Faith Behind Bars
This puts me in two minds on the issue- on one hand, I do support spiritual outreach in prisons, and I believe the usual policy of appointing one Christian chaplain (almost inevitably an Evangelical) per prison is not remotely adequate. On the other hand, religion is not the only means of rehabilitation, ands it strikes me that a program like this leaves the most vulnerable prisoners out in the cold. And of course, this being Florida, there's a very good possibility that the real aim of the program is to subsidize evangelical proselytizing.
When it's not Christianity in prison, the outcome is often strikingly different. Take the case of the four Georgia prison guards, members of the controversial Nuwaubian faith, who were recently fired for 'policy violations,' for allegedly offering preferential treatment to members of their own faith- ironically, exactly what many 'faith based' prison programs do as a matter of policy.
Comments
In other words, religion *is* a form of punishment.
Ok. Being less cheeky now…
I’m nervous about the idea of a rehab program being geared to religion - any religion. I do like the idea of providing prisoners access to doctrine or even clergy of their chosen faith, but only when such access is completely voluntary and they don’t gain any special perks over the atheist/agnostic prisoners.
This goes for any helping-hand type program. E.g.; I’m all for soup kitchens, but I think it’s kind of sleazy when that soup kitchen becomes a passive - or sometimes active - means of evangelizing. “You’re starving. We’ll feed you. The only catch is that you have to listen to our sermon…”
- Mary Wood
I was a volunteer Buddhist Chaplain in the nation’s first faith and character based women’s prison in Riverview, FL. It was a stranger experience since the DOC as well as the fundamentalist chaplain were very suspicious of me and my activities. Needless to say, they certainly did everything they could to make the experience an unfriendly one and the environment where I held my services/study uncomfortable. The screaming, music and carrying on in the chapel across the way were terribly loud, disturbing the ceremony the two Buddhists and I were having. To make matters worse, the chaplain and her “girls” (other inmates) intimidated the 2 Buddhist inmates. At Easter, the Chaplain listed other religions by name with emphisis on Buddhism & Wicca as faiths whose believers would go directly to hell. Needless to say, the visits didn’t last longer than 6 months. In my experience, one on one mail ministry works the best with periodic visits throughout the year. Like many others, I was thrilled with the faith & character based prisons - however they are controlled entirely by the Christian fundamentalists - right down to who receives the applications, to the application content and the selection of inmates. In short, it’s mainly a ruse to further Christian fundamentalism. I’m sad to say that this was my experience with the FL DOC.
Namaste,
Dharani
Religion has absolutely no place being advocated in government institutions like prisons. This should be done away with, this is horrible.