FOR THE LEAST OF US

Monday, March 2, 2009

A TIME FOR ACTION:

How to Start a Prison Ministry
by Frances Jett

Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow captives. (Hebrews 13:3)

Building and maintaining prisons is one of the fastest growing "industries" in the United States. More and more men, women, and children are being incarcerated each day, forcing communities to build additional jail cells. Beyond the issues of how to prevent people from entering the prison system is how to care for those already behind bars.Many congregations feel that prison ministry is best done by someone else: an expert, a prison chaplain, or, some drastic cases, not at all.

Embracing our biblical mandate is essential when starting a prison ministry in your faith community. The theological foundation for the United Methodist Church to be in prison ministry starts with mandates by Christ to be in ministry by "proclaiming freedom to the captives" (Luke 4:18), and we are all summoned to "remember those in prison as if you were their fellow captives" (Hebrews 13:3). Jesus identified himself as the one who was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, a prisoner - and invites us to ministries of nurture, outreach, and witness. We respond to this invitation and commit ourselves to justice-making.
John Wesley defined true religion as love shed abroad in our hearts, as love for God and neighbor. Wesley considered regular visitations of and friendship with the poor and imprisoned as essential to discipleship as prayer and Holy Communion. Ministry with offenders and victims, then, is not optional; it is mandatory if the church is to be the church. As a sign, foretaste, and instrument of God's reign, the church has no choice but to cast its lot with the ostracized, victimized, and marginalized.

The next step is to establish structure. Find out who in your faith community is already involved in prison ministry or reform activities. Some people work with ecumenical or secular groups; get to know those people and those groups. Seek out those in your community employed in any part of the criminal justice system: police officers, judges, lawyers. Start exchanges between those working in prison ministries and those employed by the criminal justice system. Invite them to speak on the importance of prison ministry or victim offender reconciliation. Peace with Justice Sunday or any Sunday that you may designate to reflect on social justice ministries would be a good time to organize an event on this ministry.

The final step for the prison ministry coordinator is to provide support. Collect and distribute articles and news about prison ministry. Maintain a file of resources and training opportunities on prison ministry, prison reform, and restorative justice. Distributing this information and having visitors speak on the subject will raise the awareness of your faith community's need to be involved with persons affected by the criminal justice system. You will have the power to effect change, as those who are incarcerated return to the free world. Considering that most of those incarcerated are released into society, making that transition a healthy one is important to the welfare of all people.

Not everyone in your faith community will feel comfortable visiting a prison, or participating in some form of restorative justice; those persons can participate in other ways. Since less than 20 percent of inmates receive visitors regularly, writing letters to the incarcerated and their families is appreciated. Preparing gift baskets for prisoners or providing housing for visiting family members, are also valuable opportunities for people to become involved. Enabling persons to take part of the ministry at level that is comfortable for them is extremely important.

We boldly state the idea of restorative justice in our Social Principles: "In the love of Christ, who came to save those who are lost and vulnerable, we urge the creation of genuinely new systems for the care and support of the victims of crime and for rehabilitation that will restore, preserve, and nurture the humanity of the imprisoned." A primary goal of rehabilitation has been taken out of the criminal justice system. Our current system is described as retributive, where crime is a violation of the state, defined by lawbreaking and guilt. Justice determines blame and administers pain in a contest between the offender and the state, all directed by systematic rules.

Restorative justice, on the other hand, considers "crime as a violation of people and relationships. It creates obligations to make things right. Justice involves the victim, the offender, and the community in a search for solutions which promote repair, reconciliation, and reassurance" (Howard Zehr, Changing Lenses, Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1990, p.181). Restorative justice is not a new way of thinking or behaving. It is part of our Judeo-Christian heritage. The goals are to resolve conflict, find mutually beneficial solutions, and restore persons who intentionally or unintentionally have broken a covenant with the community, and increase their self-awareness and accountability. Each time God forgave the Israelites collectively or individually, it was God's invitation and opportunity for them to return to a relationship with God and to the human community. Sometimes the need is to transform, when there is little to which a person or situation can be restored. In both cases, the invitation to be instruments of restoration or transformation is still ours to accept as people who embody the faith.

There are many ways to put our faith into action. The General Board of Church and Society is mandated to speak truth to power and advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. We are actively advocating for youthful offenders for a juvenile justice system that will protect them from adult offenders in jails and prisons. We are actively opposing prison privatization as a public safety priority. We continue to speak out against police misconduct and discrimination.

The Church needs to understand that our ministry is with prisoners, crime victims, and their families and the community at large. This encompasses a concern for the entire criminal justice system, especially persons employed within the structure of that system. The ministry of the church is both pastoral and prophetic, seeking both to heal those who have been wounded and to transform those structures that inflict those wounds.

Bill and Pam Ziering
831-250-7921
For The Least Of Us

Saturday, February 28, 2009

AWAKEN AMERICA

February 26, 2009

OUR MISSION

To identify, actively nurture, and support families of an incarcerated member

To link with active ministries and organizations toward:

o Reconciling families

o Transforming hearts through Christ

o Assisting in the provision of skills and services sufficient to help break the revolving door of recidivism

o Welcoming the whole family as members into Christ’s body, the church

Why be bothered with prison ministry?

2.700,000 men/women in prison
10,000,000 more in jail
7,000,000 on probation/paro
10% children in America has a parent in the "system"

No other country in the world competes with these numbers. How America defines crime, and deals with it is unique among both the civilized world and the emerging nations. Here, inmates are herded into vastly overcrowded cell blocks, deprived of all civil rights, excluded from any rehabilitative training, and ultimately released with only a prayer to make it successfully back into the competitive world. Is it any wonder the rate of recidivism is now approaching 70%? Some have likened incarceration to a postgraduate program for criminal behavior. How well does this square with America being as the ethical leader of the civilized world?

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A LETTER RECEIVED TODAY

Hello Bill and Pam,

Thanks for your kind message. I am the chaplain among some eleven hundred inmates, many of whom will be released directly from here or go on to State prison, where they might serve a term of a year or two. All of which is simply to agree with your observation. Most of the people we incarcerate will be back in our communities sooner or later. And yes, the public seems blissfully forgetful of this.

As there is not that much direct community involvement with prisoners themselves, the other good task people like yourselves set yourselves to is ministry with, support of the outside families. You fill one of the crying evils of our County, perhaps of our State--a near-total lack of transitional services, job assistance, ex-con and family housing.

At the County Jail level, the chief goal of Command staff is to keep inmates safe and secure, rather than rehabilitated, while they wait for their trials to unfold, generally very slowly. Some will end by being acquitted of their charges, too, and freed. As you probably know, there is almost no public money for inmate Program for them, while they wait unsentenced. They will see very few civilians inside the Jail; all of them service people of one sort or another--nurses, parole officers, rehabilitation counselors, the chaplain.

The sole exception are the ministry volunteers, whose task is to conduct worship in one form or another once a week for the many separate housing units here, for while in Custody (as opposed to State prison) we may not call together large general groups for worship. We cannot, for instance, call together all the Muslim or Jewish or Catholic inmates for their own worship services, because the inmates are separated into housing units, and kept apart on purpose, as seems most prudent to the safety officers.

So, I may applaud and give the God-speed to what you all are doing for the least of these. I don't see many places where our specific goals are going to overlap, although of course we share many of their general goals--especially to reconcile their spiritual health and well-being with the grim fact of their incarceration. For they must and despite all factors, become whole men and whole women, in good repute and in ill repute, still called into relationship with their creator, carrying the image of that Creator, and considered as having nothing, yet in truth possessing everything.

The Rev. Cynthia Montague
Chaplain, Monterey County Jail
Salinas, California
(831) 755-3890 39cmont27@sbcglobal.net

And was Jerusalem built indeed,among those dark satanic mills

The Government sequesters inmates and blind us to its practices. Our intention is to make visible the process through newsletters, forums, and conversation Society cannot afford a system that does not provide reconciliation and restoration, tears apart families, and consequently will promote further destructive behavior. Correction will not happen at once or globally; it starts at the local level, with our reaching out in the character of Jesus to those who cry out in their pain. Are we not to love one another just as He loved us?

Bill Ziering Ziering@pacbell.net
831-250-7921 In His service

Saturday, February 7, 2009

February 7, 2009 7th edition

In his sermon this week, Pastor Rick Duncan saluted the many groups in our church who reach out to service those in our community who are in need. Their model? Jesus Christ. Their reward? The joy of giving!

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." (Matt 20:28)

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“Jillian Antonucci is with us. She joined the Prison Fellowship Angel Tree Program. That's a program that exists in order to help a child whose parent may be or has been in prison. It's a great program, by the way.

“She takes time out from attending Grove City College in Pennsylvania to mentor Brianna Morris, whose father and mother have both been in prison. I asked her, I said, ‘Well, how did you get involved with the program?’ She said, ‘The first thing is I prayed and asked for guidance from the Almighty.’ It's kind of an interesting way to become inspired, isn't it? Matter of fact, it is the basis of many faith-based programs—matter of fact, it's the basis of all faith-based programs.

“Brianna was suffering from depression. But Jillian, as a result of her love and desire to help, has watched this young lady become someone who is laughing and more open, somebody who has set goals. Interestingly enough, the goal: she either wants to be a basketball player or a computer technician. If your jump shot doesn't work, go computers. But we want to thank you both for being here. Thank you for coming. Please stand up and be recognized for your good work.”

President George W. Bush, Helping America’s Youth Initiative. April 1, 2008

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TESTIMONIALS

We are glad your Christmas was a blessing with your family.
We have made 2 contacts with our prison ministry family, and have set up times twice a month for small visits with them. We pray the Lord will give us just the right words to use when we meet with them. Much Love and Care, Karen and Kylee Keeven

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We brought gifts to Junior and included some to his half sister and for mom. The family is very nice, cordial, and very young. Mother is only 23. Her current husband is battling cancer. She is, very petite and lovely, works at the Asilomar front desk. It seems she may not be attending a church at this time. She knows, and will be reminded, that we will encourage their faith in Christ. So, a good start. Ann is very encouraged, and the kids are gems, the way the Lord does. There is an extended family around them, grandma, cousins, uncles and aunts, so while life is not real easy, there is plenty of support. Ron and Ann Kihara

. *****************************************************

Just this week, the Joan Orchard bible study group celebrated a get together with their adopted family with a pot luck luncheon. The mom without prompting, gave an update, expressed her heartfelt gratitude to one and all, and asked for continued prayers for her family of six. There were few dry eyes in the room. All were struck how God was using this family for His glory, for now she too is ministering to another woman caught up in the legal system.

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In His service

Sunday, January 25, 2009

WHAT'S OUR MISSION?

FOR THE LEAST OF US, Inc
A Prison Ministry

Our mission is two-fold:
To identify, actively nurture, and support families of an incarcerated member

To link with the active prison ministries and organizations towards

Reconciling families

Transforming hearts through Jesus Christ
Assisting in the provision of skills and services sufficient to help break the revolving door of recidivism
Welcoming the whole family as members into Christ's body, the church

Saturday, December 27, 2008

NEWSLETTER ANGEL TREE December 27,2008

FOR THE LEAST OF US

Challenging Churches and Restoring Families

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27"

We've multiplied! Last Christmas we were one; this year 28 small groups from Carmel Pres picked up the Cross and followed Him.

"Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matt 18:5)

TESTIMONIALS

Today, December 24^th,finally our family of 5 made it out to Salinas to deliver our gifts to McKenzie age 2 (An Elmo doll, tub toys, and gift certificates to Toy R Us, Target, Safeway + a Holiday floral for the family). As most of us have discovered, the household is comprised of more than the incarcerated and the child. Maria, the grandma, not yet 40, resides in the women's facility at Chowchilla. Mariah, 19, her granddaughter (working on her GED) is McKenzie's mom. Maria's mom took the youngsters in a few months ago. She was aided and abetted by her own mom, who is the matriarch of the house that is now home for the 5 generations. On our approach, we had no difficulty recognizing the residence; the front yard was strewn with dozens of McKenzie's toys and playthings, (no doubt all her worldly treasures) there likely being no room at the inn for anything but Homo sapiens. There was time for laughter, prayer, stories, easy conversation, hugs, and promises to return. We exchanged gifts. Maria, and great grandma presented us with a touching card, signed by McKenzie in secret scribble. On "reentry" at home we were greeted with the following email:

Hello to you and your family. I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for having consideration for others. You guys are very kind hearted, caring people. We appreciated the gifts more then words can say. But, most of all I loved seeing my daughters smile when she saw her presents. That smile is priceless. Once again thank you so much. I hope you and your loved ones have a very safe and happy Christmas and New Years. From the bottom of my heart ,Mariah &Family

Hi ,. Just a note to let you know that we dropped off our Angel tree presents this evening. We also gave the family a grocery card. We went to the grandma's house and she seemed truly grateful. She spoke very little English but the kids were there and very excited. We couldn't talk with her but we gave her a witness Christmas card. I took some pictures and will send them to Raquel. Please tell me how to address the envelope: there seems to be a specific format. Thank you for all your work on this project: it must be exhausting. Our best wishes to you and Pam for a very blessed and merry Christmas

Bill and Pam Ziering Ziering@pacbell.net
831-250-7921

Monday, December 1, 2008

Angel Tree

December 2, 2008

It Starts with a Gift… It Leads to Lives Transformed by Christ

Welcome to another year of Angel Tree Christmas! If you're a first-time volunteer, you'll soon understand our excitement and enthusiasm as we reach out to families of prisoners.

There is so much joy that comes with sharing Christ's love with kids who have a mom or dad in prison. Angel Tree is a powerful way for Carmel Presbyterian Church to lovingly answer the biblical call to minister to the least of these.

"Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matt 18:5)

In our Savior's name,

Bill Ziering

Ziering@pacbell.net

831-655-4768

Right now, 1.5 million children know their biggest Christmas wish can't come true. They know mom or dad can't spend the holidays at home with them because he or she is in prison. These young and vulnerable boys and girls struggle with loneliness, isolation, upheaval and shame. But with your help, we can deliver a Christmas present, a smile, and hope for a better future.

You can let these precious children know they are not forgotten.

Angel Tree, a program of Prison Fellowship, seeks the reconciliation of prisoners and their families to God through the transforming love and grace of Jesus Christ. While reconciliation and transformation can start with something as simple as a gift, it takes ongoing relationships and support to continue the journey. Angel Tree encourages and equips churches to go beyond their Christmas involvement to provide year-round support for prisoners' families.

CARMEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH is running to reach out to these children left behind. 19 of the 31 families mostly living with their grandma, aunties,

in Seaside, Pacific Grove, and Carmel, have been "adopted" by our membership, , mostly by one of our many "small groups".

Pastor Rick Family Matters Dr Bill and Duncan Lewis Sue Clayton Charlie Hayes Joan Orchard Terry Budden Sharon Stoner Eric Holk Dick Nystom Frank Rabb Chuck Hawkins Karen Keenan Ric Masten Bonnie Alfriend Tom Tuttle Mary Waters Mae Merrill Pam Ziering

What Others Are Saying about Angel Tree

"I grew up watching my mother, Ruth Bell Graham, reach out to families split by incarceration. I commend Chuck Colson for reaching out through Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree and providing a channel for us to impact young lives - some of our nation's most-at-risk children. Please consider supporting this great ministry with your gifts and prayers and demonstrate the abundance of Christ's love through your generosity."

Franklin Graham

Can you help too? 12 more volunteers and our promise is fulfilled. Jesus will do the rest.

Pam and Bill Ziering

250-7921

ziering@pacbell.net

Thursday, November 6, 2008

LOWERING RECIDIVISM THE OBVIOUS WAY

The PEP Story

PEP’s team recognizes that prison is a storehouse of untapped potential. Many inmates come to prison as seasoned entrepreneurs who happened to run illegitimate businesses. For the truly reformed prisoners, once equipped with education and life skills training, the ROI potential for these men, their families and communities is limitless.

Former Wall Street investor Catherine Rohr founded PEP in May of 2004 when she and her husband toured a prison and noticed that executives and inmates had more in common than most would think. They know how to manage others to get things done. Even the most unsophisticated drug dealers inherently understand business concepts such as competition, profitability, risk management and proprietary sales channels. For both executives and inmates, passion is instinctive.

Catherine wondered what would happen if inmates who were committed to their own transformation were equipped to start and run legitimate companies. Following an unusual calling, Catherine left behind her New York career and financial stability, moved to Texas with her husband and started a one-of-a-kind “behind bars” business plan competition. Her efforts were geared toward channeling the entrepreneurial passions and influential personalities of the inmates—intentionally recruiting former gang leaders, drug dealers and hustlers.

The overwhelming response of 55 inmates and 15 world-class executives to judge the business plans and presentations was the catalyst to launch the Prison Entrepreneurship Program. Since inception, PEP has produced staggering results … click here to view our paradigm-changing statistics.

For a deeper look into PEP’s story click here.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

APATHY and the CHURCH

The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine (Myles Sheehan)

Apathy is a failure to care or attend to one's own needs or the needs of others. If one thinks about apathy in the context of illness, apathy can afflict a patient or it can afflict caregivers.

One cannot focus on God if one does not know that means caring for others. In failing to care for others, one fails to attend to the center of reality whom Christians know as God. The scene of the final judgment, from Matthew's Gospel, presents a dividing of humanity into sheep and goats on the basis of attention to other persons and their needs:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king, will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me."

"Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." (Mt. 25:31-40. NRSV)

This incarnational faith that equates treatment of the sick, beggars, prisoners, and the needy with how one treats Jesus,
________________________________________Published: September 17, 2004

Sunday, October 12, 2008

CENTERFORCE ANNUAL SUMMIT

Oct 6-7, 2008, Sonoma, CA

The Centerforce mission is to support, educate, and advocate for individuals, families, and communities impacted by incarceration.

HIGHLIGHTS

Matthew Cate, Sec. CDCR (CA Dept Corrections & Rehabilitation

50% of those exiting prison have no knowledge of where spending their first night.
Overcrowding, and lack of resources will worsen due to fiscal crisis.
"Lifers" have proved invaluable in calming the angry "25 year old

Ann Adalist Estrin (National Resource Center on Children & Families)

The pain from incarceration remains for a lifetime. (Need for support groups)
Children (in silence) mourn for their dad. ("Toxic stress"). Both need to feel "held in mind"
Public Awareness Campaigns exist to expose the "broken" criminal justice system and a call for a response

Eric Bode, Tami Reed (Chowchilla Family Express)

Bus from major cities in CA to the two largest women prisons in America. Leaves from LA at 4am and returns the next day at 9pm. Supplies food, housing, family photos, teddy bears, and counseling. Links the families together

Mike Farrell, Dan Abrahamson, Elizabeth Gaynes – Sentencing reform

Paroles are essentially unavailable despite eligibility and warden approval. Sentencing from 5 to life, 10 to life, etc will never get out.
More and more prisoners are being transferred out-of-State, guaranteeing family disintergration
85% of the married will be divorced at time of release. (98% of the incarcerated women)

Angela Irvine, PhD Planning for Re-entry and Recidivism Prevention

Best judges for what's needed are the "clients" themselves. Too often bureaucrats make the decisions

Jobs first, housing second, and diversionary programs a distant third
Success best fulfilled with "exit strategy", life skills and literacy training (rather than focus on academics), health and dental care
Watch vocabulary reaffirming human dignity. Don't identify as "felon', "offender" and "inmate".

Question from the audience: "How do Americans sleep at night?"
Answer: They are unconscious, and must be awakened to the exponential crisis. In truth we are all interconnected, and what has happened to the families in our neighborhood, and at our church might well happen to us tomorrow

Churches are a solution to the "conspiracy of silence" in making the invisible visible. Their practices of redemption, transformed hearts, and restoration, are to be acted upon. Church leaders are to lead the way from the pulpit and being in the front line

Matt Gray (Sacramento Lobbyist for Prison Reform). Has been on both sides: A victim of violent crime and a family member of an inmate.

State bills in contrast to federal bills have no pork
Legislators spend 50% of their time in Sacto fundraising
Legislators must tow the party line or suffer the consequences from within
Meeting with members: Eyeball to eyeball, two minute maximum, (no stories), seek common ground (never argumentive), be totally humble, provide single page handouts for staff, offer solutions, and make self available for additional help, and thank them for their courtesy
Current bills 6 and 9 are horrific. The will insure every lifer eligible for parole will never get out, nor will it be possible to reverse or modify them in the future

Yearly awards

Robert Ayers. Present warden at San Quentin. Acts to lower recidivism with multiple innovative programs. His advice to the audience, "KEEP UP YOUR ENERGY".
Phillip Seiler's mother. Worked for her sons release from 20 years on death row at San Quentin and despite the Governor's veto of the Paroles Commission granting his release, sued the present Governor and won.

Socratic Forum (Ron Clement moderator)

Sasha Abrimsky (American Furies, Crime, Punishment, and Vengence in the Age of Mass Imprisonment). Collapse, the current status of our economic system. Tensions are and will be extremely high. Crime will increase sharply as the unemployment rate will reach towards 25%. It is urgent we fund mental health and drug addiction programs. Jobs and housing are the basic needs. The foreclosure on houses will make the feds landlords for public housing. Legalizing marijuana will be a win win step. The taxes secured will release lots of money to the government.
David Shaw (CA Inspector General). Probation will assume much of the role currently played by the DA's. Present facilities overcrowding demand we must rethink how best to manage our offenders. Seeking alternatives will be the job of Probation

Paul Wright (Editor: Prison Legal News, Author: The Celling of America. Himself in prison for 17 years.) The experts for reform are the voices of the prisoners. Decriminalizing is critical.
Richard Word. (Police Chief, Vacaville, CA) Too few dollars, too few staff. Must reprioritize. Redeploy staff from traffic supervision to dealing with serious crime. Start "values" programs in grade schools.
Pam Douglas. (Community stakeholder). Leave the low level drug offender to the local community for "restorative justice" (restoration to the victim, and redress). Save money by ridding unnecessary funding, illegals.
Phillip Seiler. (Releasee, and apprentice plumber). Vocational unions care more for fulfilling the job than one's past record. The hiree must receive help in obtaining the tools to start his trade. Above all, provide "life skills training" to youth mainly from those "experts" who were inmates themselves
David Warren. (Representative. Taxpayors for Improving Public Safety). Literacy is basic. When one can't get a job, he becomes vulnerable to escape with drugs. Give the youngsters "hope".
Rod Clement (Moderator and Advisor to foundations). Consortiums are basic to find their common ground to improve the criminal justice system and decrease recidivism.

Comments from audience. Implement Restorative Justice for all juvenile offenders. Restore families in crisis. We are all part of one body.

Funding

Study the foundation websites, their interests, and guidelines
Speak to their agents and tell of your work, its basis, like work being done, collaborative parties, outcomes, and how to measure success
Grants are given only to the passionate

26033 Mesa Drive, Carmel, CA 93923, william_ziering@comcast.net

TOTAL TRANSFORMATION

Power In Prison

Michael G. Santos 09.24.08

My prison term began in 1987, when I was 23. Although I did not have a history of violence or previous confinement, the bad decisions I made as a young man persuaded a judge to impose a 45-year term. The long sentence induced administrators to lock me inside the impregnable walls of a maximum-security federal penitentiary.

I remain in prison. It is chaotic world of violence, of hopelessness, of despair. It is an environment ripe for me to study power at a primal level.

Administrators control the infrastructure. Their rules rip away a prisoner's identity and replace it with a registration number. Staff members issue every prisoner identical coarse and threadbare clothing from bins. Rules dictate what, when and how much we eat. Guards tell us where to sleep and with whom.

We work jobs according to the needs of the institution rather than according to merit or aptitude. Different rules determine when and how we can communicate with family; meaningful interactions with members of society are blocked. Instead of encouraging men to earn freedom, prison policies are designed to make it clear that inmates have no control over their destinies. Only the turning of the calendar page matters.

In prison, preservation of the institution trumps the needs of the individual. Unlike any other place in America I know, prison administrators rely on the threat of punishment and coercion rather than the promise of incentives to manage inmates. People who seek power inside prison walls learn to manipulate this environment. Yet as recidivism rates show, those who learn to live in prison simultaneously learn to fail in society.

Without hope, men adjust in a myriad of ways to ease their time. They join gangs. They hustle contraband. They ceaselessly plot and scheme. They threaten. Most power in prison is based on fear, on the risk of bloodshed. Through intimidation and violence, some prisoners satisfy their lust for dominance and find immediate gratification.

Preparing for success upon release, on the other hand, requires a far different effort. Rewards do not come for years, even decades. Whereas administrators appease the gang leaders with single-man cells and work schedules, the inmate who focuses on preparing himself for life outside prison toils away quietly in obscurity, motivated completely from within and susceptible to predators and extortionists. As Lion, a gang leader I wrote about in my book, Inside, told me, all a man needed to thrive in prison is hatred and a knife.

Myopic prisoners think they can enhance their power by joining gangs or engaging in high-risk, low-reward behavior. And, indeed, in an institution founded upon skewed values, it is easy enough for prisoners to lift their stature--at least inside the penitentiary. Neither administrators nor the prison populace respect the man who educates himself or prepares for a law-abiding life upon release. But those who cultivate reputations of worthlessness, lethal violence and treachery build armies of sycophants.

Early in my term, a gang leader who called himself Gaspipe outlined the path to power. "It's simple," Gaspipe said. "I give respect and I demand respect. Any man who even thinks about testing me had better be ready to bleed. I'm ready to go. I know my brothers have my back."

To embrace Gaspipe's premise, prisoners have to believe that life offers nothing beyond the concrete blocks and steel that confine them. They are content with extortion, reaping windfall profits in the underground economy and dispensing their booty to a coterie of followers. They build an elusive, penitentiary power.

As a long-term prisoner with more than a quarter-century to serve, I rejected this penitentiary protocol, this institutionalized power. From the beginning, I strove to create something different. Real power, I was convinced, comes to those who build a deeper meaning in their lives; true power comes from self-mastery. As I learned from the ancient writings of Aristotle, even prisoners needed to put forth an effort to know themselves.

With plenty of time for introspection, I concluded that I didn't have the spiritual temperament of a monk. I knew I could endure the lengthy sentence imposed upon me, but I found that I could not enjoy fulfillment in a life of solitude. I had to connect with the wider community beyond the prison walls.

To triumph over the sentence, I knew I had to emerge successfully. As Stephen Covey's books taught, I had to begin serving my term with the end in mind.

Under the sentencing scheme in use when I was convicted, I knew that the possibility of good-time credit could mean my release in just over 26 years--in 2013. In 1987, that was longer than I had been alive. But instead of dwelling on the impossible amount of time until my release, I envisioned myself emerging from prison with dignity, a proud and virtuous man.

I had been a mediocre student through my school years. Mediocrity, I knew, would not be acceptable if I was going to excel in prison. By his very nature, a prisoner is inferior and a failure. To succeed, I would have to do far better than average. My goal was to have law-abiding citizens accept me as something more than a prisoner; I hoped they would consider me a peer. I hoped to learn and to create opportunities through mentors. Those opportunities would allow me to transition into society as a fully functioning and contributing citizen upon my release.

A gang leader would build his power base by orchestrating illicit schemes. I identified such behavior as offering high risks with low rewards. A lazy prisoner would sleep excessively and narcotize himself with television. That was low-risk, low-reward behavior.

I sought to empower myself with low-risk, high-reward behaviors. I educated myself, developed a network of support and strove to increase my mental, physical, spiritual and emotional fitness.

Occasionally, I took higher levels of risk, but only for commensurate rewards. For example, my writings have exposed me to the enmity of the system by revealing what I have observed and experienced.

Now I have more than 21 years of confinement behind me, and fewer than five years of prison ahead. My moral compass has guided me through prisons of every security level and has empowered me in ways that allowed me to transcend prison boundaries.

Over the last two decades, I have moved from high-security penitentiaries to minimum-security prison camps. I have earned an undergraduate degree from Mercer University and a graduate degree from Hofstra University. I have built a thriving network of support, and married an extraordinary woman whose beauty takes my breath away.

Publishers have brought books I have written to market and they educate readers across the world about America's prison system. Partners have built and continue to maintain MichaelSantos.net, a Web site that distributes my writings to help those struggling through the criminal justice system.

I have contributed to society while serving a 45-year prison sentence. That is empowering.

Michael Santos is the author of Inside: Life Behind Bars in America. He writes about the prison experience at www.MichaelSantos.net.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

REASON ENOUGH FOR A PRISON MINISTRY

FORBES MAGAZINE September 24, 2008