Tantalus the suffering immortal

I have sat through meetings at two different facilities in which the men discussed the way parole effects them. These are men who are trying to change who they are, trying to learn how to function healthily both inside the facility and on the streets when they get out. The fact that they are giving up their time to sit in our meetings is proof enough of their efforts to convince me they are sincere.
But they are being "hit" at parole because of "the seriousness of their crime." There had been a lot of hope that the new wording under NYS 529(i) and the introduction of risk assessment meant that the parole process would focus on the person being interviewed, not the person sentenced. You cannot change the past. If parole is going to be based on who these people were, and not who they are now, then parole is impossible.
In the minds of these men, there are only two explanations: either the State is still operating in the mindset of 50 years ago when PAROLE did the sentencing, and they don't trust the judiciary to know what they are doing; or the State is cynically keeping them in to preserve their jobs and keep the DOCCS budget inflated.
But this is torture of a particular sort. Tantalus had it no worse. Men come to our meetings in pain. "I did everything they told me to do. I stayed out of gangs, I stayed out of trouble. I took pains to do well in all their mandated courses, I took college and trade school courses, I joined AA and go to church, I made myself into a new man. What more do they want from me?"

Contracts

What is parole? I want to be pedantic for a moment. Parole is a transferred concept from the prisoner of war lexicon. A prisoner of war is asked to give his parole, or acknowledgement of his status as a prisoner and his promise to abide by rules for a certain period or purpose. So while a prisoner is obligated to try to escape, he may give his parole in order to work in a hospital or to work to build a levee during a flood, or to stay with civilians and care for them as the battle rages around. today, we have twisted that to say that a prisoner is given parole by the Corrections bureaucracy, and he must report to a parole officer. This is a modern concept, not a chivalrous one. Knights sold their captives into slavery. The Western Europeans began considering parole after the turn of the twentieth century. But it was a trade off. I give you my parole, and I get the freedom or some of it, that I want. I can even be repatriated if I promise not to re engage against you.

Let's get back to prisoners in and of NYS. A prisoner is offered early release if the parole board believes his promises to obey the laws he did not obey before and if he agrees to supervision by the parole officer. But because NYDOCs has institutionalized this process (if you have custody of 70,000 prisoners, you end up institutionalizing as much as possible) that concept of promising has been obscured. The prisoners focus on convincing the parole board to "let me go," and the DOCs employees concentrate on keeping the parolees in their control. Both forget that there is a promise in there, and that the prisoner is honor bound to comply. The parole officer doesn't trust and the parolee resists control. Lose/lose.

In New York's efforts to reduce cost (and other states too, I am sure) the principles of bringing the prisoners into a state of education and a state of honor  have been dropped, if ever they were in play. programs such as Cephas and Spiritus Christie, along with activities such as Veteran's dorms and programs, and Crusaders, and even religious programs, all try to offer the prisoner opportunity to grow, to mature, to change from criminal to citizen, each program in its own way, using its own perspective on citizenship. but the prison system does not, in my opinion have any of that on its actual agenda, regardless of Mission and Vision statements. The one point of contact, the parole hearing, is a dance of preconceived notions; it may never be able to truly judge whether the promise of good behavior is real. And out on the streets, the prole office is the enemy, looking to violate the prisoner, not help him live up to his promise.

For whom do prison ministers pray?

This morning at morning report, we read all the prayers left in the intentions basket in the chapel, and then added our own prayers. I asked for prayers for F____, who had just been found guilty of assault with intent. I told about his terrible childhood and that he is not eating or coming out of his cell while awaiting sentencing in 3 weeks. I asked for prayers for strength and grace for him in his hour of darkness. Afterwards, one of the members of the group took me aside and told me that it was all well and good to pray for him, but that we need to put criminals away, and that I should remember that he was not the victim in his case. That he was the perpetrator of a vicious act. I still am not quite sure how to deal with it, but here is what I sent after some thought...

Bill, your cautionary comments this morning are still rattling around in my
brain. I want to make sure that you know that I do not and have never disagreed
with the spirit of your statement that the young man is still a perpetrator and
we need to have him incarcerated. It is not that he should be freed. It is not
that he should not be repentant of his offense. He has done what he has done,
and New York must act consistent with how we treat criminals.

My sorrow and my pain on his behalf (and ours) is that as a refugee, he was
un-cared-for,as a disturbed student, not helped and as an orphan, unloved. He is
too guileless to be making this up. I asked him once if he remembered his father
or either of his uncles holding him, or putting an arm around him, or even
looking at him fondly, and he said "no." I cannot imagine the brokenness that
must create.

Now I wonder how small my corner is. I can't fix Irani or Iraqi or Afghan
society. I can't even get involved in fixing the  schools, or public mental
health. I can't fix the courts. I can only pray for him as both a perpetrator
and as a victim. I pray that he come to see his actions as unjustifiable, and I
pray that he someday forgive those who stood by or even made his horrible life
worse.

Later I decided to add ....

All I can do is offer him an atom of the love that is God, and love him despite of his crime, cry for him because of his pain and hope for him despite his bleak future.