Who is in prison in Canada and what is happening to their families?

What can this mean for Christians called to act from hearts of flesh? (Ez . 11:19)
Now is a good time to find out.

PEOPLE IN PRISONS: A MATTER FOR CHRISTIAN REFLECTION

Did you know that, in this time of fiscal constraints, Canada is building more prisons
even though we already have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world? New
federal laws will be ensuring that many more people go to jail and stay there longer.

Informed observers call this policy direction a bad investment of public funds. It has
already proven ineffective in the US with a poor return on the dollar for crime reduction
results. Now researchers have also found that it has been causing much additional harm
(Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility, 2010.). A direct relationship has been
shown between serving time and lifelong negative impacts for large numbers of
offenders, and for their children. Incarceration is also proving damaging to communities,
in terms of financial hardship, health and the very social conditions that lead to more
crime. Yet it is for non-violent offences that the majority of our prisoners are doing time.
And sadly, more poor and aboriginal Canadians end up incarcerated and stay longer, and
many others already disadvantaged and vulnerable.

Considering all this, is it not time to wake up from our national complacency about
sending people to jail?

For Christians, there are compelling reasons to take this matter seriously.

Beyond concerns for good stewardship is our overarching mission for community
wholeness and Christ’s teaching of a preferential option for the marginal and poor. But
how much do we even know about people sent to prison from our own communities and
how this is impacting victims, families, their own future lives? How far have we
wandered from the call of our Gospel if we have been turning a blind eye to what may be
happening to these brothers and sisters, and what this is doing to us as community.

Our neglect of victims’ needs is poorly understood (see Church Series article ‘How can faith
communities be ‘neighbours’ to victims of crime?). Our ignorance of prisoners, however, seems to
come naturally as part of Justice, in a society that believes that punishment first requires
us to isolate and separate offenders from the rest of us, in our prisons and also in our
minds (‘we’re not like them’). That distancing makes what happens later easier to ignore.
Indifference sets in; there is no provision for a possible way back into our midst and trust.

But as Christians, we are also moved by a more heart-stirring vision of Justice, found in
Scripture: reconciliation through right relations; Shalom community grounded in
inclusiveness and covenant; belief in the dignity and possibility of every person. Are
these only words?
Yes, terrible wrongs are committed among us, but Christ’s radical call is to consciously
and effectively grapple with the spiritual reality of evil without making outcasts or
harming real people in the process.

How are we faring with the people we send off to prison?

Observations and resources tohelp reflect on our own community

WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SENT TO PRISON FROM
OUR COMMUNITY?

Did you know that the majority of prisoners in Canada are being held without a
criminal conviction? Many would say this is contrary to how we think prison should be
used, yet it is what we find in many communities.

The number of imprisoned people in Canada has been growing: close to 40, 000 in
2008/2009. Most were incarcerated for non-violent offences. Relatively few were in
federal penitentiaries; 96% of all prisoners were in provincial and territorial prisons
where sentences are shorter. The steady increase, however, has been driven largely by the
number of adults in ‘remand’, not yet tried or sentenced. Remand prisoners are all held
under harsh maximum security conditions, and the duration is getting longer due to court
delays. Sometimes they will have already be imprisoned longer than eventually required
by their sentence, if indeed they are convicted at all. Their number has doubled in the
past decade: it is they who are filling to over capacity our local jails. Many could be
managed with community supervision, but the budget funds prisons; other resources are
insufficient.

Most prisoners’ sentences are very short and served in the same province/territory.
From our own community, this may still be far away. Distance makes support and release
planning more difficult. Most sentences are for non-violent offences.

Those sentenced to two years or more have been sent to a federal penitentiary.
Close to a third are there for non-violent offences. The majority are not classified as
high risk. There are 57 federal institutions across Canada. For many families, they are
very far away.

FOR WHAT OFFENCES ARE PEOPLE SENT TO PRISON FROM OUR

COMMUNITY?

Did you know that homicide is rare and often a first and only offence?

The majority of violent crime in most communities is committed by a small group of

persistent, repeat offenders, mostly male. This is a serious challenge requiring more
focussed efforts and resources. We may find them poorly managed in our community
because expensive resources are wasted on others who could be better served by different
interventions that are more effective at lesser cost.
The far greater majority of people involved in the courts of our communities are
non-violent offenders, or repeat offenders who are mentally disordered and /or
addicted. We are likely to find that most are poor and disadvantaged, ill-equipped to
learn, requiring treatment, health services, educational, employment and housing
interventions, better delivered right in the community. It has been shown that they pose
an extremely low risk to re-offend in a violent manner. Without incarceration, outcomes
have proven the same or better in terms of any re-offence, at a fraction of the cost and
much less human damage.

But the same costly prison response is applied to all of these as well.

WHAT HAPPENS TO PEOPLE WHO GO TO PRISON FROM OUR COMMUNITY?

AND WHAT HAPPENS TO THEIR FAMILIES?

Did you know that imprisonment causes more harm in addition to the harm caused by
the crime, and actually increases the risk of offenders re-offending?

Sudden removal from the community can wreak havoc with job, wages, housing, child
care, source of financial support for family.

An incarcerated parent is a great loss; it can damage children in ways that last a lifetime,
also coming with the deep stigma of having your mother or father declared a criminal.

Many families find that, at a time when help is most needed, people seem to withdraw
from them, fearful of being criticized for the relationship.

Loved ones feel a sense of shame, of being labelled guilty by association.

Prison visits can be traumatic, locations can be distant, with poor public transportation.
Security procedures can feel humiliating.

Time in prison puts a person at risk of infectious disease, being knifed or killed, losing
their family. Glaring prison garb in some provinces helps rip away positive identity.
Daily living conditions and interactions can feel demeaning. Prisoners may never make it
into a program, if any is available at all.

There is little opportunity for offenders in prison to take responsibility for their actions,
nor for meaningful accountability or apology to their victims.

Time in prison can increase a person’s criminal involvement; it can decrease other
opportunities. Even at best, many find a segment of our society that will never allow a
person with a criminal record to live a normal life: a prejudice stands in the way of
employment possibilities, access to bank accounts, lodging, travel. Is there anyone
among us who can say this does not ring true in our own attitudes?
And here is the result: in very practical terms a prison sentence amounts to lifetime
punishment . Serving time reduces annual wages persistently down the years, and by
40%; the pew study showed that even the year after the father is released family income
remains lower than the year before incarceration. As well, children with fathers who
have been incarcerated are significantly more likely than others to be suspended or
expelled from school. Considering that both education and parental income have proven
strong indicators of children’s future economic mobility, our prison habit is dooming
large numbers of offenders and their children to a lifetime of failure and exclusion, for
which we all bear the cost.

TROUBLING QUESTIONS FOR CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

Did you know that Jesus saw a different way to overcome evil, sin and harmful
behaviour, respectful even of those who are guilty?

The vision of justice we find in Scripture is profound, and a radical departure from our
present culture. We hear the command to love our enemies, to refrain from vengeance, to
believe in the dignity of every person; to leave room for mercy, grace and the possibility
of transformation. This is a tough call for individuals faced with devastating losses and
human behaviour that is brutal and cruel. At the heart of such darkness a highly personal
journey unfolds; we can only respect and learn from the Mystery of the individual soul
struggling with the impact of evil.

But our addiction to prison points us to something other than our strengths or failings at
individual virtue and forgiveness.

Our addiction to prison is foremost about our collective failure to be in relationship with
fellow humans, in right relations, in inclusive, covenant community.

More than anything we are called to be a people caring for one another through all the
twists and turns of our conflicts and sins. We are called to engage the Spirit of God,
moving among us, to find creative ways back into covenant community and hold together
in solidarity and connectedness, despite everything – never letting go.

But how can we be a community of the faithful when we automatically, by public policy,
exclude and isolate all those we have reduced in our minds to the one-size-fits-all label
‘criminal’?

This does not mean making excuses for people and turning a blind eye to what they have
done. The story of Jesus with the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8:11) shows His practice
of total inclusivity even with those who are guilty as charged: He knows and names as
sin what she has done. He tells her to sin no more. But He sets aside dominant power,
condemnation and punishment as the way to handle evil and maintain moral order. Jesus
drew no boundaries between those on the inside and those on the outside, whether guilty
or not. The God of Jesus sent rain and sun on just and unjust alike (Mt. 5:45).
God’s way of operating is radically different from ours. Jesus invited us into a new way
of relating to God as Compassion, with implications for a new way of relating to one
another.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CHURCHES AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE?

Do we know how the criminal justice system is affecting real people in your own
community? It is difficult to practice inclusiveness and compassion with people sent to
prison about whom we know nothing. It is also difficult for them to experience that we
believe in their dignity when we abandon them to demeaning conditions. Who is tin
prison from our community and why? What other options do we have available and how
many offenders and victims would be better served there if those options were adequately
funded? Offenders can take responsibility for their actions; victims can get answers to
painful questions and move beyond emotions that are debilitating. Better quality justice
services are possible and information is available to help with this.

A congregation can do much once it has been sensitized to that very special group of
victims- the family. We can reach out to children with parents in jail; holiday times are
especially hard, joining in activities can bring comfort and affirmation, or a discrete
signal of empathy and respect. An offer of transportation for a family’s visit can be most
welcome, or a quiet coffee between women, or men, now and then. The Canadian
Families and Corrections Network offer many resources and suggestions for support.

In addition to care for the victims of crime in our community, (see Church Series article
‘How can faith communities be ‘neighbours’ to victims of crime?) we can take a step as
individuals with a note or letter to the parents of an offender, indicating simply,
genuinely, our compassion and support: this can often help a distraught mother or father
through a painful time.

This gradual growing of relationship will bring us closer to each other; and bring us to
our senses about the scandal of imprisonment in Canada.

Plans are moving steadily ahead for new laws breeding more prisons. We could each
write to our Member of Parliament about that.