Last week, I posted a piece about speaking at a graduation ceremony inside Sing Sing prison in New York. I was moved by quite a few comments to the piece, so I thought I'd share some of them for those who may not have read them.

I think that seminary in prison is a good idea. I worked in a prison for 2-1/2 years, and the men need something to motivate them when they get out. Prison is not reality -- has nothing to do with the real world. If they have something to "hang on to" when they are released, especially something spiritual, it might help. The ministry might also give them a goal for when they are released. Transitional housing, and transitional programs to help offenders transition from prison to reality, are sorely needed. May I say God bless them, one and all. (Posted by: Anita)

Thank you for reminding us of the wonderful potential of those most downtrodden in our society. As an elementary teacher in Minneapolis Public Schools I saw with great sadness these children who never had a chance. I am sorry they had to go through those years of dispair and violence and imprisonment. But I am so thankful that someone gave them the opportunity to learn and grow and become a blessing to others. They will do it in ways I never could! Praise the Lord! (Posted by: Jean Eittreim)

Thank you so much for your article bringing that wonderful program at Sing Sing to public attention. I am one of dozens of people in Kentucky working to expand jail and prison ministry to be a channel of hope while they are incarcerated and to help "to-be ex-offenders" see desirable options for their lives upon release. Sing Sing's Seminary gives one more model to hold up. (Posted by: Sr. Dorothy Schuette)

I also was really moved by this post. I found myself sobbing in my office this a.m. -- at work, no less. My daughter is incarcerated in Beaumont, Texas. She is a Christian who, like the rest of us, made some serious mistakes. I am so thankful that Jesus loves and forgives her -- and all of us. (Posted by: Betty Ann)

So pleased to hear that those who go inside to minister to the incarcerated come out more blessed than they! Mr. Wallis, as the wife of one with whom you spoke that evening at Sing Sing, as well as a friend of Darren's, thank you. To have one come in with the respect and appreciation for the hard work these men have put forth, and with the faith you brought with you that night, changes the "inmate" to a human. The opportunity for college education is transforming for these men. To have their convictions to go forth bringing healing to the society they'd once harmed taken seriously, and to be given the open door and tools their education provides to do so, is an unimaginable blessing. Couple this with a God encounter and the recidivism rate is near zero! Just FYI, there is a KAIROS OUTSIDE which ministers to the female relatives of the incarcerated, addressing the special emotional and spiritual needs of those who have an incarcerated loved one. I have been involved in the Mid-Hudson chapter for over three years and have seen miracles there also. Check out the Web site! (Posted by: Lauren Young)

In so many prisons throughout this country education departments and college providers are working to provide opportunities for people who are incarcerated. They are the unsung heroes whose real satisfaction comes from such seeing such graduation ceremonies. There is nothing more powerful than seeing a person get a GED and then a college education in prison. Your story was very powerful Thanks, Jim, for reminding me that God can always do something good with any situation. Praise God for those who have this opportunity and those who are blessed to serve in this way. (Posted by: Lin Smallwood)

The months of May and June are always a special time for school commencements. And, each year, I really enjoy my opportunities to give commencement addresses at universities and seminaries across the country. But the one I gave last week was very special indeed.

Last Wednesday evening, June 11, I was blessed and honored to give the commencement address at Sing Sing Prison. The New York Theological Seminary offers a program of theological study leading to the degree of Masters of Professional Studies, with all courses taking place inside the walls of the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. In twenty-six years this extraordinary and courageous seminary training program has graduated hundreds who then go on to ministry, both inside the prison system of New York and back in the community when their sentences are finished.

I have often told the story of the first time I visited this unusual and inspiring program at Sing Sing. My book, The Soul of Politics, was being read by the students as part of their seminary curriculum, and I received a letter from the prison inmates themselves, inviting me to meet with them and discuss my book. It sounded interesting, so I wrote back to ask when they would like me to come. A young man wrote to me on behalf of his fellow Sing Sing students saying, "Well, we're free most nights!" He went on, "We're kind of a captive audience here!" The prison authorities were very accommodating and I got to spend several hours with about 70 guys in a crowded room deep in the bowels of the infamous penal institution.

The animated book conversation was one of the most stimulating and rigorous of any I've ever had. I vividly remember much of that discussion, and especially the riveting comment of one young man who said to me, "Jim, most of us at Sing Sing come from just about four or five neighborhoods in New York City. It's like a train. You get on the train in my neighborhood when you are nine or ten years old, and the train ends up here....at Sing Sing." But this young man had experienced a spiritual conversion inside of that prison, and was now enrolled in the New York Seminary program training pastors to work inside the prison system and to go back and work in those neighborhoods from which they had come. After the session that night, the young man came up to me to say goodbye, looked me in the eye, and said, "When I get out, I am going to go back and stop that train."

A few years later, I was in New York City to speak at a town meeting on poverty. Guess who was up front, helping to lead the meeting? I immediately recognized two of the young men I met that night at Sing Sing--Julio Medina and Darren Ferguson. Last week, Julio came back to the commencement at what NYTS calls their "North Campus," now as an illustrious alumnus who spends his days running a very successful drug rehabilitation program in NYC. Darren was being the newly installed pastor of a church in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Queens where some recent shootings had him out on the streets that night instead of at the Sing Sing commencement.

These are very special graduates. To get to where they were last Wednesday night, twelve men had to overcome so many obstacles. I told them, in my commencement address, that they "had an advantage." The advantage they have is in knowing what faith really means, how much it costs, and how it can completely change your life and the world. They know that faith is for the big stuff. And they know that if you have faith, even the size of a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains. And that's what these men had to move to get to this place on a warm Wednesday night in the visitors' room inside Sing Sing prison. They got to take off their prison jumpsuits, and put on shirts, ties, and graduation robes to wear in front of their beaming and tearful mothers and fathers, wives and children, extended family, and so many friends.

Theo Harris was selected by his fellow students to give the "class reflection." He spoke of the "School of Hard Knocks" whose three core curricula were "street education, peer pressure, and ghetto economics." He said all his fellow class members had to go through the school of hard knocks before they got to go to this school of preparation for the ministry. Theo said he had learned "the greatest lesson of my life....that no one is beyond redemption. That is what sustained me, that is what motivated me, and that is what brought me to where I am today: redeemed." He then named each of his fellow graduates, observed their special gifts and vocations, and then concluded, "We have expressed our desire to make a meaningful contribution to our community. Now, all that remains is for us to go out among them, roll up our sleeves, and really make a difference."

It was a night of rich gratitude and profound hope. And while I have often been inspired by the faces of the young bright graduates facing me on brilliant spring days of school commencements, I have never felt more grateful and more hopeful than I did looking into the spiritually-chiseled faces of these redeemed graduates on a summer's night at Sing Sing prison. Thanks be to God.

To everyone who took action and emailed the Bureau of Prisons, thank you! On Sept. 14, Sojourners helped break the story that the federal government had created a list of acceptable religious books and purged all other books from the religious libraries. Often these stories fade away and are quickly replaced by the latest crisis, but because of our readers' dedication and persistence (demonstrated by sending over 21,000 emails in just over a week), the Bureau of Prisons has reversed its policy!
 
According to their statement provided to NPR yesterday:

In response to concerns expressed by members of several religious communities, the Bureau of Prisons has decided to alter its planned course of action with respect to the Chapel Library Project. The Bureau will begin immediately to return to chapel libraries materials that were removed in June 2007, with the exception of any publications that have been found to be inappropriate.

I received a note today from a friend who works with prison inmates that I would like to share with all of you. It states, "On behalf of all federal inmates and chaplains, I thank you for your crucial part in accomplishing this." This is not just a thank you to Sojourners, but this is a thank you to each and every one of you who took action.

Kevin Lum is the congregational network coordinator for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

I recently posted about the purging of religious books from prison libraries across the country. Since that post and a follow-up action alert, there has been a groundswell of outrage from across the religious and political spectrum against the government's attempt to purge religious libraries. Thank you to everyone who took action. The response has been so overwhelming that The New York Times even took notice:

The bureau is hearing criticism from a broad array of religious groups and leaders. Sojourners, a liberal evangelical group based in Washington, sent an alert to its members, who within 48 hours sent the bureau more than 15,000 e-mail messages urging it to scrap the policy.

Since that article, a total of some 18,000 emails have now been sent to Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin, demanding that the federal government not be in the business of providing citizens with a list of acceptable reading material.

The outrage is growing, but the Bureau of Prisons has not yet changed its policy. If you have not taken action, please email Director Lappin now and forward it to everyone you know. Let's make our voice heard.

View the Government Approved Reading Lists:

Protestant

Catholic

Judaism

Islam

Kevin Lum is the congregational network coordinator for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.

Before coming to Sojourners to serve as the congregational coordinator, I had the unique opportunity to teach Protestant faith formation classes at Leavenworth federal prison in Kansas. Leavenworth was experimenting with a program called Life Connections that allowed Muslims, Christians, and adherents of a variety of faith traditions the opportunity to live together in community and participate in spiritual formation. Participants had the opportunity to deepen their own faith and, at the same time, build trust and friendships with people from other faiths.

I will never forget arriving at the "Big House" for the first time. I approached the ominous guard tower, announced myself, and ascended the long staircase toward the prison entrance. There is something unsettling about the first time you hear the door click behind you. Yet the biggest surprise was not the unsettling confinement, but the students I was about to meet. I had great plans for imparting my superior knowledge of Christian faith and its life implications to the program participants. But when I arrived, I realized that the awaiting class would not only be students, but they would be fellow dialogue partners on the Christian journey. In particular, I was impressed by their knowledge of church history, theology, and the ability of one student to quote Thomas à Kempis.

The participants, who would soon become friends, had amassed an incredible knowledge of the Christian faith and its history from an extensive religious library in the prison. I was a little jealous of their selection. That's why I am outraged this week to read the following in The New York Times:

Behind the walls of federal prisons nationwide, chaplains have been quietly carrying out a systematic purge of religious books and materials that were once available to prisoners in chapel libraries.

The Bureau of Prisons has created a list of acceptable religious books from various faiths and excluded all others. In the name of cleansing the library of radical beliefs, some of the greatest Christian authors have been removed. Who are some of the purged authors? Karl Barth, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Cardinal Avery Dulles, just to name a few. Additionally, the Bureau of Prisons has refused to pay for re-stocking the libraries after the purge, leaving many religious libraries near empty.

In our world and especially in a prison system, where religious faith often seems to divide, my friends in Life Connections, assisted by their extensive religious library, deepened not only their faith but had a profound and positive impact upon Leavenworth federal prison. The purging of religious books from a federal institution hampers not only the discipleship of prisoners, but it should cause us to pause and ask ourselves how this happened in the name of freedom and safety.

Kevin Lum is the congregational network coordinator for Sojourners/Call to Renewal.