In the world today, there are around 9 million people who are confined away from society in a prison or jail of some sort. Nearly half of all prisoners worldwide are housed in the prisons of the United States of America, Russia, or China. That means that about four million five hundred thousand people are in prison in these three countries. Just writing out the number rather than giving it as 4.5 million makes it seem more real. The numbers are staggering and they do not even begin to reflect the depths of the tragedy that affects so many households in the US, Russia and China.

Over one and a half million people are incarcerated in the United States. Among these prisoners are those who crimes we might consider non-violent and among the prisoners are those who have killed many people before being arrested and convicted to prison. There are those who have been caught smuggling pot into the US and there are people who were caught trafficking in human beings (slave owners, in other words). And no matter what their crime, I think we can all say, "There, but for the grace of God, go I.”  Crime is a part of our human nature in our fallen world. The urge to defy God's precepts is always, as Cain heard, "crouching at the door.”  The first homicide is recorded in the verses that follow in Genesis 4.

It is into the places where the prison garb is the norm and the word, "Guilty,” has been spoken to every person there that the chaplain brings the presence of God.  One thing that is never at question in a jail or prison is that the inmate can say, "I've never done anything wrong.” The inmate may dispute the verdict, but the evidence remains that there was enough proof of his/her breaking of the law to warrant sending the person to prison. While we can (and should) debate the sentencing system in the US, for our purposes here, the problem of the chaplain is not to try to convince anyone that they are in need of a Savior. It is, instead, the challenge of how to bring the presence of a forgiving God into a place of darkness and little hope.

In that sense, the chaplain is the one who is like Jesus who came from his Father's perfect presence to live among us humans who have managed to make this a dark place with no hope. As the Apostle Paul put it in Ephesians 2, "...you were without God and without hope in this world.” So it is not as though the prison is different from our everyday experience. We are all slaves to the evil desires of our hearts. Evil is always crouching at our doors and is seeking to devour us. But the gospel is that God in Christ has come to us and now he has given us the ministry of reconciliation. And now he has appointed us to be his ambassadors as Paul puts it in II Corinthians 5, "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.” That is the message of hope and light which the chaplain brings to the lives of those who are incarcerated in various prison situations.

In the materials included in this module, I have a few items from Prison Fellowship. This is a group founded by the late Chuck Colson after he himself had been indicted and had discovered how far from God he could be. He was in prison when he came to his senses and, like the Prodigal Son of Jesus' parable, returned to his Father's house. Below is an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on Church Colson:

Indicted

On March 1, 1974, Colson was indicted for conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglaries.

Introduced to Christianity

As Colson was facing arrest, his close friend, Raytheon Company chairman of the board Thomas L. Phillips, gave Colson a copy of Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, which, after reading it, led Colson to become an evangelical Christian. Colson then joined a prayer group led by Douglas Coe and including Democratic Senator Harold Hughes, Republican congressman Al Quie and Democratic congressman Graham B. Purcell, Jr.. When news of the conversion emerged much later, several U.S. newspapers, as well as Newsweek, The Village Voice,  and Time, ridiculed the conversion, claiming that it was a ploy to reduce his sentence. In his 1975 memoir Born Again, Colson noted that a few writers published sympathetic stories, as in the case of a widely reprinted UPI article, "From Watergate to Inner Peace."

Pleads guilty, imprisoned

After taking the Fifth Amendment on the advice of his lawyers during early testimony, Colson found himself torn between his desire to be truthful and his desire to avoid conviction on charges of which he believed himself innocent. Following prayer and consultation with his fellowship group, Colson approached his lawyers and suggested a plea of guilty to a different criminal charge of which he did consider himself to be culpable.

After days of negotiation with Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski and Watergate Trial Judge Gerhard Gesell, Colson pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice on the basis of having attempted to defame Ellsberg's character in the build-up to the trial in order to influence the jury against him. Journalist Carl Rowan commented in a column of June 10, 1974 that the guilty plea came "at a time when the judge was making noises about dismissing the charges against him", and speculated that Colson was preparing to reveal highly damaging information against Nixon,  an expectation shared by columnist Clark Mollenhoff; Mollenhoff even went so far as to suggest that for Colson not to become a "devastating witness" would cast doubt on the sincerity of his conversion. On June 21, 1974, Colson was given a one-to- three-year sentence and fined $5,000. He was subsequently disbarred in the District of Columbia, with the expectation of his also being prohibited from using his licenses from Virginia and Massachusetts.

Colson served seven months in Maxwell Correctional Facility in Alabama, --with brief stints at a facility on the Fort Holabird grounds when needed as a trial witness-- entering prison on July 9, 1974, and being released early, on January 31, 1975, by the sentencing judge because of family problems. At the time that Gesell ordered his release, Colson was one of the last of the Watergate defendants still in jail: only Gordon Liddy was still incarcerated. Egil Krogh had served his sentence and been released before Colson entered jail, while John Dean, Jeb Magruder, and Herb Kalmbach had been released earlier in January 1975 by Judge John Sirica. (Although Gesell declined to name the "family problems" prompting the release, Colson wrote in his 1976 memoir that his son Chris, angry over his father's imprisonment and looking to replace his broken car, had bought $150 worth of marijuana in hopes of selling it at a profit, and had been arrested in South Carolina, where he was in college. The state later dropped the charges.)

Interest in prison reform

Born Again, Colson's personal memoir reflecting on his religious conversion and prison term, was made into a 1978 dramatic film starring Dean Jones as Colson, Anne Francis as his wife Patty, and Harold Hughes as himself. Actor Kevin Dunn would also portray Colson in the 1995 movie Nixon.

During his time in prison, Colson had become increasingly aware of what he saw as injustices done to prisoners and incarcerates and shortcomings in their rehabilitation; he also had the opportunity, during a three-day furlough to attend his father's funeral, to pore over his father's papers and discover the two shared an interest in prison reform. He became convinced that he was being called by God to develop a ministry to prisoners with an emphasis in promoting changes in the justice system.

(retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson )

 

The challenging issue for the prison chaplain is the question which has haunted those in authority for centuries is, "What is supposed to happen with this person we have imprisoned? Is this for "rehabilitation” into a law-abiding individual? Or is this a punishment which will serve to deter any further disobedience on the part of this person?” As the chaplain interacts with the prisoners, he/she will inevitably see the worst and the best of a variety of answers to the question. What is the chaplains role in dealing with a prison administration which is bent on punishing the inmates, but at the cost of the personhood of the prisoners? When a chaplain sees an inmate being degraded by the jailors, what is the chaplain to do? What is the role of the representative of "Immanuel” in the prison setting?

Those questions are best answered by the chaplain as the chaplain carefully observes and ponders the role of Immanuel in that particular prison setting. It seems to me that there is no clear answer to how activist chaplain can really accomplish much other than antagonism of those who are in authority. So, the response to be sought after is that the chaplain will suffer with those who are mistreated. The chaplain will dignify the suffering of the prisoner as he or she is degraded by remaining with the prisoner in their degradation.

Ponder I Peter 2 for the next day or so. What does it have to say to us in our desire to be God's representatives to those who are suffering at the hands of their tormentors in prison.

1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

4  As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him-- 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual housea to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

"See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a chosen and precious cornerstone,

and the one who trusts in him

will never be put to shame.”b

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

"The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”c

8 and,

"A stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.”d

They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22 "He committed no sin,

and no deceit was found in his mouth.”e

23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 "He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed.”25 For "you were like sheep going astray,”f but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

It seems to me that when we look at ourselves in the way laid out by Peter in his letter, we will all be better at being Immanuel for those God cares about. He has appointed us as his ambassadors. Just as an ambassador of a country does not attempt to intervene in the local political situation, so too does the chaplain in the local prison situation. 

Last modified: Monday, February 19, 2024, 8:38 AM