply began: "Pato, I received the letter you sent me three days ago. Thank you for your gesture ….

"Though I am physically far away I am close to you and your group in spirit, it is as if I can hear everything you hear and say, from a distance."

Pope Francis then said: "I don't want to give you advice because, at present, you don't need it: you are a man who knows well what has to be done and how to do it. I'm confident of this.

"When you are free and more sensible, count on me for anything I can help you with."

Finally, the Pope said "when you are able, please pray for me. A hug. Fraternally, Jorge."

Estefania Miguel from Cordoba, who had a child by Fontanet last year, said: "This gesture of Francis filled my heart and gave me the strength to fight for the truth. I read the complete text to [Fontanet] on the telephone and he was surprised, because he had written the Pope but he never thought he would answer him."

Fontanet was lead singer for a band called Callejeros. He later changed its name to Casi Justicia Social (Almost Social Justice).

After the tragic fire in the Cromagnon nightclub, the then Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio met the band and asked them "not to give up".

Sources:

Patheos

Vatican Insider

Image: Agenciafe

The law applies to "public acts that manifest patent disrespect for society and are committed with the aim of offence to the religious feelings of believers".

The Russian Orthodox Church supports the new legislation but believes it is not harsh enough.

Continue reading

Mrs Tolley visited the Serco-managed Doncaster Prison in England last week. Serco will manage nearly a quarter of New Zealand's prison population by 2015 when it takes over a new 960-bed facility in Wiri. It began a six-year contract at Mt Eden Correctional Facility last year.

Prison reform campaigner Roger Brooking said he had been concerned about Serco's contracts in New Zealand but he was impressed by the culture change at Mt Eden prison, in particular the use of first names between staff and inmates.

The Doncaster facility's "Families First" scheme, encouraged ongoing relationships between prisoners and their children. The scheme was limited to 11 well-behaved fathers in the minimum-security jail.

"While we were there, there was a father who was bathing his 18-month-old daughter. She comes in once a week, and the two of them go through a normal parenting day. He has a day with his little one and he has done since she was born," Mrs Tolley said.

"It's to try and maintain those links, so they don't miss the development of that child, so the child gets the benefit of a dad."

Mrs Tolley said privately-run jails had the advantage of being able to trial new programmes without jumping through bureaucratic hoops. She also noted the absence of hostility between staff and inmates at Doncaster Prison.

Serco has introduced some of its initiatives at Mt Eden. It increased the number of visiting hours for inmates and attempted to make the visiting area as home-like as possible to facilitate family bonding and encourage rehabilitation.

The Doncaster prison was the first British jail to be paid according to its results - it only received full payment if it reduced reoffending by 5 per cent.

This was similar to the proposed contract for the Wiri prison, Mrs Tolley said.

"If they don't beat the results from the public sector by 10 per cent, there are financial penalties."

More: NZ Herald

Its president says people who have not experienced persecution firsthand "cannot fully understand what it means to receive threats against your life, to have your house destroyed, your own rights violated and your loved ones taken away from you and imprisoned; and all this because of your faith in Jesus Christ".

Continue reading

Prison Fellowship New Zealand has run the Christian-based rehabilitation programme at Rimutaka Prison's FBU since October 2003.

Gregory Fortuin, Executive Chairman of PFNZ, remarked, "Although this marks an end of an era for one of our highest profile programmes in the prison system, we are now planning, with other community partners and our volunteers throughout New Zealand, to take the Christian values - based programmes and services we have learned do work, into many more prisons.

500+ men have passed through the faith-based unit, many of whom are now back in their communites and churches, living crime-free.

Christian-based rehab programmes are to be expanded across the country in a new Corrections deal.

The new agreement between Prison Fellowship New Zealand and Corrections will give prisoners access to the Christian organisation's reintegration programmes in more sites than ever before.

Under the new agreement, Prison Fellowship will deliver reintegration programmes. A pilot of one of these programmes, Target Communities, is under way in four prisons. The programme has been tailored to maximise the reintegration support for prisoners on their release into Greater Wellington and Auckland Council regions.

The pilot is current running in Rimutaka, Arohata and Spring Hill Prisons. From early next year it will also be available in Auckland Women's Correction Facility.

Source:

• Prison Fellowship
• Image: Prison Fellowship

The Christian convert, Farshid Fat'hi, had been charged with "acting against national security through membership of the Christian organization Ilam, collection of funds and propaganda against the Islamic Regime by helping spread Christianity in the country".

Continue reading

Monsignor Lynn, the archdiocese of Philadelphia's secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, was found guilty of endangering a child. The charge stemmed from his handling of Edward Avery, a now-laicized priest jailed for abusing an altar boy during the 1990s.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said she believed Monsignor Lynn initially hoped to address the sex abuse problem and perhaps drafted a 1994 list of accused priests for that reason. But when his bishop, the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, instead had the list destroyed, the monsignor chose to remain in his job and obey his bishop — by keeping quiet — as children suffered.

"You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong," the judge said.

A copy of the list was retained and forgotten in a locked safe at the archdiocesan pastoral centre.

Prosecutors spent a decade investigating sex abuse complaints kept in secret files at the archdiocese. They issued two damning grand jury reports arguing that Monsignor Lynn and unindicted co-conspirators in the Church administration kept children in danger and the public in the dark.

"He locked away in a vault the names of pedophile priests. He locked in a vault the names of men that he knew had abused children. He now will be locked away for a fraction of the time he kept that secret vault," said District Attorney Seth Williams.

Monsignor Lynn, 61, said: "I did not intend any harm to come to [Avery's victim]. The fact is, my best was not good enough to stop that harm. I am a parish priest. I should have stayed [one]."

His defence lawyer, Thomas Bergstrom, called the sentence "grossly unfair" and "unbelievable".

"He's being punished for things he did properly: He met with victims, he met with accused priests, he documented everything, he sent it up to the cardinal," Bergstrom added.

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Christian Science Monitor

Image: Clerical Whispers

The pope decided to donate the egg to the children living at a Rome detention center, Casal del Marmo Prison for Minors.

"People speak ferociously even against the Pope, but nonetheless we have to move on," the pontiff said.

Despite the surroundings and a hectic Christmas schedule, Pope Benedict looked to be in good form.

Sympathic to their situation, Pope Benedict told prisoners that overcrowding in prisons was "double sentence" and whatever their offence it could not erase their dignity.

"I know that overcrowding and degradation in prison can make detention even more bitter," he told representatives of several hundred inmates of the prison, which has 500 more inmates than the 1,240 it was built to hold.

"Prisoners are human beings who are worthy, despite their crime, of being treated with respect and dignity," he said.

"I know that you live in a very difficult situation that often, instead of helping to renew your friendship with God and humanity, makes the situation worse," he told a prisoner named Rocco who asked him if politicians knew what prisoners endure.

Benedict greeted personally a number of prisoners and answered their questions, unscripted, for about half an hour.

He heard one African, Omar, speak of "our suffering and that of our families." Another African, Okai, asked: "Does God listen only to the rich?"

An Italian inmate named Federico complained that inmates who are HIV positive are looked at "ferociously."

One prisoner read "The prayer from behind bars" which he had composed.

Benedict's visit to the prison happened just two days after Italy's new government announced extraordinary measures to improve prison conditions.

Sources

• CNS
• Reuters
• Associated Press
• Image: NewsDaily

I follow his case with interest. Nobody who was at university at the same time as Rick could forget him, in part because he was a top English literature student, in part because of his vocals in local bands, and partly because he was there in the great late 60s rush into dope, which back then was a novelty.

I'm not breaking confidence here, since Rick has admitted to a long-standing use of cannabis.

He has now been jailed twice for drug crimes, has 14 previous drug convictions, and is three months into a two-year sentence for having cannabis to sell, along with having small amounts of cannabis oil, ecstasy and cocaine at his place.

My point is not about him in particular - I'm sorry to see he's in this position - but about the attitudes among middle-class people of that era that surface when they run into difficulties with the police.

They adopt a posture that's part aristocratic disdain, and part disbelief: police exist to hassle other people, surely, not people who've read Dostoevsky and know how to hold a knife and fork. You get this, too, with fraudsters who are suddenly called to account, and with bad drivers.

Perhaps it was this instinctive understanding that made ACT leader Don Brash, keen to slash Government spending, moot legalising cannabis and making dope-dealing OK.

That might be the one politically appealing idea Brash will ever come up with that could attract old stoners, though unfortunately they're the last people who would vote for him.

Rick wants home detention, and who can blame him? He has a music room at home, and creature comforts, and could easily pretend the whole darn court thing had never happened. Prison is not a nice place: he knew that already: its unpleasantness is meant to be its point.

But his arguments could only have been dreamed up by a white middle-class offender who'd woken from a bad dream only to discover he was living it.

No Maori, let's say, the 12 per cent of the population who make up half this country's prison population, would dream of appealing on the grounds - among other things - of not belonging there because you don't get enough sunshine, and you don't like air conditioning.

What made me think about this is Hone Harawira, who snarled about the appalling Maori rate of imprisonment on TV7 the other night. I wonder how successful Maori are at getting home detention.

Harawira is hard to take, but often right.

Read the full article

• Source: Rosemary McLeod in The Press
• Image: topnews.net.nz

Connor Rewha Te Wara, 15, pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Stewart, 74, on June 27 last year.

Te Wara was just 14-year-old when he and his associates - Ben Purua, then 15, and William Frederick Izett, then 17, bashed the retired builder to death.

Purua and Izett later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Mr Stewart's body was found by a street sweeper near a public toilet in London St, central Hamilton - he died from a blow to the head.

He was last seen earlier that night filling up his 1989 Peugeot 405 at a Norton Rd service station, the same night as the All Black-Wales rugby test in the city.

Mr Stewart's daughter, Tracey Stewart, said she hoped the trio's sentencing at the High Court in Hamilton on Friday would address their rehabilitative needs.

"That would be wonderful if that happened," she said.

"One is being sentenced for murder and two for manslaughter so they'll have different sentences but rehabilitation is definitely a big part of what we'd like to see.

"It's hard to know what systems are in place because we haven't been through this before but that's definitely something we want for them."

Ms Stewart said she and her uncle, Gordon Stewart, would read their victim impact statements to the court.

Source:

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Peter Drury/Waikato Times

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