So What Should We Do with Prisoners?

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Despite the Bush-Dukakis rhetoric over who is toughest on crime, prison overcrowding is continuing to reach crisis proportions.

Thirty-seven states are currently under court order to reduce their overcrowded prisons, and 17 states have reported they are releasing prisoners early because of burgeoning prison populations. In Florida, for example, corrections officials say prisoners—including those convicted of violent crimes—are serving as little as 20 percent of their sentences.

“Overcrowding is a symptom of a problem: we don’t quite know what the criminal justice system ought to be doing,” said Justice Fellowship president Dan Van Ness. “We invented prisons in the United States to rehabilitate people, but we have now … equated them in our minds with punishment,” he said. “And unfortunately, we can’t build enough prisons to house all the people we want to punish.”

As an alternative, Justice Fellowship, the criminal justice reform arm of Prison Fellowship, has been advocating punishment programs that feature restitution and community service. According to the U.S. Justice Department, 35 percent of the people in state prisons are nonviolent offenders. Van Ness thinks placing nonviolent offenders in overcrowded prisons is wrong. “As Christians, we need to respond to that injustice,” he said.

To that end, Justice Fellowship has been involved in several new projects around the country including:

• The EARN-IT program in Massachusetts, which takes unemployed defendants convicted of property crimes and sentences them to work for local businesses at minimum wage in order to pay restitution to their victims;

• The Community Corrections program in Indiana, which allows counties to apply for state funds to set up their own restitution and community-service projects tailored to community needs. In return, the counties agree not to send nonviolent offenders to the state prisons;

Paying For The Crime

Last month District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry closed his district’s overcrowded prison system to new inmates and announced plans to release 350 prisoners early. On the same day, Althea Young and seven of his fellow inmates at the District’s Lorton prison complex were participating in a pilot community-service project that could offer one solution to the desperate prison situation.

The Washington Community Service Project was a joint effort of Prison Fellowship, the D.C. Networkers for Christian Affairs, the D.C. Department of Corrections, and several local churches. Under the project, Young and the other prisoners spent two weeks renovating the substandard home of a mother and her five children. The project was financed out of a $23,000 contribution national Christian leaders made to Prison Fellowship during the Congress on the Bible held last year (CT, Nov. 6, 1987, p. 42).

According to Al Lawrence, Prison Fellowship’s D.C. area director, local churches were an integral part of the project. Churches identified and sponsored the work site, provided food for the crew, obtained appliances and work materials, coordinated daily devotions and special music, and provided assistance, guidance, and discipleship for the prisoners.

John Staggers, head of D.C. Networkers, a group of local Christian leaders, said the participation of the inner-city churches is essential, because these are the people who were directly affected by the crimes committed. “Bringing these men back into the community takes a different kind of relationship,” Staggers said. “It makes our churches realize that God is serious about the business of forgiveness.”

For Althea Young, who served as the electrician for the work crew, the project had a double benefit. “We came out of Lorton to do a job, … to give something back to the community, and that helps the atmosphere where we come from, too,” he said. But the experience had some personal benefits for Young as well. “It has wrung a lot [of love and good feelings] out of me that I’ve been holding in.”

• The Victim-Offender Reconciliation program (VICTOR) in Columbia, South Carolina, which allows the victim to sit down with the offender, and under the guidance of a trained mediator, discuss the crime and develop a restitution program.

Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson said it is vital that churches take more leadership roles in programs like these. “We of all people believe in restoration,” said Colson. “We believe people can repent and be forgiven and have a new life in Christ.”

Justice Fellowship does much of its work through task forces made up of local Christian leaders. The task forces go into the prisons, talk with legislators, formulate solutions to the unique local prison problems, and work to develop public support for reforms. “The church is called on to love its neighbor, and the illustration Christ used with this command was a crime victim,” said Van Ness.

Colson is critical of both presidential candidates this year for politicizing the criminal justice issue. Earlier this year, he was critical of George Bush for taking political advantage of a tragedy that took place under the Massachusetts prison furlough program. Now, Colson said, Michael Dukakis “managed to one-up Bush,” by attacking the vice-president for endorsing a halfway house in the late 1960s when he was a private citizen. Fourteen years later, an inmate escaped from the halfway house and killed someone.

Van Ness said politicians need to take a deeper look at “tough on crime” rhetoric. “The ironic thing,” he said, “is if we pass anticrime bills that put more people in prison for longer periods of time, everyone just ends up serving shorter sentences because there is no room in the prisons.”

By Kim A. Lawton.

North American Scene

UPDATE

Walk For Housing Concludes

It was a long walk, the trek from Portland, Maine, to Atlanta, Georgia. But as the last steps were taken, at least 500 people were enjoying new houses provided by the walkers.

Billed as a “House-Raising Walk,” the 1,200-mile journey began in June under the sponsorship of Habitat for Humanity, an ecumenical Christian housing ministry. While volunteers walked to secure sponsorship pledges, building crews simultaneously constructed 77 new homes and renovated another 77. More than $1 million was raised by the walk.

The arrival in Atlanta coincided with Habitat’s twelfth anniversary. Based in nearby Americus, Georgia, Habitat sponsors house-building projects in nearly 400 communities around the world.

SEXUAL CONDUCT

Lutherans Affirm Marriage

Last December, three gay Lutheran seminarians were certified for ordination, forcing the newly formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to consider its position on homosexuality (CT, April 22, 1988, p. 40).

At its September meeting, the ELCA’s Division for Ministry reached its verdict: Marriage is the only appropriate setting for expression of sexual intimacy for “candidates for specific ministry in the ELCA.” The board also said homosexual erotic activity is inappropriate and “reason for a person to be removed from candidacy in the ELCA.”

Each of the 65 ELCA synods has a candidacy committee that may approve candidates to be ordained as ministers. The document will be used by the committees to explain to the candidates the denomination’s expectations regarding sexual orientation and behavior.

TELEVISION

Religious Network Debuts

It was hailed as an alternative to televangelism, but few viewers could find VISN, the new mainline church cable network, when it began broadcasting in September. Network spokesman William Airy said the limited availability of the fledgling network is typical for new cable enterprises. “They [cable operators] have to taste this thing before they swallow it.”

Ironically, viewers in the lucrative metropolitan New York market were tuned out because VISN had not found a cable operator who would distribute the network’s programs. New York is the home base of VISN, headquartered at Trinity Episcopal Church on Wall Street.

Among the programs scheduled for the first weeks of broadcasting were the popular children’s series, “Davey and Goliath,” a British Broadcasting Corporation series featuring visits with congregations in Great Britain, and “One in the Spirit,” a collaboration of the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Church of the Brethren, and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Airy hopes pressure from viewers will encourage local cable companies to request VISN from their operators.

TRADITIONAL VALUES

Family Fare In The 1980S

The current decade’s economic growth and politically conservative climate may not have been good medicine for America’s families, according to George Washington University economist Star A. Levitan. He points to further breakdowns in the traditional family unit as well as an increase in the number of poor families as evidence that the family is becoming increasingly endangered.

For example, Levitan reports the percentage of births out of wedlock jumped from 18 in 1980 to 22 today. More children live with a single parent today than in 1980, and the number of cohabiting couples has doubled during the last eight years.

Levitan also notes an increase in the percentage of mothers in the work force who have children under the age of three. And although median family incomes are up, the percentage of Americans who own homes has dropped.

“The American family has continued to erode during the past eight years,” says Levitan, “and recent family trends are creating a nation of ‘haves and have nots.’ ”

TRENDS

Most Women Are Satisfied

Call it coincidence. During the week when jazz-singer Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” raced to the top of the pop charts, a Gallup poll reported that nearly nine out of ten women of childbearing age are satisfied with their lives.

The poll of 1,000 women ages 18–44 also found that the most essential element to career success is confidence, followed by a supportive husband or partner. And satisfaction for the women surveyed is closely tied to personal and familial aspects of their lives.

Fifty-three percent of married women reported being very satisfied, compared with 28 percent of unmarried women. Women with children were more likely to say they were very satisfied with their lives, according to the poll. And overall, 83 percent said they believe they will be able to meet their life goals.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Briefly Noted

Named: As president and chief executive officer of International Students (ISI), Gordon D. Loux. A founder and current chairman of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, Loux most recently served as president of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Denied: By the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, reports that their film company, World Wide Pictures, is shutting down. Spokesman John Corts said the firm’s Burbank studio is being phased out as a production facility, but that films will continue to be made.

World Scene

RELIEF

Koreans Put Wells In Africa

Ten drought-stricken villages in Burkina Faso, West Africa, will have their own wells, thanks to members of the Korean Evangelical Fellowship (KEF).

KEF general secretary Kim Myung Hyuk visited the region earlier this year to inspect similar drought-relief projects sponsored by World Relief, Inc. When he returned to Korea, he challenged Korean churches to do something for suffering people on another continent. “Many of these villages are predominantly Muslim, but when they learn that Christians want to help ease their problems, they become interested in the gospel,” Kim said.

Korean evangelicals gave $25,000 for new wells, and another $5,000 came from North American Koreans attending a Korean World Mission conference in July. “It is time for Asian churches to see the needs of others around the world and try to help in some way,” Kim said.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Prison Torture Continues

The governments of nearly 100 countries continue to imprison, torture, and kill people for their political or ideological activity, according to a report from Amnesty International. Yet many of the countries cited formally support the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

The report, covering the calendar year 1987, documents what it calls the “ugly picture” of what governments do to their citizens. Countries listed in which torture is used against political prisoners include Kenya, Zaire, Chile, Honduras, China, Poland, and Spain. The report also singled out countries where government-backed “death squads” are particularly active: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chile.

Another area of concern singled out by the report was executions of prisoners without due process. Among the countries where such killings were reported are the Philippines, Namibia, and Peru.

Amnesty International monitors such activity worldwide in an effort to stop “the imprisonment of people for their ideas or origins.” It campaigns against unfair political trials, torture, and the death penalty.

SOVIET UNION

“Banned” Bible Sells

Soviet magazine publishers are learning a profitable lesson in circulation promotion: controversy sells. Several magazines have successfully increased their circulation by publishing articles on formerly taboo subjects, and according to News Network International, one magazine plans to serialize the New Testament.

Though publishing the Bible is sure to boost the circulation of the trade journal V Mire Knig (The World of Books), some observers say plans to serialize the Scriptures is a response to the growing demand for previously banned literature. Taking advantage of the current climate of openness in the Soviet Union, scholars have openly called for the publication of the Bible, in part to enhance the nation’s understanding of Western culture.

During a recent visit to Israel, Soviet scholar Sergei Averintsev said he has been asked by the magazine to write the footnotes that will accompany the New Testament.

CHURCH AND STATE

Crackdown In Kenya

Tension between Anglican church leaders in Kenya and their government reached a high point last month over accusations of fraud in September’s Kenya African National Union (KANU) party elections. David Gitari, Anglican bishop of the Diocese of Mount Kenya East, publicly charged that some party candidates who were announced as winners had actually lost their elections.

According to the New York Times, Moses Mudavadi, KANU secretary general and a close friend of Kenya’s President Daniel Moi, warned churches that such criticism could result in a loss of religious freedom. Mudavadi also accused Anglican church leaders in Kenya of supporting the South African government.

Earlier this year, the government banned the Christian magazine Beyond for publishing articles accusing government officials of irregularities during elections in March. The editor was later sentenced to nine months in jail for allegedly failing to file annual reports with the government.

AGRICULTURE

Tackling The Food Problem

Should Third World nations grow export crops such as sugar and coffee, or should they grow food for local consumption? Ten U.S.-based farm and church groups have begun a three-year educational program to explore this and other agricultural issues facing developing nations.

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded a grant to Bread for the World Educational Fund on behalf of the farm and church groups who will be conducting the program. “We believe there is a long-term congruence of interests between U.S. farmers and poor people in developing nations,” said Arthur Simon, president of Bread for the World. “As the incomes of poor families increase, a very large share of additional income is spent for food.” Simon believes U.S farmers can help reduce the cost of food while expanding their own markets.

Church groups joining in the project include Bread for the World, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the U.S. Catholic Conference, and the Iowa-based National Catholic Rural Life Conference.

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