Matthew 18:1-10

The children of the incarcerated are often collateral damage in our correctional system.  Currently 2.7 million children have a parent in prison.  Prisons isolate parents from their families.  Prisons are often located in isolated rural areas making family visitation practically impossible.  When mothers are incarcerated, children are usually placed in foster homes or group homes.  Children of incarcerated parents often experience shame from having a parent in prison and seldom get the emotional and spiritual support they need. Unfortunately, 70 percent of children with parents in prison will themselves be incarcerated at some point in their lives. 

Given the value that Jesus placed on children, what might Jesus say about this statistic?  Would you call our current correctional system a “stumbling block” for children?  If so, how?  What could you and your community do to “cut it off”? 

Prison Fellowship International has a program called Angel Tree that connects incarcerated parents with their children through gift giving.  Sesame Street has a “tool kit” to help children and their caregivers face issues of incarceration together.  For information about Angel Tree, link HERE. 

2 Chronicles 6:26-40

The Scripture today is part of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple.  He prays for God to forgive the people when they sin and then repent.  Repentance is a necessary part of changing one’s life both spiritually and socially.

One of the first “modern” prisons was Eastern State Penitentiary, built outside of Philadelphia, PA, in 1829.  It was built on principals championed by the Society of Friends (Quakers) and was a radical departure from the torture and executions that had been used for punishment in Europe and other parts of the US.  Under the new model, corporal punishment of inmates was prohibited.   The building, modeled after a monastery with small sky-lit cells for individual inmates, was intended to be a place where inmates would have ample time to reflect on their “crime” and come to regret their action.  Like a monastery, inmates were expected to maintain silence at all times and there was no interaction with other inmates.  Inmates spent their time alone reading the Bible and working with their hands (making shoes, weaving, etc)—all with the goal that inmates become penitent.  Hence, penitentiary. 

The model was not without controversy.  Charles Dickens expressed concern of the effects of silence and solitary confinement on the brain.  Alexis de Tocqueville reported to the French government that this model was a powerful tool for total reformation of the criminal.  The critics eventually prevailed and the Pennsylvania system of solitary confinement and silence was abandoned by 1913. 

While the word ‘penitentiary’ continues in our vocabulary, would you say our current system is designed to punish criminals or move them toward rehabilitation? If our prisons do not rehabilitate (and our recidivism rate would suggest that they do not), what other model might work better?  What could a Christian model of rehabilitation possibly look like? 

Rehabilitation is at the core of the Danish prison system and the evidence suggests that it works.  Learn more about the Danish system HERE.    Do you think such a system would work in the US?  Why or why not? 

Acts 12:1-17

In this passage, God breaks Peter out of the jail of Herod Agrippa I, ensuring that Peter will not be killed as James, the brother of John, had been killed.  Peter ends up being a fugitive from Herod’s justice. Why do you think this story of a prison break was included in the history of the early church?  Is it just a story about Peter’s miraculous release from prison?  What else does it teach us about God?  About injustice?  About prayer for the prisoner? 

We need a plumber desperately.  There is a direct relationship between early school suspension and later incarceration.  Break the chains!

The School-to-Prison Pipeline Starts in Preschool

Daniel 6:1-23

King Darius issued an executive order that prohibited prayer.  Daniel, in what amounts to civil disobedience, continued to pray three times a day and is caught.  He ended up being sentenced to capitol punishment — death by lions.  God intervened and Daniel was saved from execution. 

Why do you think King Darius issued the order to begin with?  Why do you think Daniel chose to break the law of the land, knowing it could mean execution? What does God’s intervention reveal about God in relationship to Darius’ “law and order” edict? 

We often say, “Do the crime; do the time”.  This attitude reveals an underlying assumption that all laws are just.  Historically, what are some examples of “unjust laws”?  How do you determine whether a law is “just” or “unjust”?  Have you ever acted in “civil disobedience” because of the law clashed with your faith?  If not, why not? 

In April 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was jailed in Birmingham for violating an injunction to refrain from organizing or promoting protests against segregation.  Many pastors criticized him for breaking the law and using “extreme” tactics in his fight for equality.  In response, he wrote his famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”.  You can read it HERE.

2 Chronicles 16:1-10 (NIV),  Jeremiah 38:1-6 (NRSV)

In each of today’s Scriptures, prophets are placed in prison—Hanani for confronting King Asa about a questionable treaty with the King of Aram, and Jeremiah for being unpatriotic.  Hanani was placed in stocks and Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern (and left to starve to death).  Prisons are usually part of a larger apparatus of social control and oppression.

What are some current examples of the use of prisons to control political dissent or to oppress groups of people? 

“Nowhere in Scripture do we find a divine endorsement of prisons [as a place of punishment].”  So wrote Mark Olson in an article published in “The Other Side” magazine.  He went on to write, “Never, ever, in any part of the Bible are prisons part of God’s way. Always they are used to oppress. Always they are an affront to the divine. There are no good prisons. None” 

Do you agree or disagree with this statement?  Explain.  How has this year’s Compact challenged your view of prisons and how we treat prisoners?

Galatians 6:1-2, Ephesians 4:25-5:1

Paul’s instructions to the Galatians and Ephesians are very different from his instructions to the church at Corinth (see Day 21 Devotional).  How do you account for the difference in tone?  In your experience, are Christians more likely to condemn the sinner or restore the sinner?  What does that say about Christians’ understanding and experience of God’s forgiveness?  Why do you think a “spirit of gentleness” (or humility) is required of those who are involved in restoring those who are transgressors?  What are the foundational bases for working toward truth-telling, forgiveness, and restoration to the community? 

Think about God’s attitude toward the law-breaker and forgiveness.  On a scale from 1 to 10, how are you at imitating God’s response to the sinner?  What could you do to move the scale toward imitating God?

There is no devotional for Sunday, March 30, 2014

1 Corinthians 5:1-13, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

There is a person in the Corinthian church that is openly involved in immoral (if not illegal) behavior.  Paul directs the church to take action to expel the individual from the church.  Though there are multiple interpretations on the directive to “hand him over to Satan”, the goal of the action is to discipline and correct his behavior.  Evidently, the church took Paul’s advice and expelled him.  However, the punishment did not end—even after the man expressed his sorrow.  Paul’s second letter advises them to “forgive him, console him and reaffirm their love for him.” 

In a situation where there has been an infraction that has brought damage to the community, what do you think are some of “Satan’s designs” for the law breaker?  For the community?  How does forgiveness and restoration to the community thwart those designs? 

While this is a situation that happens inside the church, are there applications to those who have been convicted of crimes and have been incarcerated?  How can we express consolation and forgiveness to those who have “done their time”?

Jeremiah 33:10-11, Psalm 68:4-6

The people of Israel have been removed from their land and taken into exile because of their rejection of God and their rebellion against God’s Law.  But their punishment is limited.  God promises to “restore their fortunes” and return the people to their land and replace what had been lost.  The Psalmist also celebrates God’s restoration after release from captivity.

What do these passages teach about God’s forgiveness?  How might they challenge our current correctional system and how we treat ex-offenders?

When ex-convicts are released in California, they are given up to $200 (depending upon the length of their incarceration) in what is known as “gate money”.  However, they must pay for their own transportation from the prison out of that $200.  This is the extent to which we “restore their fortune”.   “Gate money” varies from state to state, but few states provide comprehensive re-entry services to ensure that ex-convicts can survive let alone thrive outside of the system.

Consider picking up the phone to contact Representative Danny Davis’ office at 773- 533-7520 to thank him for introducing the Second Chance Reauthorization Act and ask how you can support his efforts to get the bill passed.

We have reached the half-way mark in our Fast for Freedom.  What impact has this experience had on you thus far?

Deuteronomy 25:2-3

This scripture describes a judgment against a law-breaker and a sentence of flogging.  While flogging is severe (it is still practiced in many countries for even minor offenses), the Law limits it to no more than forty lashes.  Why the limit?  Because otherwise “your neighbor will be degraded in your sight.”  The “criminal” is still a neighbor and still deserves dignity.  His/Her humanity must be preserved.  There is protection for the “criminal” even in the midst of punishment.

This is criminal justice that is done in public.  It is out in the open where the lashes can be counted and those doing the flogging can be stopped after 40.  Thankfully, in our enlightened correctional system, we have done away with public hangings and floggings.  However, we have moved the punishment indoors to the prison and in the process removed correction from public scrutiny and accountability.  We have hidden the criminal and those who carry out the punishment.  And we no longer have to watch our neighbor be degraded before our eyes.

Did you know that twice as many rapes occur inside prisons than outside?  Did you know that guards frequently beat up prisoners and encourage prison fights for entertainment?  Did you know that prison wardens frequently place prisoners in solitary confinement for undisclosed reasons and keep them there indefinitely?  And there is little accountability.

What words do we use in our society to describe a a person who has been convicted of a crime and incarcerated?  Does the word “neighbor” come to mind?  Why or why not?  What in our correctional system do you think would change if we did see the criminal as our neighbor?  How might we restore accountability in a correctional system that is removed from our sight?

Have you fasted in support of our neighbors at the Menard Correctional Center and other prisons around the country who are on a hunger strike because they have been in solitary confinement for indefinite periods of time in terrible conditions?  Set a time now to do it.  Check out the resource page for an update on conditions at Menard.