Consequently, we tend to favor the expansion of the penal institutions. In other words, we advocate for the construction of additional facilities so that we can segregate and alienate these persons from the general population in society. It's been said that the prison enterprise is one of the fastest growing industries in America.
Dr. Robert Kruschwitz, Director of the Center for Christian Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, informs us that about 1 in every 100 persons is incarcerated. While that number appears to be rather small, when multiplied, it results in hundreds of persons confined to our penal institutions.
The mere fact that people would advocate for the expansion of jails and prisons indicates that:
1. There appears to be a wide-supported belief that people who are confined, are people who by nature, tend to commit crimes and participate in a criminal lifestyle.
2. Many believe that the more correctional facilities are built, the safer society will be.
I personally would question these two ideas. I believe that they both rest on faulty premises. I do not believe, for one single moment, that any one person or group is more criminally more inclined than another. While I do acknowledge that there is a volitional element in the commitment of crime, I also believe that there are socio-economic factors that contribute to and result in certain criminal acts being carried out. Furthermore, I do not believe that social safety is guaranteed by the construction of more facilities. If, indeed, as I believe, crime is rooted in socio-economic conditions, then these conditions have to be dealt with and seen as the main factor of social crimes. We cannot continue to take the "band-aid" approach to the solution of social problems such as criminality. This approach does not even begin to "scratch the surface."
The question of whether correctional facilities are constructed in order to stimulate the economies of certain communities is an issue that needs to be considered. Whether or not this is true, we cannot escape the reality that most of the people who are employed by the correctional system in these communities would have a very difficult time finding employment that would compensate with the generous salaries and fringe benefits that they receive by being employed in a correctional facility. At one correctional facility where I worked as a correctional counselor, some employees were heard to be complaining about "these damned inmates." The Superintendent of the facility said to them "I don't know why you continue to complain about the inmates. If it weren't for them, half of you would be working at MacDonald's." Half of the staff reported to work the next day wearing McDonald's hats in order to protest what he said.
The reality is that even if these facilities were not built with the purpose of stimulating the economy or generating employment, the employees, many of whom do not have a high level of formal education, and furthermore, denounce crime and detest residents, do benefit greatly from working in the correctional system. I remember that one co-worker at a facility where I served as a chaplain stated, "I don't know if crime pays, but it sure pays me." Are correctional employees "poverty pimps," capitalizing on the misery of the residents? It depends on who you ask.
Even as a chaplain who was compensated generously, and in fact, paid much higher than the average parish pastor or priest, I had to struggle with the issue as to whether I was there because I believed that God had called me to the prison ministry, or because the level of remuneration was comfortable. Most of my colleagues in the prison ministry who wrestled with the same question would respond by saying "both/and."
As a Christian minister working in both parish and institutional settings, I've had to confront the following issues:
1. Ethical-If our actions and lifestyles are based on the teachings and example of Jesus, we would ask the question that has become popular among certain Christians, i.e. "What would Jesus do?" Theologian James Cone says that we are not to ask what Jesus did back then, but rather, what is He doing today. If Jesus were living in the twenty-first century, would He advocate for the expansion of our correctional facilities? Would He support the "lock them up and throw away the keys" attitude?
While I do not wish to be presumptuous in thinking that I know for sure what Jesus would do, my reading of the Gospel accounts leads me to believe that Jesus would not advocate for prison expansion. I strongly believe that Jesus's compassion would be more geared towards dealing with the systemic problems that generate incarceration, i.e. religious persecution, social injustice, political oppression of all types, etc. Neither do I believe that Jesus would advocate for the concept of "lock them up and throw away the keys." In keeping with the prophetic tradition of the Jewish community, Jesus's message and ministry were geared towards humane treatment of confined individuals and eventual release from prison. When Jesus said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to "proclaim liberty to the captives," He was not talking about some ethereal freedom, or "in the sweet bye and bye" type of freedom. He was clearly talking about about liberation from socio-economic and political oppression, which in His day and time, included wrongful arrest and incarceration.
What, then, is the correct response of the faith community towards prison expansion? I would not say that there is one correct answer. As a minister/theologian, I can only offer the following imperfect and limited responses:
a. Examine the true reasons for prison expansion. Is it really for the safety of the community and society, or is it for the economic benefit and expediency of localities through "job creation?"
b. Evaluate prison expansion in the light of our respective faith mandates. In terms of the Christian faith, we evaluate the issue like we would any other social issue, i.e. in the light of the compassionate message of the Gospel, a message whose main thrust is humanization and liberation.
c. Galvanize all social entities to achieve the maximum degree of justice relative to the increase in the numbers of incarcerated persons. The faith community needs to insure that social and political structures respond to the basic human needs of the residents and that we cease the wrongful convictions and incarceration of innocent persons.
2. Practical- How do Christ-loving, justice-loving, peace-loving, and people-loving individuals who are employed in the correctional system integrate compassion and justice for incarcerated individuals with the need to earn a just salary? By a just salary, I mean a compensation that will enable them to meet the basic needs of clothing, food, education, housing, and recreation for themselves and for their families. There are no easy answers to that question.
I do not believe that the Gospel calls for us to glorify poverty. Consequently, I do not believe that Christians are called to take "a vow of poverty." The Word of God calls for us to work for a just compensation and to work for the construction of a social system in which each one can receive a just compensation in accordance with her/his basic needs.
If prison expansion were to result in our obtaining employment that helps us to adequately provide for the basic needs of our family, then we are called to insure that it does not become a means of exploiting the residents nor that it becomes a means of perpetuating the "caste system" that is present in our society where some in the working class are barely able to "make ends meet," and others are earning an excessive amount of money at the expense of the underemployed. In essence, what I am saying is that if we are to have prison expansion, then we must work for:
a. Justice for the residents. The residents must be treated with dignity and respect.
b. Justice for the workers. The employees must be given a just remuneration.
c. Justice for the community. The workers in the community must not be relegated to poverty and "second-class" status on account of the correctional system paying its commissioners and administrators excessive salaries and benefits. The economy of the community has to be restructured so that there is parity between those who work in the correctional system to provide for their families, and those in the community who provide for their families in other work places.
This essay was written by one who worked one year as a counselor in the correctional setting, and 21 years as a prison chaplain. It was written in the hope that the message of Christ's Gospel will resonate in the ears of all who read it.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona, Visiting Professor of Theology
Tainan Theological College/Seminary
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