1

EPISCOPAL DIVINITY SCHOOL

Thesis

ABOLISHING THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: A THEO-ETHICAL

APPROACH FOR FAITH COMMUNITIES

BY

JASON MARK LYDON

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

MASTERS OF DIVINITY

2010
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix

Introduction - Page 1

Chapter 1: Conscientization - New Understandings and New Possibilities Page 3

Chapter 2: Emmancipatory Historiography - Liberation Through Remembering Page 10

Chapter 3: Theological Resources - How the Spirit Guides Us Page 23

Chapter 4: Norm Clarification - Rethinking the Value of Punishment Page 36

Chapter 5: Strategic Options - Planning the Revolution Page 45

Chapter 6: Celebration and Annunciation - Dancing in the Rubble of the Prisons Page 48

Chapter 7: Re-reflection and Strategic Action - Think... Act... Repeat! Page 49

Conclusion Page 51

Appendix

Bibliography
 3

Acknowledgements

I am incredibly grateful for the wisdom guidance and support of my primary advisor, Ed
Rodman. Ed's generous support and encouragement throughout this process has been
pivotal to the shaping of my work. His support and gentle pushing helped this project
become more feasible and controllable. I appreciate and am humbled by all of the work
he has done throughout the years in the movement towards abolishing the prison
industrial complex.

I am also thankful for Joan Martin's willingness to take on yet another project during such
a busy time for her. Our original conversation about abolition and ethics helped shape
my original question. Joan's challenge to me to take on the question of evil pushed me to
look deeper into my own theology. Joan's contributions to organizing and movement
building inspire me to be a better organizer with a strategic plan for success.

Ann Perrott took time out of her own incredibly overwhelming first year of divinity
school to be one of my readers and I am grateful for that. It was a joy to talk with her
about the ways to structure the paper so that people could enter into it based on their own
understandings of the prison industrial complex. I am excited to work with her in our
growing ministries to people who are incarcerated.

My analysis of the prison industrial complex would not be where it is today without the
love and committed struggle of all those within the movement for abolition. I am
thankful to be part of something bigger than myself. I pray in thanks to all those who
have come before me, all those whose blood, sweat, tears, and flesh have made it possible
for me to learn and organize forward towards the goal of collective liberation. I am
especially thankful to all my comrades, too numerous to name, who keep the fight going
today!

My congregation, the Community Church of Boston, has been a home to me for nearly
five years. Their support of my ministry and our collective ministry to those impacted by
the prison industrial complex is a large part of what keeps me going. I would not be
where I am with out them, their patience, and their love of me.
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Introduction

To begin, the question must be asked, how many people is the State entitled to

incarcerate, police, surveil, and monitor? Is 200 million too many? Is 2.3 million too

many? Is one too many? What number will make everyone feel safe?

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the prison

industrial complex, the modern abolitionist movement/principles, and Unitarian

Universalism. The prison industrial complex can be understood as a manifestation of evil

within the United States. For many Unitarian Universalists the terminology of evil can

be off-putting as, "[r]eligious notions of sin and evil have typically served the purpose of

orienting human behavior and framing the human condition. Behavior that is

discouraged is categorized as sinful [or evil]. Realities of the human condition that are

undesirable are deemed evil [or sinful]." 1 The essential challenge to Unitarian

Universalists, and other faith communities, is rooted in the systemic power structures of

who is determining what is evil or sinful. However, I find the language of evil to be a

helpful tool when examining the theological implications of systemic oppression

operating within our world. "Evil, [Paul Rasor] says, citing Harvard theologian Gordon

Kaufman, is that which destroys life or prevents the unfolding of the full powers of

human life. Evil is that which dehumanizes." 2 I am using the language of evil because I

agree with the liberation theological concept that those things which cause harm and tear

us from our greatest potential humanity are rooted in evil. The questions of how evil

manifests within the individual, among communities, from creation are all important

questions though I will not discuss them at length in this paper. 1 Whether one considers

1 Linda Anderson explores many complexities of the roots of evil in her essay, "How Do We Reconcile
 5

evil to come from Satan, institutional oppression, psychological disorder, or is inherently

part of all existence the work to recognize this evil, exorcise this evil, destroy this evil,

and/or raise up covenantal communities and prophets to dismantle it is what I intend to

examine.

The structure of this paper will follow the steps of the theo-ethical framework,

"Dance of Redemption" as created by Beverly Harrison and expanded on by Kate

Cannon. This framework strives to be both deconstructive and constructive, "it debunks,

unmasks, and disentangles the ideologies, theologies, and systems of value operative in a

particular society."3 The dance strives to create space for communities to build up the

structures of resistance and fulfillment that meet their needs. The steps in the dance are

as follows: conscientization, emancipatory historiography, theological resources, norm

clarification, strategic options, annunciation/celebration, re-reflection/strategic action,

conscientization... The dance is cyclical and is ever continuing. The paper uses each step

of the dance as a chapter title for further examination.

As the writer I come to this paper as an individual committed to the modern

abolitionist movement. I write as a white privileged, class privileged, queer-anarchist,

formerly incarcerated man. My commitment to abolition was deeply strengthened after

being imprisoned because of my choice to trespass on a military base with the hopes of

bringing the atrocities of the School of the Americas to the attention of more people. My

experience of incarceration was not that of the majority in prison. I hold many privileged

identities and also had endless support on the outside, even receiving hundreds of letters

the Existence of Evil with the First Principle?" This is one of the best UU explorations of evil I was able to
find.
 6

during my six-month sentence. Thus my particular story of being in prison cannot be

centralized in the development of a more universal abolitionist theology. This is not to

diminish my experience of prison but to attempt to be more accountable to those most

impacted by the violence of the prison industrial complex. I also recognize that as I use

the womanist ethical approach that I do so as a white man inspired by the incredible work

of womanist theologians and ethicists while also feeling frustrated at their lack of

addressing the violence of the prison industrial complex.

Chapter One: Conscientization - New Understandings and New Possibilities

Conscientization is the process of uncovering new truths or realizing that what we

have thought or have been taught may not be true. Conscientization begins for one

seeking to engage the prison industrial complex in its many forms by developing an

understanding of the intricate workings that make up its machinery. The prison industrial

complex is a multifaceted construction of control and domination, most commonly seen

as the U.S. prison and jail system, the concrete and steel buildings that warehouse

individuals. While prisons and jails are a pivotal aspect, the prison industrial complex

includes an entire culture of state and corporate collusion to control, discipline, and

torture poor/low-income communities and communities of color. The tactics range from

police forces to cameras mounted in communities; from the (in)justice system to

corporate profiteering from prison phone-calls; from immigration enforcement to media

depictions of “criminals”; and on and on. 2 The prison industrial complex builds its
2 Simple definitions of the prison industrial complex are inadequate as the system itself is complicated
and multifaceted. Due to limited space in this paper I will not examine every aspect of the prison
industrial complex. However, a list of further resources on the prison industrial complex is available in
the appendix.
 7

strength from the myth that it is solving the problems of “crime” and violence. Marilyn

Buck, a white anti-racist revolutionary political prisoner, speaks of prison as “a

relationship with an abuser who controls your every move, keeps you locked in the

house. There’s the ever-present threat of violence or further repression, if you don’t toe

the line.”4 While Buck is specifically referring to her experience within a particular

prison, the metaphor of an abusive relationship is significant when one considers the

prison industrial complex as the abuser and marginalized communities as the survivor.

The Network/La Red, a lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, and queer domestic violence

organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, defines partner abuse as, "a systematic

pattern of control where one person tries to control the thoughts, beliefs, and/or actions of

their partner, someone they are dating or someone they had an intimate relationship

with."5 The prison industrial complex is this ever-present force in the daily lives of those

most marginalized in our society, continuously constricting the borders of what is

considered right, legal, and appropriate while constantly limiting access to loved ones and

support structures.

Numbers can assist in the conscientization process. When considering the far

reaches of the prison industrial complex it is easy to find a seemingly endless litany of

numbers to go through. The most recent comprehensive study of the United States

prisoner population was conducted by the Pew Foundation in 2008. According to their

report, "at the start of 2008, 2,319,258 adults were held in American prisons or jails, or

one in every 99.1 men and women... As prison populations expand, costs to states are on

the rise. Last year alone, states spent more than $49 billion on corrections, up from
 8

$11billion 20 years before. However, the national recidivism rate remains virtually

unchanged, with about half of released inmates returning to jail or prison within three

years."6 The prison system is often referred to as a warehouse for Black men considered

criminal by the U.S. penal system. The Pew Foundation found that, "while one in 30 men

between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, the figure is one in nine for black males in

that age group."7 It is not surprising where the warehousing terminology comes from.

Racial disparities in incarceration also include Latino/Hispanic, Arab, and First Nations

people. "Currently, an average of 808 per 100,000 American Indians is under the

jurisdiction of the nation's criminal justice system. This number represents more than

twice the number of White adults in the system." 8 U.S. incarcerations rates per capita in

June 2006 reported, Whites: 409 per 100,000; Latinos" 1,038 per 100,000; Blacks 2,468

per 100,000.9

As laws change and the "war on drugs" expands the criminalization of people's

lives, Black women have been increasingly targeted for policing and incarceration as

well. "From 1990 to 1999 the number of women in prison increased 110 percent, while

the number of male prisoners increased 77 percent." 10 The Pew Foundation report

discovered, "that only one in 355 white women between the ages of 35 and 39 are behind

bars but that one in 100 black women are." 11 The rates of imprisonment do not only

impact the individuals who are incarcerated, entire families are damaged by the taking of

adults out of communities. "About 1.5 million children under age eighteen have a parent

in prison."12 As low-income people and people of color are disproportionately targeted

by the penal system it is also true that children of color and low-income children are
 9

disproportionately impacted by the violence of having a parent incarcerated.

Throughout this paper I will use the terms racism and white supremacy

interchangeably. Racism is commonly understood, now, as a combination of institutional

power and prejudice that creates systems to privilege white people at the expense of

people of color. Ruth Wilson Gilmore defines racism in Golden Gulag: Prisons,

Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California as, "the state-sanctioned and/or

extralegal production and exploitation of group-differentiated vulnerability to premature

death. Prison expansion is a new iteration of this theme." 13 White supremacy is one of

the foundational building blocks of the United States prison system. In order to

understand the complexity of the penal system in the United States one must also

understand the complexity of white supremacy. Andrea Smith offers a framework for

understanding these deep complexities in, the "Three Pillars of White Supremacy." This

framework does not assume that racism and white supremacy is enacted in a singular

fashion; rather, white supremacy is constituted by separate and distinct, but still

interrelated, logics. Envision three pillars, one labeled Slavery/Capitalism, another

labeled Genocide/Capitalism, and the last one labeled Orientalism/War, as well as arrows

connecting each of the pillars together. 14 The prison industrial complex has the capacity

to operate within each of these pillars of white supremacy, creating intraracial struggles

and perpetuating divisions.

The reported numbers for sexual violence behind bars is staggering. Readers,

however, should assume that these numbers are significantly higher as incidences of

sexual violence are drastically underreported. According to a 2009 report,"About 3 out of

 10

every 25 youths in state and privately run juvenile correctional facilities have experienced

at least one incident of sexual victimization" 15 The human rights organization, Just

Detention International, that works specifically to end all forms of sexual violence in

detention, reports that, "In a 2007 survey of prisoners across the country, the Bureau of

Justice Statistics found that 4.5 percent (or 60,500) of the more than 1.3 million inmates

held in federal and state prisons had been sexually abused in the previous year alone. A

BJS survey in county jails was just as troubling; nearly 25,000 jail detainees reported

having been sexually abused in the past six months."16 White supremacy is not the only

form of oppression operating within the prison industrial complex. The prison system

can be looked at as a microcosm of society with all forms of oppression that exist in our

culture magnified over 100 times. Heteropatriarchy 3 is one of those systems. This relates

to sexual violence as queer, same-gender loving, and transgender people who are

incarcerated are at far greater risk of being sexually assaulted than gender-normative and

heterosexual prisoners. "In a 2007 academic study, funded by the California Department

of Corrections and Rehabilitation and conducted at six California men's prisons, 67

percent of inmates who identified as [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer]

reported having been sexually assaulted by another inmate during their incarceration, a

rate that was 15 times higher than for the inmate population overall." 17 Though media

depictions of sexual violence in prison and many studies of sexual violence highlight the

incidents of prisoner on prisoner assault, recent statistics prove that guard on prisoner

sexual assaults account for approximately 60 percent of all assaults, 18 evidence that was

3 Heteropatriarchy is the intersecting power of heterosexual dominating structures and cultural norms
with male supremacy, gender dichotomy, and misogyny for the purpose of forwarding colonization and
empire.
 11

incredibly validating for myself as a survivor of sexual assault by a prison guard in 2003.

The prison industrial complex does not only operate within the confines of the

United States or only target U.S. citizens; this system must be understood as a globalized

phenomenon. Many in the United States first became aware of this reality after the

torture at Abu Grahib was exposed. Nick Turse's article, "The Bush Administration as

Global Jailer' is a pivotal place of condensed information about the far-reaching impacts

of multinational prison development. Turse explains, "Soon after the attacks of

September 11, 2001, the U.S. began the process of creating what has been termed, 'an

offshore archipelago of injustice...' the Bush administration detained people from around

the world in sweeps, imprisoned them without charges and kept them incommunicado at

U.S. detention facilities at a CIA prison outside Kabul, Afghanistan (code-named the 'Salt

Pit'), at Bagram military airbase in Afghanistan, and at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station,

Cuba, among other sites."19 Turse goes on to name prisons that were open for some time

in countries all over the world from Poland to Zambia, from Algeria to Uzbekistan. 4

Globalization5 has its impacts on the growth of the PIC within the United States,

Turse writes about the impact of incarceration on immigrant communities. According to

reports Haliburton, a multinational defense contractor with ties to government leadership,

"received a $385 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to

build detention centers, according to the New York Times, 'for an unexpected influx of

4 Julia Sudbury edited an insightful anthology, Global Lockdown, that further explores the globalized
nature of the prison industrial complex. Due to limitations in space I will not offer a deep analysis here.
5 For the purpose of this paper I am defining globalization as the process through which empire building
and corporate transnationalism has expanded and destroyed national autonomy over worker rights ,
community control of land, and other localized power structures. The World Bank, International
Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization are the easiest recognized tentacles of globalization.
The Third World are those most victimized by globalization while political and corporate leadership in
the First World benefit.
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immigrants' or 'new programs that require additional detention space." 20 All issues of

immigration to the United States must be understood within the framework of

globalization. If free trade agreements were not making it impossible to make a living

throughout much of Latin America then immigration to the United States would decrease.

If Arabs, Muslims, and assumed Muslims were not being illegally detained by

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials then there would not be so many

people locked in ICE jails. The global nature of the prison industrial complex is not

limited to the buildings built overseas.

Behind each of these numbers is a person. When we can depersonalize the prison

industrial complex, when we can dehumanize the experience of suffering, then we can be

patient in our struggle against the prison industrial complex. When we don’t talk about

real people or tell real stories it is easier to celebrate reformist changes that give the

prison system more power and control. The people behind the walls are real people with

names, faces, feelings, and needs. Each morning they wake up in a place that thrives on

trauma and torture. Each day they navigate their lives through concrete, bars, and steel.

Paula W., a prisoner I have been writing with for a number of years, is one of those

people and her story is painful yet important to bear witness to (all identifying

information has been removed to protect her):

In 2005, on N____ unit, I was sold from one gang to another gang, as a sex slave and
to protect me from the other gangs that were trying to "turn me out!" In 2006 I
discharged my sentence and was released on probation for a second charge. My
probation was revoked in 2007 and I returned to TDCJ custody in 2008. During in-
processing in the W_________ County Jail, a male Lt. pat searched me, in my dress,
and squeezed my breasts so hard it made my knees buckle! This was caught on
camera, but I didn't know it at the time! He asked what my gender was when he
realized what he had done and I told him FEMALE! Shocked, he said his paperwork
says I'm a male. I told him, "My gender is female, my sex is male and my orientation
 13

is a MTF TRANSEXUAL WOMAN." He said, "I don't know how to handle this,"
and a female Sgt. said, "I'll take care of this one." She showed them how to pat
search a woman and took me to the infirmary to be housed in special housing. Capt.
P_______ got it authorized for me to be allowed to continue my Hormone
Replacement Therapy, be issued bras and panties, keep my long hair and be treated
as a woman. I was taken to TDCJ's B_____ unit in a squad car, by myself. I came
into TDCJ intake, was forced to strip in front of about 100 men, who whistled and
made fun of me, my breasts, my bra, my panties, long hair, nail polish, and cute butt!
This infuriated the guards and everything went down hill from there. From the CO's
to the Captain on shift, I was stripped of my identity, ridiculed, called names, and
told I must become a man now! My head was shaved, nails cut short, put on
exhibition and for 3 days the ranking officers tried to find a way to get my finger and
toe polish off. A female Lt. finally brought in some polish remover and forced me to
take it off. The head nurse took ALL my medications and destroyed them all, all
except my depression medication! My body, and mind went on a roller coaster ride
as I went through hormone changes COLD TURKEY! NOT a very good experience
at all. One of the male guards liked to sit four feet away, watch me shave my body
and shower when he was on duty. He'd ask me what I would do for HIM, if I asked
him for anything. Another guard that escorted me to the doctor's office said, "I bet
you enjoyed that" after my prostate exam. I next was put on a bus handcuffed to this
HUGE man and sent to a hold over unit called R______ unit on my way to A____
Unit. On the way to R______ unit at 3:00 in the morning, in the dark, in the middle
of 80 men blocking the view of the guards, I was forced to have oral sex with the
man I was handcuffed to, while the others watched. When he ejaculated in my
mouth, I spit the semen and the blood from my bleeding gums on my shirt sleeve.
No one noticed me do this. When they off loaded us at R______ unit, a not so bright
Sgt. seen the blood on me and asked what happened. Several eyes popped wide open
and stared at me. I said my gums started bleeding. You could have heard a pen drop
when the Sgt. looked me in my terror filled eyes, looked at the other men, grinned
and said, "right." Now I'm in a unit designated a "SAFE PRISON" to comply with
the Prison Rape Elimination Act. There are about 80 other transexual women here.
It's not any better here, they lie!

One must not stop at recognizing the suffering of individuals impacted by the PIC

but also realize the incredible ability of individuals to survive and manipulate a system

that attempts to ruin and break them. As the conscientization process continues, authentic

relationships with real people impacted by the PIC is vital.

Chapter Two: Emancipatory Historiography - Liberation Through Remembering

The emancipatory historiography6 step in the dance of redemption requires

6 Emancipatory historiography is the creation and compilation of histories that remember both the
 14

individuals and communities to uncover and discover hidden stories of survival,

resistance and empowerment. While finding these stories there must also be a retelling of

the stories that created the systems and logic for establishing oppression and domination.

The emancipatory aspect of history is only possible when a full account both of

oppression and resistance is realized.

One can easily blame the Quakers for introducing the United States to the

structures that have become our modern prison industrial complex. In the 18th Century

and early 19th Century the punishment for convictions were death, dismemberment,

banishment, or if you were lucky you might get public humiliation in the stocks. 21

However, the Quakers, and other liberal Christians, wanted to reform this system and

create something more humane. There were two primary schools of thought for

reforming the system. The Pennsylvania system was based on quiet time alone for

prayer, what we would now call solitary confinement. However, “there is some evidence

that it caused insanity and little evidence that it aided in reformation.” 22 The other

primary school of thought was the Auburn system where prisoners were forced to work

together during the day, in complete silence, but were housed alone at night in individual

cells. At this time the majority of prisoners were poor and working class white men, as

white women were primarily disciplined domestically by fathers and husbands while

people of color were not designated fully human and thus had no place in the penal

system.23 The purpose of the prison was to reform the men who were incarcerated,

discipline them, and make them ready to reengage in the growing capitalist nation.

Another punishment structure being proposed and advocated for was the

suffering and triumph of marginalized communities in particular time and space.

 15

panopticon, as designed by Jeremy Bentham. According to Angela Davis, "Bentham's

panopticon was supposed to guarantee the ubiquitous monitoring and the imposition of

discipline he thought criminals needed in order to internalize productive labor habits... As

Foucault pointed out, the prisoner of the panopticon 'is seen, but he does not see; he is the

object of information, never a subject in communication... and this invisibility is a

guarantee of order.'"24 This panopticon surveillance and discipline system functioned

with the belief that the object being seen and disciplined had the capacity to change

behavior, be redeemed, and reenter society. One might note today that with the

continuous expansion of state and corporate surveillance there are some who have begun

to question whether we are functioning within a panopticon at all times, being disciplined

by an invisible guard or threat of discipline.

The penal reform movement was forced to change after the end of the Civil War

and the passage of the 13th Amendment. The movement had to navigate three primary

social realities, “first, the movement to mitigate the severity and humanize the conditions

of penal punishment; second, the birth of a welfare philosophy that imposed on the state

the obligation to provide educational, health, and other helping services for those [white

people] unable to help themselves; and third, the threat to accepted values and established

social stratification posed by waves of immigrants and newly liberated slaves.” 25

Immediately following the emancipation of Black people disproportionate incarceration

in prisons began. The targeting by the state increased at the same time the extrajudicial

lynchings and white mob violence grew in prevalence utilizing the same Black Codes

that established white sanctioned behavior for Black people. "Because the Black Codes
 16

were rearticulations of the Slave Codes (which provided for perpetual, inherited servitude

for Africans), they tended to racialize penalty and link it closely with previous regimes of

slavery. The expansion of the convict lease system and the county chain gang meant that

the antebellum criminal justice system, which focused far more intensely on blacks than

on whites, largely defined southern criminal justice as a means of controlling black

labor."26 There are many reports that the convict leasing program was far more violent on

Black bodies than slavery was. Under slavery the master needed to be sure that the

slaves did not die or were unable to work because that was the means of production for

the plantation. With convict leasing there was no incentive for plantation owners to

provide anything for the new labor because as one convict died the leaser only needed to

acquire another. "The U.S. penitentiaries... envisioned labor as a rehabilitative activity.

However, convict labor in the South, overwhelmingly black, was designed to reap the

largest possible profits. Rehabilitation had little or nothing to do with the punishment

industry as it developed in the antebellum South. Thus the theory of punishment

associated with the new U.S. penitentiaries and the Benthamian concept of the

panopticon was entirely at odds with the forms of punishment meted out to newly freed

black people."27 It is essential to reread the 13th Amendment and recognize that it does

not abolish slavery within the United States, it simply transfers the institution of slavery

to the prison system. Slavery is still legal in 2010 within the borders of the United States.

"Newly freed black men, along with a significant number of black women, constituted a

virtually endless supply of raw material for the embryonic southern punishment industry,

in addition to providing much-needed labor for the economies of the southern states as
 17

they attempted to recover from the devastating impact of the Civil War." 28 The U.S.

prison system quickly stopped having any real rehabilitative purpose and rather

constructed a space for Black labor to be controlled and monitored.

While it is difficult to find liberative history at the time of the construction of the

penitentiaries in the United States there were a few glimmers of saving hope. There were

those who were active in abolishing chattel slavery who saw the growth of policing and

imprisonment as a continuance of the same system, just under a different name. "Charles

K. Whipple and Adin Ballou, members of the nineteenth century New England Non-

Resistance Society, advocated replacing the police with individuals trained in nonviolent

restraint."29 As we understand the police as one of the fist lines of the prison industrial

complex it is inspiring to know that there has always been a history of resistance to the

expansion of state dominance over public life.

The history of the prison industrial complex jumps nearly a century before much

change began in the incarceration system. In 1972 there were approximately 330,000

people in prison.30 As of 2008 there are nearly 2million more people in prison, an

increase of over 55thousand prisoners per year. Where did the 2million prisoners come

from, what happened since 1972? Nixon's continuation of the War on Crime, as

articulated in his 1973 State of the Union Address, and Reagan's declaration of the War

on Drugs are what happened!

The War on Drugs was officially declared in the early 1980s. However, in 1973

New York State passed the Rockefeller Drug Laws, which were the first mandatory

sentencing laws in the country, "requiring a sentence of 15 years to life for anyone
 18

convicted of selling two ounces or possessing four ounces of a narcotic regardless of

circumstances or prior history."31 This was the beginning of a gargantuan prison boom.

According to an extensive study done by The Sentencing Project, "Between 1987 and

2005, the proportion of all arrests comprised of drug abuse violations increased from 1 in

14 to 1 in 8. The total of 581,000 arrests in 1980 more than tripled to a record high of

1,846,351 in 2005."32 Since its inception the War on Drugs has directly targeted

communities of color and specifically Black communities. "Surveys conducted by the

Department of Health and Human Services estimate that blacks constitute 13.3% of

monthly drug users, yet blacks represent 32.5% of persons arrested for drug offenses. Of

all persons imprisoned for drug offenses, three fourths are blacks or Latino." 33 The

United States is also known for having the longest prison sentences, obscene mandatory

minimums and the violent three-strikes laws that give life sentences after being convicted

of three felonies. As communities attempt to reform the system and institute so-called

alternatives to incarceration such as parole and probation the penal system unfortunately

manipulates these reforms by instituting extreme rules and penalties, such as probation

and parole violations. "A significant share of prisoners is serving time in prison or state

jail for parole or probation violations. Returning Home findings show that about 4 in 10

respondents in Texas and Ohio had been serving their current term in prison or state jail

because of a parole or probation violation. Of prisoners released in New Jersey in 2002,

39 percent were incarcerated for a violation of parole." 34 These reformist ideas get co-

opted and manipulated; the evil of the prison industrial complex is able to turn the

attempted transformations of anti-prison organizers into violent tools of repression.

 19

Increases in prison population is not only because of laws passed directly related

to the criminalization of particular actions. As rent control was suspended in many cities

individuals were forced out of their homes, becoming homeless, and relying on survival

crimes to get by, thus leading to their incarceration. President Clinton passed the

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, also know as welfare

reform, in 1996. The Act drastically cut the services offered by welfare, "in addition, it

created a lifetime ban on welfare benefits for those convicted of drug felonies and those

who had violated probation or parole, thus excluding over 100,000 women from welfare

programs. Several states also applied work requirements and time limits to those caring

for the children of incarcerated women, approximately 60% of whom are female

relatives...By the end of the 1990s, the number of people receiving welfare had fallen

53%... At the end of 2000, 91,612 women were incarcerated in state or federal prisons, a

108% increase since 1990."35 While not all the women removed from welfare can be

assumed to have been incarcerated there is an undeniable correlation between the two.

Veteran's benefits have been cut over and over again by the federal government providing

less services to people back from the military who are dealing with serious mental health

issues and veterans end up in prison for other crimes of poverty. Many of the mental

hospitals were closed, not necessarily a bad idea, but there was nearly zero support given

to former patients/inmates in the mental hospitals, thus leaving them to fend for

themselves on the street before many eventually becoming incarcerated. According to

the National Alliance on Mental Health, "64 percent of local jail inmates, 56 percent of

state prisoners and 45 percent of federal prisoners have symptoms of serious mental
 20

illnesses... an indictment of the nation’s mental healthcare system." 36

The 1960s - 1980s saw an increase in the persecution of the radical left and

incarceration of political prisoners in the United States. The United States government

refuses to acknowledge that it incarcerates political prisoners, however it has been doing

so since the beginning of the penal system. The Counter Intelligence Program

(COINTELPRO) must be understood as a part of the prison industrial complex.

COINTELPRO was an illegal program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to

infiltrate, monitor, and sabotage political dissident groups, primarily radical left

organizations like the Black Panther Party, the Socialist Worker Party, and the entire

white New Left anti-imperialist movement. 7 Incarceration was not the only aim of the

FBI, assassination was also part of the claimed intention. Regarding the assassination of

Fred Hampton, Special Agent Gregg York stated "We expected about twenty Panthers to

be in the apartment when the police raided the place. Only two of those black nigger

fuckers were killed, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark."37 As of today the Jericho

Movement, an organization for the freedom for all political prisoners, recognizes 74

political prisoners. Political prisoners often experience the most retributive forces of the

prison officials and are consistently denied access to parole because of their political

actions, as most recently resulted in the parole denial of Ralph Hamm in Massachusetts.

There is also an inspiring story of resistance to the violence of the growing prison

industrial complex. The 1960s saw the growth of the Nation of Islam within the prison

population and their growth led to a politicization of prisoners of color. The "free world"
7 Understanding the history of COINTELPRO is essential for anyone challenging the structures of U.S.
imperialism. Read Ward Churchill's Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black
Panther Party and the American Indian Movement and The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from
the FBI's Secret Wars Against Domestic Dissent.
 21

radical left began developing relationships with people who were incarcerated and

becoming politically active, reading radical, marxist, and revolutionary literature. In

1971 prisoners at Attica Prison, who had been gaining political education and

organizational strength, staged a work stoppage making reasonable demands of the prison

to treat them as human beings and workers. The prison guards retaliated against the work

stoppage but were overpowered by the prisoners, who were able to take over the prison

for three days. Many outside negotiators came into the prison to attempt to resolve the

dispute between prisoners and the New York Department of Corrections. Tragically

Governor Rockefeller chose to end the negotiations, entered the prison with force, killing

thirty-five people and injuring many more. Though the end of the prisoner take-over was

devastating, the strength, power, and solidarity that came out of the vision that prisoners

were real people capable of active resistance sparked action around the country.

Another well-documented moment in prisoner justice history is the time when

prisoners, with support from allies, took over the daily running of Walpole prison in

1973. There was a strong movement in Massachusetts in the early 1970s trying to reform

the Department of Corrections. There was much work trying to push for the passage of

Chapter 777, a piece of "liberal" legislation that was struggling to challenge the

expansion of the prisons as well as the silencing and exploitation of prisoners. Prisoners

had started the National Prisoners Reform Association in 1971, "at MCI Walpole... the

NPRA [became] a recognized bargaining unit, democratically elected by the prisoners -

the workers - to lead their struggle for reform within the prison." 38 There were many

pieces strategically placed when the prison guards walked out of the prison in March
 22

1973. The prisoners, under the leadership of the NPRA, were able to create a safer prison

that operated democratically and nonviolently without the authoritarianism of the prison

guards. Walpole prison was one of the most dangerous prisons in the United States at the

time, and during the three months of control by prisoners the violence essentially came to

an end. Like the story of Attica, the story ends with sadness as the State Police took over

the prison and the repression of all those actively engaged in the prisoner leadership was

astronomical. However, the story of prisoner control of Walpole creates a story of

resistance that again humanizes prisoners as agents in their own liberation.

Creating heroes and placing individuals on pedestals is not necessarily helpful for

building revolutionary movements. However, remembering the stories of individual

actions in history can inspire action in vital ways for the forward momentum of

organizing. One of the patron saints of prisoner resistance is Joan Little. Little was a 21-

year-old Black woman in 1974 who while incarcerated defended herself against a white

prison guard who had threatened her with an ice pick and forced her to have oral sex with

him. Little defended herself and killed the man who sexually assaulted her. A large

national feminist movement rose up around Little and helped to defend her right to stand

up for herself. After a long fight she was acquitted!

George Jackson is another one of the heroes that must be remembered when

constructing the history of prisoner movements. Jackson was in and out of youth prisons

beginning when he was fifteen. According to Jackson's autobiography in a letter dated

June 10, 1970, "when I was accused of robbing a gas station of seventy dollars, I

accepted a deal - I agreed to confess and spare the court costs in return for a light county
 23

jail sentence. I confessed but when time came for sentencing, they tossed me into the

penitentiary with one to life. That was in 1960. I was eighteen years old. I've been here

ever since."39 While he was locked up George Jackson became politicized and built

relationships with the leadership of the Black Panther Party including Angela Davis,

Huey P. Newton, and Eldridge Cleaver. Jackson was a strong motivator in the movement

for Black power, support of anti-colonial struggles, destruction of capitalism, and

prisoner liberation. In a letter to his lawyer Jackson wrote, "We have a momentous

historical role to act out if we will. The whole world for all time in the future will love us

and remember us as the righteous people who made it possible for the world to live on... I

want to leave a world that is liberated from trash, pollution, racism, nation-states, nation-

state wars and armies, the pomp, bigotry, parochialism, a thousand brands of untruth, and

licentious usurious economics."40 The struggle to free George Jackson was strong and

included legal tactics as well as an attempted kidnapping, that resulted in the death of

Jonathan Jackson, George Jackson's little brother. George Jackson was a symbol and a

real leader of Black struggle. Tragically George Jackson was murdered by a prison guard

during an escape attempt. The legacy of George Jackson fueled a generation of Black

freedom fighters and white anti-racist revolutionaries.

Queer and gender non-conforming people were also organizing resistance in

prison as well as in solidarity outside of prison (not to suggest that there were not queer

and gender non-conforming people involved in the above mentioned movements, but

rather relating to the growing movement of gay liberation). Ed Mead, who was

incarcerated for his involvement in the multiracial, armed guerrilla group the George
 24

Jackson Brigade, was a founding member of the organization Men Against Sexism.

Mead was at Walla Walla in Washington State when he organized the first meeting of the

Prison Justice Committee, which was supported by the American Friends Service

Committee.41 The Prison Justice Committee was organized for the purpose of fighting

against racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Men Against Sexism was a subcommittee of the Prison Justice Committee that

eventually outgrew the size of the parent organization and thus decided, strategically, to

break off as a separate organization. In Mead's recollection, "A typical MAS action

during [the beginning phase] would be calculated to strengthen gay unity while at the

same time working to isolate and expose those powerful elements within the population

who believed it was their god-given right to rob, rape, and otherwise pillage their

peers."42 While Men Against Sexism was a secular organization and its founder an atheist

communist, they advocated for the inclusion of the Metropolitan Community Church in

the prison. Unfortunately the conservative chaplain did not appreciate the inclusion of

the MCC church in his prison and he decided to preach a sermon against the MCC and

queer folks as a whole. The response of Men Against Sexism was to show up, "we were

a pretty sight... I wore shoulder length blond hair, with lavender stars for earrings. Others

wore facial make up or were in full drag, including colorful dresses... He no more than

got a good start when I interrupted his Nazi diatribe with a speech on the value of

religious freedom and tolerance... his congregation remained prudently silent, no doubt

intimidated by the sight of so many angry faggots." 43

Men Against Sexism continued to grow and its influence shaped the prisoners and
 25

the prison administration. Because of the work of Men Against Sexism rape all but

stopped at Walla Walla in 1978 for the following ten years. They were able to develop

positive relationships with the Lifers group and were able to make a safe home in the

Lifer's Park, "an exclusive island of manicured grass and cultivated flowers." 44 The work

of Men Against Sexism was not always nonviolent, they needed to protect one another

from sexual violence and homophobic harassment. After a particular situation when a

club threatened to force a young queen to be a sexual slave Mead and other members of

MAS were prepared to physically stop the abuse, "there was a near certainty in my mind

that we would kill several people that afternoon. I saw it as necessary to deliver the

message that rape and slavery would not be tolerated. I was fully prepared to write that

message in the blood of my fellow prisoners."45 After one of the people Men Against

Sexism protected against sexual violence became a snitch for the prison guards Ed Mead

was transferred out of the prison and Men Against Sexism dwindled and fell apart after

about six years.

The anti-prison movement, especially academics, reformist and abolitionist, have

historically left out the essential voices of incarcerated women. Victoria Law is striving

to challenge this with her work. Law recently published, Resistance Behind Bars: The

Struggles of Incarcerated Women8. Resistance in women's prisons often looks different

from resistance in men's prisons. "While male prisoners can draw on the examples of

George Jackson, the Attica uprising and other well-publicized cases of prisoner activism,

incarcerated women remain unaware of precedents relevant to them. Virtually none

8 Unfortunately Victoria Law does not include transgender women in her writing, that is an area that is
still sorely under reported on and valued.
 26

know about the collective organizing that led to the 1974 August Rebellion at New York's

Bedford Hills Correctional Facility or the 1975 riot at the North Carolina Correctional

Center for Women,"46 or the Christmas riot in California, the Framingham, Massachusetts

women uprising, or the Talledaga work stoppage. Organizing in women's prisons is done

with a particular focus on the immediate needs of women prisoners. This organizing

looks like support for pregnant prisoners, resistance to sexual violence by prison guards,

teaching one another applicable life skills without institutional sanction, HIV/AIDS

education, and so much more. "Women in INS facilities have also organized to protest

their conditions of confinement. In August 2000, over 300 detainees at an INS center in

Los Angeles organized a hunger strike to protest the outrageous conditions." 47 Women's

resistance within prison and support organizations in the free world are vital parts of the

history of resistance to the prison industrial complex.

Chapter Three: Theological Resources - How the Spirit Guides Us

The next step in the "dance of redemption" is to find and/or create theological

resources. What is the role of the divine in the struggle? Where does religion find itself

in the question of the prison industrial complex? How does Unitarian Universalism

function in relationship to prisoners, police, judges, survivors of violence, and all of the

many facets of the prison industrial complex? Where has religion been throughout the

history of the prison industrial complex's growth and what resources from the past may

be helpful today?

In a reflection on the theology of Universalist theologian Clarence Russell

 27

Skinner, James Hunt quotes Josiah Royce, "The future task of religion is the task of

inventing and applying arts which shall win men [sic] over to unity... Judge every social

device every proposed reform, every national and every local enterprise, by the one test:

does this help towards the coming of the universal community?" 48 When one looks at the

pervasive violence, oppression, and ineffectiveness of the prison industrial complex it

should not be very difficult to find an answer to whether or not the prison industrial

complex is bring the universal community closer or pushing it farther away. Skinner

wrote in his own words, "All great social problems involve theological conceptions. We

may divorce church from state, but we cannot separate the idea of God from the political

life of the people."49 So then, what does God, or the divine as known by other names,

have to say about the prison industrial complex?

I understand theology to exist, at its fullest potential, for the service of liberation.

According to Gustavo Gutierrez, "Theology must be critical reflection on humankind, on

basic human principles... Theological reflection would then necessarily be a criticism of

society and the Church insofar as they are called and addressed by the Word of God; it

would be a critical theory, worked out in the light of the Word accepted in faith and

inspired by a practical purpose."50 To translate for those who cannot/choose not to

identify with God language, Word of God can be understood as the beauty of reason's

voice expressed through the words of a community or the magical whispers of fairies that

call out for the great authenticity of justice or simply the great mystery of infinite love.

Theology must play a role in any movement to abolish the prison industrial complex as it

can feed communities of resistance as well as offer alternatives to the normative practices
 28

of political and religious leadership who are complacent in the face of such a violent

system. Rebecca Parker, a contemporary Unitarian Universalist theologian, pushes

theology to be accountable to the realities of the world we currently live in. Parker

writes, "A theology adequate to the realities of violence in our world must speak from the

depths of our life experience. It must speak words of anguish and words of hope. The

anguish is this: Violence can break our hearts and efface the sacred goodness of life in

this world. the hope is this: Love, in its myriad forms, can recall us to life" 51 A theology

seeking to address the realities of the prison industrial complex will call humanity back to

our potential for love and life.

As noted above, people of color and poor/low-income people are the primary

targets of the prison industrial complex. Black women are the fastest growing population

in U.S. prisons.52 For any theology to be relevant to those working against the prison

industrial complex, it must prioritize the experiences of Black people, women in

particular, and the writings of womanists and Black liberation theologians. The

fundamental connecting point of all liberation theologies is the prioritization of the

experience of the particular theologian’s oppressed community as the subject of

theological discourse, all of which have a role in shaping a theology relevant in the face

of the prison industrial complex. This means that a theology for the abolitionist

movement must be influenced by queers, ecofeminists, Black scholars, Indigenous

organizers, Palestinian freedom fighters, transgender survivors, and all others struggling

for liberation.

Katie Canon reflects on some of the gifts that womanism has to offer, “the role of
 29

emotional, intuitive knowledge in the collective life of the people. Such intuition enables

moral agents in situations of oppression to follow the rule within and not be dictated to

from without.”53 This kind of theological and ethical framework is necessary for a

theology of resistance. As we choose to distance ourselves from the oppressive

(in)justice system we must still address situations of violence and inequality within our

communities. This framework allows for communities considered “outlaw” to center

their own morality, creating systems of accountability that prioritize the needs of the

community rather than the validity of the state, capitalism, white supremacy, or

heteropatriarchy.

A theology that will serve prisoners, anti-prison organizers, and those most

impacted by violence must problematize the dichotomy between“good” prisoners versus

“bad” prisoners and “violent” versus “non-violent” convictions. Many “reformist”

activists will talk about the need to improve conditions for certain prisoners, such as drug

war victims, without seeing the system in its entirety as a problem. Particular prisoners

also have to bear the burden of carrying all of our society’s sins and being disciplined or

crucified for our communal redemption. The prison industrial complex operates with a

substitutionary theological ethic. Each year there are hundreds of murders that go

unsolved. The murders of poor people, transgender people, youth of color, and people

experiencing homelessness are hardly ever prioritized by the police (not that I am

suggesting police intervention is the solution). The large majority of perpetrators of

sexual violence, from child sexual abuse to adult rapists, are never caught by the police or

put through the (in)justice system. According to the Rape Abuse & Incest National
 30

Network 15 out of 16 rapists never spend a day in prison.54 A relevant theology must

learn from Delores Williams’ assertions about resisting the surrogacy model of

redemption through Jesus Christ.

In particular, Williams states that “the womanist theologian uses the sociopolitical

thought and action of the African-American woman’s world to show black women their

salvation does not depend on any form of surrogacy made sacred by traditional and

orthodox understandings of Jesus’ life and death. Rather their salvation is assured by

Jesus’ life of resistance and the survival strategies he used to help people survive the

death of identity.”55 Those who do not connect particularly with the Jesus story can still

see the pattern of social atonement theologies when we place particular “evil” pedophiles

on public trials or put a serial rapist behind bars. Public media campaigns vilify and

dehumanize the individuals allowing those who have been victimized without any

restitution or experience of justice to see the face of their abuser or attacker in the eyes of

the most recent publicly tried murderer/rapist/terrorist. We are able to deceive ourselves

that we are dealing with the violence of our society by disciplining those who have less

access to expensive attorneys or who a primarily white, class-privileged jury will see as

“criminal.”

Our communal salvation will not come by utilizing the tools of the prison

industrial complex. This theology must instead encourage us to find our salvation in the

resistance and survival strategies developed by those who are the primary

survivors/victims of violence. We must prioritize the development of anti-violence

strategies that actually deliver us all from the cycle of violence that tears at individuals
 31

and communities. The theology must change and let go of atonement and substitution as

that will not bring us closer to the universal community, but distract us from the

possibility of doing things differently.

Unitarian Universalist theology must form a theological relationship with

Womanism. Aaron McEmrys explores the possibilities for dialogue between Unitarian

Universalism and Womanism. McEmrys suggests, that "whatever the sources a womanist

is drawing upon, she will apply herself to them epistemologically: engaging the material

dialogically with her experience, reason, and conscience... Unitarian Universalists use

many of the same principles womanists use in identifying sources for theological

reflection and discourse. This movement believes that enlightenment, wisdom, and the

sacred can be encountered anywhere, because revelation is ongoing." 56 Theological

reflection is then not only possible but necessary within prisons, when encountering the

police, during a workplace raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and in any

other interaction with the prison industrial complex, as these interactions are the

experiences of marginalized people. A theology that reveres reason will question the

practical implications of the prison industrial complex; the police claim that cameras on

every corner of my neighborhood will make my communities safer, is my community

actually safer? When "tough on crime" politicians claim to be addressing violence in the

city is there actually less violence or does the heavy presence of police simply make the

city blocks dangerous places for young people of color? A theology that understands that

wisdom and the sacred can be encountered anywhere and through experiences will value

the lives of incarcerated people, survivors of state-sanctioned torture, undocumented

 32

immigrants, and sex-workers as theologically relevant.

Unitarian Universalist theology must struggle with the concepts of sin and evil.

The theological ancestors of Unitarians and Universalists were Calvinists who believed in

the fallen nature of humanity; a theology abandoned by the far majority of Unitarian

Universalists today. "Liberal Congregationalists, the forerunners of the Unitarian

movement became associated with a theology known as Arminianism, the belief that

people were born with the capacity for both sin and goodness and that salvation is

possible for all."57 There are more Unitarian Universalists who identify with

Arminianism, though I would suggest that most Unitarian Universalists believe in the

inherent goodness of humanity. The first principle of Unitarian Universalism affirms the

inherent worth and dignity of every person; a principle that allows for people to be

flawed and imperfect while still having value simply because of their humanness. Ken

Oliff, writing about racism and Unitarian Universalism, suggests, "If racism is evil, it is

an aberration and must be confronted at all costs... I would like to suggest that along with

a conception of racism as evil we also need to take seriously racism as arising out of a

condition of estrangement and alienation, which in Christian theology has been addressed

under the topic of sin."58 If one uses Oliff's understanding of evil, as the prison industrial

complex is a manifestation of racism, among other forms of oppression, it is not only evil

by its own accord it is also made up of evil components. Oliff also offers an interesting

reflection on sin as, "estrangement and alienation." While many prisoners "sinned"

before going to prison, whether related to their conviction or not, the prison industrial

complex itself forces an estrangement and alienation between all individuals involved
 33

within the system, creating many microcosms of sin.

In many religious traditions the "end times" or some divinely constructed

Apocalypse will occur when sinfulness and evil have taken over creation. Rebecca

Parker suggests that when we look around the world we may benefit from assuming that

the Apocalypse has come, that evil has taken its violent toll on all of creation already. In

so doing, theology must respond accordingly. This postapocalyptic theology must

manifest responsibly and include the following aspects, "truthtelling...Through our

preaching, speaking, and writing, the religious community must provide a clear-eyed

description of the world... salvaging...We must become good stewards of history and

tradition, identifying vital resources contained in the wisdom of the world's religions and

making them available to people who have lost them, including ourselves... We must

resist stealing from one another and learn what gives us the right in any religious tradition

to embrace its gifts. We must stop behaving like spiritual consumers who take for selfish

reasons and give nothing back... Choosing our guides. We must turn to those who have

survived grief, victimization, denial, and paralysis. The guides we should heed are those

whom William James called 'twice born,' people who have grappled with suffering, loss

and oppression and found a way to survive."59 Parker's suggestions for theology parallel

the "dance of redemption" and pushes Unitarian Universalists to recognize the

importance of respectful sharing in theology and surviving together, an essential

realization for the healing needed after suffering the violence of the prison industrial

complex.

The parallels between U.S. chattel slavery and the prison industrial complex have
 34

already been discussed. Because of this relationship it makes sense to also look at the

theologies shaped in slave communities to see what may translate to the movement for

abolition today. While there is a supposed separation of church and state in the United

States many in positions of power within the prison industrial complex rely on the

language of Christianity for justification of their power and discipline of prisoners.

During slavery, "Slaves distinguished the hypocritical religion of their masters from true

Christianity and rejected the slaveholders gospel of obedience to master and mistress...

While white preachers repeatedly urged 'Don't steal,' slaves just as persistently denied

that this commandment applied to them, since they themselves were stolen property" 60

Though a theological praxis of the abolitionist movement may use similar language to

that of the power structures within the prison industrial complex it does so in a way

similar to slaves who reinterpreted the stories of a faith thrust on them by the plantation

owning class. "Slaves prayed for the future day of deliverance to come, and they kept

hope alive by incorporating as part of their mythic past the Old Testament exodus of

Israel out of slavery."61 When one is locked in solitary confinement for twenty-three

hours every day or when one is forced to work every day for pennies making products for

multi-billion dollar corporations, the story of Exodus becomes vital. Arnie King, a man

incarcerated in Massachusetts for the past 37 years, received unanimous support for his

commutation from the Massachusetts Parole Board in 2008. Governor Deval Patrick,

however, seems to have had his heart turned to stone like Pharaoh's was, and refuses to

grant King his freedom. A theology that liberates the captive and brings freedom to a

land of milk and honey could make it so that King can continue through his days.
 35

The book, Slave Religion, uses the words of Africans held in slavery to explore

the spiritual and religious history of resistance. The book includes written record of

"slave language" that I am including here, as I struggle to recall Parker's vital warning not

to steal the culture of those whose tradition does not belong to me. The story of

liberation from slavery is not the only aspect of the Exodus story that spoke to slave

communities. The, "Old Testament prophecies of the destruction of Israel's enemies

easily and naturally fit the slaves' desire that whites suffer just retribution for the brutality

of slavery... [After the beating of her daughter by the slave master, Aggy declared,] Oh,

Lor'! roll on de chariots, an' gib de black people rest an' peace. Oh, Lor'! gib me de

pleasure ob livin' till dat day, when I shall see white folks shot down like de wolves when

dey come hongry out o'de woods!"62 While God did admonish the Israelites for cheering

at the deaths of the Pharaoh's army, a theology of oppressed people does not leave aside

the fantasy of retribution for the suffering they incurred. A theology of liberation for a

mother watching her child be sentenced by a judge will allow her to fantasize about

waters crushing down on the court house drowning those who prosecute and imprison her

child. The same theology that challenges institutions to release its grip on crucifying

individuals can also allow marginalized people to pray in their righteous anger for

revenge, as it can foster the strength to survive. The theology of the oppressed and the

theology of the privileged are rooted in different experiences and thus are expected to be

different and even contradictory at times. The universal aim of theology need not

equalize the approach of all individuals entering into it. The universal aim of theology

may be to afflict some while comforting others until the universal community of mutual
 36

aid and love is established. It has been said by many, those with power do not give it up

willingly, it must be demanded and taken by the oppressed. The theology for those in

power, in the context of liberation, is to recognize the humble act of giving up power and

becoming a traitor to the systems of privilege.

Islam is another strong theological force engaging with the prison industrial

complex. With the growing War on Terror Muslims are targeted in their homes, at their

mosques, and on their way to travel anywhere. The FBI, the Department of Homeland

Security, Military Police, and the CIA all consistently target Muslim communities within

the United States. Islam is also a constantly growing religion behind the prison walls, the

Nation of Islam as well as more traditional Sunni traditions. Safiya Bukhari, former

member of the Black Liberation Army who died in 2003, wrote about how her faith as a

Muslim sustained her while she was incarcerated. Bukhari specifically wrote about the

role of jihad in her growing faith, "Imam Sulaiman stated that there were three forms of

jihad (duty). The first was the internal jihad, wherein you struggle to change those things

within that are incorrect. The second jihad is with your immediate family; the third is

with the community...I was learning that Islam is not a religion that you observe only on

Friday... Islam is a way of life... Allah is constantly in your remembrance." 63 Jihad has

become a very challenging term since 2001 yet theologically has been a resource for

Muslims since the time of Muhammad. As Muslims in prison suffer under the violence

of incarceration they are still able to take part in jihad in meaningful theological ways.

While John Berkman is quite wrong that, "mimicking the ascetic and interior goals of

monastic life, the modern penitentiary emphasizes silence, isolation, self-denial, with
 37

liberal opportunity for prayer and self-reflection," 64 individuals can still practice their

faith and Islam provides a theological framework that meets the needs of many prisoners.

Jihad within the self can be done while incarcerated, whether related to the act that led to

being incarcerated in the first place or some notion of self that must be spiritually

transformed. Muslim prisoners should also continue jihad in the community while

locked up. This can look like organizing prayer gatherings in the prison, working to

abolish prisons from the inside, organizing work stoppages in the prison, or any other

organizing and faithful practice that brings community closer to the message of Allah.

A theology that serves the movement for abolition and those most impacted by the

prison industrial complex would do best with a strong commitment to prayer. Ivone

Gebara, an ecofeminist Catholic theologian, explains that, "to begin with, praying is a

human need, like singing, dancing or listening to music. But it is a human need marked

by gratuity and freedom, by the desire to be at one with myself in the presence of the

mystery that sustains us all. It is a human need that varies in intensity and from from one

person or culture to another... Prayer is our personal and collective preparation for acting

in solidarity and respect, for awakening feelings of tenderness and compassion for

persons and all living things."65 While I was incarcerated my prayer life become a focal

point of my day. Prayer became a practice of recognizing my place as a person in the

world and as a spiritual being in relationship with those I loved but was not connected to.

Prayer was also a time when I intentionally felt thankful, a practice that was incredibly

difficult during my stay in solitary confinement. I was striving to be thankful for the

blessing of my breath, blood flowing through my veins, and the incredible people who
 38

supported me from the outside. As an abolitionist organizer in the "free world" prayer

gives me the time to set out my intention for action to bring us closer to the day of

liberation, when we are all saved from the violence of the prison industrial complex. A

praying practice for the abolition movement should embody the prayer structure

articulated by Unitarian theologian John Haynes Holmes, “Prayer is attention unfolding

into intention. It is purpose, resolution, dedication. Which brings us face to face with the

greatest of all spiritual discoveries – that if our prayers are to be answered we must

answer them ourselves; that we are already answering our prayers in the mere expression

of the desire that they be fulfilled." 66

Unitarian Universalism affirms the individual and community in their free and

responsible search for truth and meaning. The above theological suggestions are only

part of the possibility for establishing theological resources that will serve communities

impacted by the prison industrial complex. There are seemingly endless theological

perspectives on liberation that can strengthen the movement for abolition. One of the

beauties of Kate Canon's dance of redemption is that it goes on and on giving many

opportunities to create and discover new ways of engaging the struggle for justice

theologically. Unitarian Universalist theology, at its best, expands its capacity to

welcome theological reflections that are challenging to the status quo when building

relationships across faiths. Any theological approach to challenging the prison industrial

complex must actively engage in interfaith dialogue to best serve the needs of great

diversity of beliefs within the movement.

 39

Chapter Four: Norm Clarification - Rethinking the Value of Punishment

The next step in the dance of redemption is norm clarification. This step requires

one to discern and decipher what values and norms are operating in the context of

oppression and resistance. Relating to the prison industrial complex this step requires

abolitionists to question what the social mores are and what cultural memes have

established the normative understanding of criminality, policing, incarceration, and other

aspects of the prison industrial complex. Not only must abolitionists understand what the

norms are but also challenge the norms in a way that can give birth to new counter-

cultural norms, which will eventually shape cultural transformation from reliance on the

prison industrial complex to liberationist practices of justice.

I discussed statistics and the realities of incarceration, at length, above. The

primary point of this section is not to look at particular numbers but rather to look at the

cultural messages that are created that perpetuate the growth of the prison industrial

complex. Following that examination I will begin offering some of the alternatives to the

dominant system of incarceration that are being used, as an answer to the common retort,

"This is the best we can do." I will also look at useful critiques of the current abolitionist

movement to offer some possible ways of clarifying the movement's potential to move

forward and grow.

Palak Shah identifies four particularly damaging myths used widely within the

United States to contribute to the growth of the prison industrial complex. The idea that,

"we are all rugged individualists" is the first myth Shah identifies. This is the concept

that we can all "make it" or "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps" if we simply try hard
 40

enough. "Rugged individualism asserts that the strong rise and the weak fall. This idea

values individual liberty over any collective or community obligation...This is sometimes

called a masculinist world view, placing a higher value on common ideas about men and

maleness than on women; it contributes to a climate where sexism is acceptable." 67 This

"rugged individualism" depends upon a myth that those who are suffering get what they

deserve and that those who are succeeding are inherently better. This ideology parallels

the Calvinist theology of determinism and predestination.

The second myth Shah highlights is that all people who are in prison must have

done something wrong. "This myth is based on the idea that human actions are governed

primarily by personal responsibility... People who act responsibly stay out of trouble...

Prisoners are people who acted irresponsibly and must suffer the consequences."68 This

myth ignores the social construction of poverty, white supremacy, homelessness, and

other structural violence that leads to survival "crime." This myth refuses to

acknowledge what actually goes on behind prison walls. This myth refuses to look at the

healthcare access prisoners receive. This is the myth that allows sexual violence in prison

to be seen as a joke and simply part of the punishment for acting "irresponsibly." The

theological norm established with this myth is that humanity is, "born sinful and must

exercise self discipline to reach heaven. If they refuse to behave properly, then

punishment is not only appropriate, it is for their own good, to help them be redeemed in

the eyes of God."69 The prison industrial complex then becomes its own manifestation of

God, playing the role of ultimate punisher and disciplinarian for human transgression.

One of the most brutal tools of the prison industrial complex is the death penalty. This
 41

action of God-playing by the state displays its power to decide who deserves to live and

die, disciplining not only the executed individual but an entire culture that is forced to

know the state can play God in anyones life.

The third myth relates to the judicial system itself. Shah suggests, "Americans

believe, and want to believe, that the U.S. justice system treats everyone fairly despite

clear evidence that this is not the case." 70 What would seem more accurate to me is that

those who have not been most impacted by the judicial system believe and want to

believe in the fairness of the system. There is an assumption that a "jury of your peers"

will look at evidence with an unbiased eye. There is an assumption that the racist

systems every person internalizes will not play out when making a judgement about a

situation. Yet how many times are the words of a police officer taken with more validity

than the words of a sex-worker? How many times have prosecutors relied on the racism

of a jury to get a conviction? In February of 2010 Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was convicted of

attempted murder on U.S. interrogators in 2008 even though there was no material

evidence supporting the accounts of the prosecution. The language of terrorism and

"crazy Arab woman" were tossed around the court room, playing on the fear of the jury.

The final myth Shah highlights is that the American people are taught to believe

that the criminal justice system keeps communities safe. This understanding is, "rooted

in the false assumption that prisons work to create safety and reduce 'crime...' Central to

the notion that the system is working is the belief that the U.S. criminal justice system

protects the innocent and provides for their security." 71 Would the families and

communities of Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Tarika Wilson, Duanna Johnson, and so many
 42

others who have lost their loved ones to murder by police agree that the criminal justice

system keeps their communities safe? When the police arrest the survivor in a domestic

violence situation because the couple is same-gender or the survivor is defending

him/herself are they being protected by the criminal justice system? Those who have

been taught that the police are around to protect them must examine how that message

was taught and why they feel safe with the presence of the police. Those who believe

prisons make them safer must ask how the spread of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, and other

public health disasters to prisoners is making any community safer. The process of norm

clarification is to ask hard questions and challenge what one has been taught or assumed

about reality.

Dr. Suzanne Joseph, has discussed the cognitive dissonance involved in the

establishment of feelings of safety by distinguishing the cultural acceptance of the,

"inevitability of Black death and the superiority of white life" 72 Dr. Joseph looks

specifically at the colonization of Palestine and the condemnation of Palestinian

resistance in contrast to the legitimation of Israeli military occupation and murder of

Palestinian lives. Joseph's analysis of Zionism and the colonization of Palestine is useful

when deconstructing the cultural norms of the prison industrial complex as Palestine has

often been called "the largest open air prison on earth." This analysis can be applied to

the ways the media considers the lives of the Black, Latino, and Arab individuals killed

by the police, providing protection for white people or white owned property. This

analysis can also be applied to the torture and violence used against detainees in

Guantanamo Bay or other U.S. military prisons around the world in the name of
 43

protecting the United States citizens (read: white people). The norm clarification process

must look at how Dr. Joseph's analysis is operating in the development of the prison

industrial complex. The abolitionist movement must also grapple with the realities of

Zionism and the need to resist the colonization of Palestine as part of the larger

movement against incarceration and state sanctioned punitive policies.

Norm clarification must also be an ongoing process for those actively engaged in

challenging the prison industrial complex. When an individual or community decides to

get involved in social justice work, confronting oppression, or working against the spread

of the prison industrial complex there are a few essential questions to ask about the

actions being taken. Critical Resistance and Incite! Women of Color Against Violence

compiled a statement and approach for addressing gender violence and the prison

industrial complex beginning with the awareness that, "activists/movements that address

state violence often work in isolation from activists/movements that address domestic and

sexual violence. The result is that women of color, who suffer disproportionately from

both state and interpersonal violence, have become marginalized within these

movements."73 Any strategies working to counter violence must be rooted (similarly to

the theology as mentioned above) in and accountable to those most impacted by violence.

Organizations and individuals striving to do work to create justice must problematize and

deconstruct current strategies used to solve the problems of violence. Consistently

mainstream anti-violence programs rely on the violence of the state to protect "victims"

of violence without asking how that violence can actually cause more harm than help.

Incite! documents, "the overall impact of mandatory arrest laws for domestic violence
 44

have led to decreases in the number of battered women who kill their partners in self-

defense, but they have not led to a decrease in the number of batterers who kill their

partners. Thus, the law protects batterers more than it protects survivors." 74 The state

does not recognize the complexities of institutionalized oppression and relying on it to

solve the problems of oppression will only allow that oppression to adapt into new and

more challenging manifestations to abolish. One must ask, if this legislation/policy/rule

gets passed how is it going to influence the lives of those most impacted by the prison

industrial complex? Is this act going to strengthen the machine or take one of the cogs

away?

While an immediate elimination of the prison industrial complex may not feel

realistic, a good practice in norm clarification is to explore strategies that will lead to the

end goal as well as examine alternatives to relying on the penal system, police, or

punishment ideology. James Samuel Logan wrote Good Punishment as a Christian

theological exploration of the prison industrial complex and to offer reflections on the

possibility of living differently. Logan is an abolitionist and specifically sympathetic to

Angela Davis' suggestions of abolitionism. He relates to Davis as she, "insists that society

not search for prison like substitutes for the prison, 'such as house arrest safeguarded by

electronic bracelets.' Rather, she invites us to imagine a constellational continuum of

alternatives to imprisonment: e.g., the 'demilitarization of education on all levels... a

justice system based on reparation and reconciliation rather than on retribution and

vengeance."75 Logan suggests that humanity has the capacity of creating these new

systems even as it takes a radical change in how the culture is structured at the current
 45

time.

To get beyond the humiliation and violence of the prison industrial complex

Logan offers, "an 'ontology of love,' which essentially drives humanity toward 'the

reunion of the separated.'"76 This reunion involves all of the people of society. When an

individual causes harm to another there is a need of return to the grace of humanity for all

involved. Society as a whole has a particular role in this process along with the

individuals directly involved in a particular situation. Society is, "in need of forgiveness

of having created and permitted crime-generative communities to exist." 77 This

permission manifests itself as a refusal to provide universal healthcare, criminalizing

mental illness, evicting people from their homes, sending people off to war, and so many

other violent socializing processes. The particular individuals involved also have roles to

play in the process of justice. Relating to Howard Zehr's theories of restorative justice

Logan defines restorative justice as system that is, "community-based and deals with

offenders through a victim-oriented process of restoration in the form of restitution...

Restitution recognizes the basic need of victims for vindication without making the pain

and humiliation of punishment the final word." 78

Many people question how forgiveness or restitution can happen after a violent

act or harm has been caused, a doubt that is well-founded in a culture that puts so much

value on vengeance and punishment. However, very importantly restorative justice,

"does not aim to encourage or coerce victims of crime to forgive or reconcile with

offenders, though the process 'does provide a context where either or both might

happen.'"79 Justice can occur without a particular survivor choosing to forgive the
 46

person/people who caused harm in the first place. Restitution can be configured in

whatever way is needed. Forgiveness can be left to the Divine, allowing the survivor of

harm to move on. However, forgiveness can be a saving experience for the survivor(s).

This forgiveness is not a "forgive and forget" fiction created for the illusion of justice. In

order to establish the purpose and benefit of forgiveness in any given situation an

understanding of forgiveness as part of establishing "healing memories" can be helpful.

Logan relies heavily on the ethics of Stanley Hauerwas in his writing, both supporting

and critiquing him. For Haurwas, "Christian forgiveness is not that our sins no longer

matter but that our sins are now made part of the economy of salvation for the

constitution of a new community otherwise impossible.' It is crucial for Hauerwas that

the gift of our forgiveness, of transformed but not forgotten memories of offense, be

received in the context of gathered community." 80 Forgiveness for a survivor may look

like a recognition of the harm caused, a remembering of the pain, and a willingness to

understand that the person who caused the harm is human, even if that humanness is

broken.

There are examples of communities and organizations turning away from the

prison industrial complex and addressing harm in ways that feel transformative for them.

"Over the past several years Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CARA) in Seattle

has actively supported people and networks in developing community accountability

strategies. In one situation, CARA supported a group of young women organizers who

had been sexually assaulted by a male co-organizer. Because of the women's demands,

the group removed him from his position and he entered counseling with support from
 47

friends. The group also began sponsoring trainings on sexual violence throughout its

national chapters."81 In this example the survivors were able to come together and get the

support that they needed from an outside organization. They also were able to claim their

space within their own community by making demands that the abuser be held

accountable. The abuser then agreed to take his own necessary steps to heal his

brokenness by entering into counseling. The organization as a whole also took its

responsibility by agreeing to trainings that would hopefully lead to an organizational

culture that challenges all forms of violence. These steps help create a safer environment

and let go of the continual reliance on the prison industrial complex to solve their

problems.

Another example of an organizing effort is the Audre Lorde Project's Safe Outside

the System Collective. This organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender

non-conforming people of color has created an active alternative to turning to the police

to solve problems of violence in Bed-Stuy and other surrounding areas in Brooklyn. The

collective has developed relationships with local businesses to provide safe spaces for

individuals running from abusers or police violence. They have a hotline for individuals

to call and get support when they have been victimized. There is a group of individuals

within the collective who are available to provide security at parties or other gatherings to

protect from violence among the group and also to keep police out of events. The

collective is a growing and transforming process that has real-life experience of the

increased violence police bring into their communities rather than the safety and respect

the police department professes.

 48

Chapter Five: Strategic Options - Planning the Revolution

Following norm clarification, and even as it continues on during new research and

reflection, strategic options for moving forward will begin to present themselves and

communities/individuals must begin creating lists of how they wish to be involved in

transformation. Strategic options are what make it so that the new world is possible. One

model for moving forward is called the attrition model, "the rubbing away or wearing

down by friction... the persistent and continuing strategy necessary to diminish the

function and power of prisons in our society."82 This strategy specifically targets the

prison and incarceration aspects of the prison industrial complex. It begins with

moratorium on all prison, jail, detention center growth, development, research, building.

The moratorium process forces the government and corporations to examine alternatives

to incarcerating people. Moratoriums have a measurable impact in prohibiting the further

development of the physical confinement institutions of the prison industrial complex. In

1974 the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations General Assembly passed a

resolution calling for "a moratorium on the construction of new jails and prisons... by

local, state, provincial and federal authorities." 83

While fighting for a moratorium on all expansion of the punishment industry the

next step in the strategy is decarceration. Decarceration is the struggle to get as many

people as possible out of prison. While the strategy of a neo-underground railroad should

certainly be attempted and advocated for, the repercussions if caught will certainly be

severe. Other strategies include, "a prisoner release timeline: at least 80 percent
 49

immediately; 15 percent gradually; the remaining 5 percent within ten years." 84 To reach

that first 80 percent all prisoners convicted of not-violent offenses should be released,

compassionate release of all prisoners with terminal diseases, all prisoners over the age of

65, all prisoners convicted of sex work, all prisoners convicted of killing/injuring their

abusive partners, and all prisoners who have served twenty years or more on a sentence.

Certainly all of these individuals getting out of prison will need support structures to

acclimate into society. Programs to serve formerly incarcerated people will need to be

individualized. In 2006, $68,747,203,000 was spent on corrections. "The average annual

operating cost per state inmate in 2001 was $22,650, or $62.05 per day; among facilities

operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, it was $22,632 per inmate, or $62.01 per

day."85 If the country is able to spend that amount on incarcerating people every year

then it should be able to spend half that amount to care for people in their process of

returning to society, money that should be given directly to community based

organizations, not state controlled programs.

The next step in the struggle for abolition is excarceration, the act of not putting

people in prison. This is where the restorative justice practices come in.

Decriminalization must also be included in this process as well. In "liberal"

Massachusetts one in twenty four residents are either on probation, parole, or

incarcerated.86 Massachusetts is a state of many laws and mandatory minimums, a

structure that is not making people safer or keeping power in marginalized communities.

Tactics to excarcerate include, "Abolish categories of crime. Start by decriminalizing

crimes without victims; abolish bail and pretrial detention [let people out]; create
 50

community dispute and mediation centers; utilize suspended sentences, fines and

restitution; establish community probation; and create legislative standards and

procedures for alternative sentencing." 87 These are by no means exhaustive lists of

possibilities, but rather a spotlight on particular strategies as suggested by abolitionists.

A particularly popular campaign that has gained popularity around the United States is

the effort to "ban the box." This campaign works to remove the question, "Have you ever

been convicted of a felony," and variations of it, from job applications. Multiple cities

across the country have made this a policy for companies doing business within the city

limits or receiving city money, including Boston, Massachusetts. On May 11, 2009

Minnesota became the first state to "ban the box" statewide. 88 Legislation such as this

keeps people out of prison as it provides access to jobs that formerly incarcerated people

are so often denied even entry interviews for. While it is not a final solution, it helps

people access the resources they need to get back on their feet after being incarcerated;

no small accomplishment as recidivism rates are nearly seventy percent. 89

There are those individuals who are currently locked behind doors and concrete

walls because they are incredibly dangerous and have harmed many people, with no

intention to stop. The abolitionist suggestion for this very small number of individuals is

restraint and, "a monitoring and review procedure... with the goal of working out the least

restrictive and most humane option for the shortest period of time." 90 While determining

who the "too dangerous" few are it should be remembered that the majority of people

who cause harm, including vicious acts of violence, are not actually in prison and

restraining these few should not be thought of as an alternative to creating stronger

 51

systems of community accountability free from police involvement.

The above are larger strategies for getting involved in the work towards abolition.

It is vital to have strategy and theory behind the practices of abolition. Action to abolish

the prison industrial complex can manifest in seemingly endless ways. The appendix

offers concrete options for a congregation or faith-based organization to engage with.

Chapter Six: Celebration and Annunciation - Dancing in the Rubble of the Prisons

The next step in the dance of redemption is one of the most joyous occasions,

celebration and annunciation. It has been said, we can't wait for the promised land to

come, we need to sing and dance now! As a congregation makes plans to do the work of

abolishing the prison industrial complex it would strengthen the congregation's identity as

a space of prison ministry if they host an open house or other welcoming event. So often

the church doors appear closed even when those inside profess the doors to be opened. A

congregation can engage in a ritual of openness to celebrate the collective process of

better serving communities impacted by the prison industrial complex. This ritual can be

incredibly public. The congregation can do a stand out at a particular detention center, or

do a prayerful walk to all institutions within a particular distance as the Massachusetts

Interfaith Prison Pilgrimage did in 2000. 91 The congregation could also put up a chain

link fence blocking the doors of the church and then cut the links away while holding a

service outside of the church. This symbolic act could bring attention to the congregation

as well as to the work of prison ministry. The essential act is to feel spiritually and

emotionally connected to the celebration and announcing of such vital work.

 52

It is also necessary to celebrate all of the victories, including the small ones. If a

congregation is advocating for a singular individual and there are some successes,

celebrate! If an individual is struggling to get the congregation in support of the needed

work and gets one more person to sign a petition for a congregational meeting, celebrate!

As people come into the congregation because they feel welcomed by the new ministry,

allow them to announce themselves, and everyone together celebrate! The growth and

vitality of Unitarian Universalism is something to celebrate when it is doing so with the

purpose of achieving authentic justice in the world. It is also true that there will not be

many victories when taking on the machine that is the prison industrial complex. Simply

continuing in the struggle is reason to celebrate. Congregations, organizations, and

individuals should set landmark moments they wish to commemorate and celebrate the

prison work and ministry. This may be a yearly commemoration of those who have died

while in prison, celebrating their lives and resistance. The celebration may be on the

anniversary of Assata Shakur's liberation from prison, honoring the need for all prisoners

to be free. Celebration is vital for the continuation of the work and it should be done in

style with good food and whatever activities feed the culture of resistance.

Chapter Seven: Re-reflection and Strategic Action - Think... Act... Repeat!

The final step of the dance, before beginning twirling oneself to the beginning

again, is re-reflection and strategic action. This is the time to ask questions. While Bill

Sinkford, former president of the UUA, suggests that it is not helpful to refer to Unitarian

Universalism as a predominantly white religion, 92 it is essential for the question of white

 53

supremacy and whiteness in ministry to be examined by congregations. Challenging the

prison industrial complex requires a challenge to white supremacy and the white

leadership of many congregations will need to struggle with the impacts of white

theology within Unitarian Universalism, "until the white body writes with red rage, until

the white heart heaves with black tremors, until the white head bows before yellow

dreams and tan schemes and olive screams for a different world, any communion claimed

will be a contrivance of denial. A theologian - speaking of resurrection in a body not

bearing the scars of its own 'crucifixion'? Impossible! The answer to the question is quite

simple: White theology must learn how to stop speaking in the key of presumption and

habit and lifestyle, and begin to speak explicitly only to the degree it is learning to weep

consistently 'in' the very hell its tragic history has created. It can enter that hell only by

shrinking."93 The questions "free-world" Unitarian Unviersalists must ask begin with,

what sacrifices have we made and are we willing to make for this ministry? As a

theology that believes in universal salvation how long can Unitarian Universalists weep

in the hell of the tragic history of the prison industrial complex, while also authentically

engaging in the actions necessary to bring about its abolition?

The purpose of re-reflection is to create and discern a litany of questions,

including but not limited to the following: are we being accountable to those most

impacted by the prison industrial complex; are we in relationship with others doing

prison ministry work; how are we going to sustain the work we are doing; in what way is

our work anti-oppressive; how do we incorporate the voices of those with marginalized

identities into our ministry; what are the feelings that are coming up for the congregation
 54

and how do we deal with them; what are the theological questions that come up in the

work; are the ministries we are involved with useful; what is our motivation for this

ministry; what have the outcomes of our ministry been thus far; if we are only doing

interpersonal ministry do we have a responsibility to do more advocacy work; if we are

only doing advocacy work do we have a responsibility to do more individual ministry; is

our religious community becoming more open to formerly incarcerated people and

families of currently incarcerated people; what have we learned?

Conclusion:

Returning to the question at the beginning of this paper I believe there is an

answer, indeed incarcerating even one person is too many. The prison industrial complex

harms everyone it touches from the individuals getting hassled on the street to the prison

guards who are spiritually damaged by confining other human beings. The pain of the

prison industrial complex hits all undocumented immigrant families afraid of getting

deported and all judges who are forced to give a first time offender a mandatory

minimum of ten years in prison. To authentically engage the dance of redemption we

must reflect on our knowledge and build our own commitment to strengthening a

movement. For myself, writing this paper is one of my steps in the dance. I am

continuously learning that our words have the ability to come together and educate

towards the purpose of liberation. The struggle to abolish the prison industrial complex

must be rooted in the experiences of those most impacted by its violence and I need to

continue to challenge myself to be accountable to them. The dance of redemption is not

 55

only necessary because it is a tool created by and for Black women but because it is the

right tool to use for building this movement with a true analysis and understanding. The

conclusion here is really only a reminder that continuing the work and being in right

relationship with people is what will bring us closer to the goal of abolition. The human

capacity to love, forgive, and remember justice must be greater than the evils of

punishment and retribution; when this happens abolitionism will win!

 56

APPENDIX

The following is a list of actions individuals or communities can take part in to help
forward the abolitionist movement. This is, by no means, an exhaustive list but rather a
beginning list to help reflect on possible ways to be involved together.

a. Letter writing

Writing letters to prisoners can be a life-saving act, for the prisoner and the free world

individual. When letters are sent into prisons the institution becomes aware that the

individual is not alone or forgotten. When prisoners are known to be cared for the

harassment they experience can lessen, this is especially true for gay, lesbian, bisexual,

same-gender loving, transgender, and gender non-conforming prisoners. One prisoner,

writing of his experience engaging with the Henry David Thoreau Unitarian Universalist

Congregation's pen-pal program, expressed, "For an inmate to be able to have an

opportunity to share his intellect in a positive way is a valuable gift - especially in an

oppressed and negative environment like we live in." 94 It is not only an essential program

for people who are locked up. Those who are on the outside have a spiritual and political

obligation to connect with people who are incarcerated. One "free world" person wrote

of the same program, "The project has helped me connect to a sense of humility and

gratitude for the circumstances in my life. It has given me a view of an incredible person,

a gentle spirit, locked away like an animal. It has renewed my outrage at the criminal

'justice' system in this country. It has given me more motivation to work for changes in

this system."95 As prison ministry and abolitionist organizing works to be accountable to

prisoners there must be a direct relationship with people who are locked up. Letter

writing can fill an essential need for better organizing and spiritual fulfillment for all

involved.
 57

b. visiting

Like writing letters, visiting people in prison can fill an incredibly vital spiritual and

social need. Visiting can look like any number of things. There are many volunteer

programs that individuals, organizations, and congregations can get involved in. One

should always examine the rules of the prison and Department of Correction very closely.

There are times when the rules are far more strict than it is worth to do the formal

volunteering. Every institution has different rules around visiting and it can be very

painful the first time visiting a prison as a "free world" person. The experiences of being

watched by guards, patted down, checked-up on with a background check, and the

endless other minor violations of humanity are all exhausting. However, organizing with

other visitors can be an incredible opportunity for movement building. There are visitor

organizations that have formed and struggled to pass a "Visitors Bill of Rights." Actions

like this can be empowering both to visitors and to prisoners who feel powerless to

protect the people they care about who are taking the time to get to the prison for a visit.

c. advocacy

See above mentioned suggestions for possible issues to advocate on. There are hundreds

of groups across the country advocating for different abolitionist reforms to the system,

taking bricks out of the walls. Individual prisoners also need advocacy. While the

struggle for an entire system transformation continues there are still needs individuals

have. As one builds relationships with prisoners through letter-writing or visiting there

may be requests for specific support and advocacy on issues surrounding sexual violence,

access to vegetarian food, religious freedom, etc. Advocating for prisoners can be very
 58

difficult, individuals should create networks and organizations of support when doing this

work.

d. organizing

Organizing is different from advocacy. Organizing is the process of building movements

and power among communities most impacted by systems of oppression. The Midwest

Academy defines direct action organizing as, "the power of the people to take collective

action on their own behalf... [the] three fundamental principles of direct action [are] win

concrete improvements in peoples lives; make people aware of their own power (by

winning victories); [and] alter the relations of power between people, the government,

and other institutions by building strong permanent local, state and national

organizations... when we say that we want to give people 'a sense of their own power,' we

mean that people themselves are involved in winning the issue. If an advocate goes out

and speaks for you, or if a lawyer sues for you, you get a sense of the power of the

advocate or the lawyer, but not of your own power. Direct Action Organizing brings

people directly into the situation in large numbers so that they know that they won. Why

does it matter? Because people who develop a sense of their organized power are more

likely to stay active and take on larger issues. Whe we say that we want to 'alter the

relations of power,' we mean building organizations that those in power, at all levels of

government will always have to worry about. When they decide to do anything that has

an impact on your group, they will have to say 'wait a minute,' how will that organization

react to this?"96 Organizing with formerly incarcerated people, people targeted by the

police, undocumented immigrants, and families of incarcerated people is essential for any
 59

movement against the prison industrial complex to be successful.

e. formerly incarcerated support groups

Make space for formerly incarcerated people in your congregation. Build relationships

with individuals who have experiences behind bars and offer space for people to come

together and support each other. Terence T. Gorski writes about the impact of what he

calls Post Incarceration Syndrome. While pathologizing the lives of formerly

incarcerated people may not always be helpful, the understanding that incarceration can

deeply damage the brain can be useful for people as they struggle to recover from their

experience of incarceration. Gorski defines Post Incarceration Syndrome as, "a set of

symptoms that are present in many currently incarcerated and recently released prisoners

that are caused by being subjected to prolonged incarceration in environments of

punishment with few opportunities for education, job training, or rehabilitation. The

symptoms are most severe in prisoners subjected to prolonged solitary confinement and

severe institutional abuse."97 Formerly incarcerated support groups may choose to go

into some of their internalized issues though they may choose to primarily focus on

support systems to get access to housing, jobs, or community.

f. family and friends of prisoners groups

There are many groups around the country working with friends and families of

prisoners. These groups pull together ride shares to prisons, support one another with

advocacy, organize public demonstrations when things are particularly bad for prisoners,

and so on. The Families of Prisoners Coalition is a national organization that brings

together the work of multiple organizations throughout the country. Their primary
 60

objectives include, "Support the development of existing and potential members in their

work with impacted prisoners' families, prisoners and previously incarcerated persons;

Raise awareness of issues affecting impacted prisoners' families, prisoners and previously

incarcerated persons; Manage the Families of Prisoners Support-line," 98 and others.

Families of incarcerated people have a lot to struggle with and having space to gather

with others going through similar struggles can help relieve the stigma of navigating the

penal system.

g. prison book projects

There are more than twenty-five books to prisoners projects around the country, including

one located at the Quincy, Massachusetts Unitarian Universalist church. Each program

has a slightly different mission, but the primary purpose is to make sure the prisoners get

access to books for personal pleasure and educational growth. Many of the book

programs have a radical analysis and intentionally send radical books into prisons, one

program even sells t-shirts with the slogan, "Helping prisoners escape since 1975."

Every prison has different rules about what books are allowed to be sent in and multiple

regulations about the number of of books each prisoner is allowed and where the books

can be sent from. These are incredible programs that morph to support the need of

prisoners as best as possible while also juggling all the different rules.

h. join, support, or start a cop-watch

There are multiple cop watch groups around the country. Chicago, Illinois; Portland,

Oregon, Oakland, California, and New York, New York have the strongest and most

successful Cop Watch organizations. Massachusetts has a functional Cop Watch in

 61

Western Massachusetts and a sporadic chapter in Boston. The Portland Cop Watch list

their goals as: "To empower victims of police misconduct to pursue their grievances,

with the goal of resolving individual cases and preventing future occurrences; to educate

the general public and, in particular, 'target groups' of police abuse on their rights and

responsibilities; and to promote and monitor an effective system for civilian oversight of

police."99 Cop Watch's regularly patrole the streets and monitor police activity with video

cameras and still photo cameras as a form of deterance of police brutality and to

document any misconduct that does occur. Cop Watch is completely legal and can

provide a vital organizing tool in communities most impacted by policing. During the

New York City Gay Pride march a coalition of queer people of color organizations form a

Cop Watch Patrol because of the long history of police targeting queers of color during

the parade and the lack of support by parade organizers and mainstream gay and lesbian

organizations. These are all areas that congregations and individuals can get involved

with to legitimize the people's power to monitor the police.

i. creating restorative justice policies in the church

Most congregations have "safe congregations" guidelines. These guidelines help the

congregation deal with issues of abuse of any kind within the congregation. As the world

moves slowly toward abolishing the prison industrial complex, congregations can create

their own alternatives for dealing with harm in their own communities. Because of how

laws work in the United States time and effort should be spent learning what liabilities

the church would be faced with in different situations of harm. The congregation can

have conversations about what to do if the church is robbed. Ask questions about when
 62

and why the police would be called and what the congregation would hope the police to

do in any given situation. Congregations should assume that there are people in the

congregation who are abusing their children, partners, co-workers, or other people in

their lives. Unfortunately the rates of abuse are very high and it is worth being open and

prepared to discuss how to deal with abusers and survivors in the church. The Knoxville

Unitarian Universalist church had a heinous attack of violence with a gunman killing

multiple members of the congregation before being stopped. The church advocated for

the man not to get the death penalty. The congregation has been going through their own

process of forgiveness and reconciliation. What else might that congregation do as they

struggle to rebuild their feelings of security as well as challenge the prison industrial

complex?

j. GED support for prisoners

Many prisoners do not have high school diplomas or the equivalent. While college

degree programs for prisoners are wonderful and essential, effort must be put into

supporting GED programs so that formerly incarcerated people can at least have some

recognized education when they get out of prison.

k. host community conversations about the penal system

Churches are called meeting houses for many reasons, including the reality that what is

sacred is the community in it, the building is a place to conduct the work of the world.

Churches can be an incredible place to host conversations about the role of the prison

industrial complex. St. Paul's Cathedral in Boston, Massachusetts hosted a state-wide

conversation about the role of prisons and community members in the post-release lives
 63

of prisoners. This particular event was called "From the Cell-Block to the City Block"

and was attended by the Commissioner of Corrections along with nearly 100 community

members. In 2004 the Berrien Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in St. Joseph, Michigan,

a "small fellowship of 42 adult members co-sponsored with a local radio station a city-

wide public forum for criminal justice reform in response to outrage in the community

sparked over the death of a young African American man killed in an accident during a

police pursuit. “Weighing the Scales of Justice” brought together a wide array of criminal

justice officials—from a Circuit Court Judge, two criminal attorneys, the County Sheriff,

the Police Chief, an officer of the State Parole Board and others—with leaders and

members of the community to examine strengths and weaknesses in the justice system.

Much needed reforms were identified collectively, including jury recruitment and

selection, the judicial electoral process, racial profiling and racial imbalances in

sentencing, overly harsh sentencing, setting of high bonds, lack of training for indigent-

defense lawyers, issues of venue, and a history of wrongful convictions. The forum

provided an opportunity for honest dialogue and accountability for instituting reforms

was established."100 The possibilities for events and dialogues are only as limited as there

is time available to discuss.

l. join national campaigns to abolish the death penalty

There are many well-established campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty. I will

not go into great detail here about these different campaigns. The death penalty is one of

the greatest stains on the humanity of the United States. The country of supposed

democracy is one of the only countries left in the world allowing such a tragedy.
 64

Unitarian Universalists for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is one of the many

organizations UU congregations can get involved with.

m. join national campaigns to shut down the solitary confinement units

Solitary confinement has been considered a human rights violation by Amnesty

International and other human rights groups around the world. The impact of solitary

confinement on the human psyche is hard to measure. The American Friends Service

Committee is leading the national campaign against solitary confinement units and keep

detailed action alerts on their website, state by state. Their campaign is called

STOPMAX.

n. hold memorial services for prisoners who have died in your state

Lives of prisoners are incredibly undervalued in the culture of the United States. The

deaths of prisoners are hardly ever noticed or counted. When prisoners commit suicide,

in a final desperate attempt to gain control over their lives, their voices are often

forgotten. Congregations can hold memorial services for those who have died. The

Community Church of Boston hosted a memorial service for all those prisoners who had

committed suicide in massachusetts prisons in 2007. At the time Massachusetts had hit

the record number of suicides behind walls ever documented in the history of

incarceration in the United States. This particular service was interfaith and brought

multiple communities together, along with political officials, to mourn the dead. Tim

Swallow, a Lakota spiritual leader, "offered several Lakota Sioux tribal prayers and asked

others at the gathering to pray with him. 'If you have relatives behind brick walls, iron

bars, say a prayer for them,' Swallow said."101

 65

o. fundraise for commissary funds

Many prisoners have no financial resources yet are expected to pay for basic necessities.

Congregations can do special collections on a regular basis to send money to prisoners or

to families of incarcerated people who can send the money themselves. Phone calls from

prison can add up to monstrous amounts and any financial help can make major

differences in the lives of prisoners.

p. join campaigns to free political prisoners

As mentioned above political prisoners are often targeted for some of the worst treatment

behind bars. There are still many people locked up in prisons around the United States

because of political action they took, work to free them all.

q. include history of incarceration in your anti-discrimination policy (engage

in a long conversation about what it means to exclude those who have been convicted of

sexual offenses and how the far majority of those who are abusers are never caught)

Anti-discrimination policies are one of the places where organizations intentionally show

their commitment to organizational transformation. It has been a struggle to add

numerous identities to this list over the past six decades. Have a dialogue among the

congregation or organization about the possibility of including history of incarceration or

court involvement in your anti-discrimination policy. This does not mean the

organization or congregation is agreeing to let known sex-offenders work with children

but rather that a full safety analysis will be done for all employees to see how they can

best serve in the work of the congregation or organization.

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r. work to decriminalize drugs, sex-work, homelessness, and other "crimes"

of poverty

As mentioned in the strategy to excarcerate people decriminalization must be a top

priority. The incarceration of individuals for victimless "crimes" need to be examined as

part of a cultural construction of white supremacist, heteropatriarchal, capitalistic norms.

The work to decriminalize these acts takes enormous amounts of community based

organizing and resistance. Congregations are a perfect place for this work to be based as

the language of morality is highly abused in the politics of "tough on crime" legislators,

sheriffs, governors, congresspeople, etc.

s. write a moratorium bill on prison/jail construction in your state

The process and legitimacy of moratorium work is detailed above. The efforts

congregations can take lie in the writing of legislation and the pressuring of political

leaders along with religious leadership to join in the struggle. Arizona, Massachusetts,

and New York are the only states to have successfully written moratorium bills. While

none of these bills have ever passed, they become an incredible organizing tool for doing

community outreach and base building for the anti-prison movement. As state and

federal government officials continuously increase spending in "corrections" it is helpful

to have an alternative direction to point them in that has some legitimacy as legislation.

t. work with immigrant groups to end ICE raids, detention, and deportation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a growing entity within the prison industrial

complex. ICE has been responsible for violent raids in North Carolina, Massachusetts,

Illinois, Arizona, Texas, and nearly every other state in the continental United States.
 67

ICE is leasing out prison space in prisons around the country as well as building their

own privatized institutions (see above). The Biblical call for "welcoming the stranger"

could not be more clear in the First or Second Testament. The humanist perspective of

our interconnectedness is also an obvious directive to support immigrant justice. This

work can include shutting down ICE meetings as has been done in Arizona; standing

outside ICE detention centers as done in Boston, Massachusetts; providing space for

immigrant workers to speak out as has been done at churches around the country. Join in

coalitions to reform immigration laws and stop ICE in their violent targeting of

immigrant communities.

u. join the new sanctuary movement

Unitarian Universalists were actively engaged in the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s.

This was a time when churches were opening their doors to immigrant refugees who were

escaping brutality in their country that was being funded by the United States. While FBI

agents surveilled the church congregation members would continuously provide support

to the individual(s) housed in their worshipful home. The New Sanctuary Movement has

not adopted the same tactics at this point but it is a national coalition of religious

organizations and congregations committed to justice for immigrants.

v. open your church membership up to people incarcerated in your state

Congregations do not need to let prisoners remain some mysterious people. There is no

need to support prisoners without also including them within the structure of the church.

The Community Church of Boston voted in December 2009 to open the church's

membership to prisoners in Massachusetts. Numerous members of the church have loved

 68

ones in prison or have been imprison themselves, including the congregational director.

The church is very clear about what they provides to prisoner membership and what they

expects from the prisoner members; this clarity is so that there is not confusion or unmet

expectations. The pamphlet the church sends in to prisoners reads: "What does the

church provide to prisoners? (a.)The church will send weekly copies of the Sunday

bulletin, reading, sermon/talk (when made available), prayer, and reflections from

Sunday attendees. (b.) A copy of the monthly newsletter. (c.) Quarterly compilation of

prisoner reflections that are sent into the church. What is expected of prisoner members?

(a.) Send in reflections after reading material and consider writing something for the

newsletter. (b.) Practice leaving personal grudges against other prisoner members of the

church aside. Leave your beef outside the church. (c.) Share your thoughts and beliefs

with 'free-world' members and prisoner members. (d.) Sign a copy of the membership

book and include the work of justice into your life." 102 The majority of prison ministries

are from right wing and fundamentalist Christian traditions. Unitarian Universalism has

a very special ministry to bring to people who are incarcerated. One Unitarian

Universalist who responded to a survey on prison ministry responded to the question of

what Unitarian Universalism has to offer to prisoners with this, "In my current and

former prison ministry experiences....most of the other religious people coming into

prison are very conservative theologically. And many them, sadly, seem more interested

in 'preying' than 'praying,' preying on those who are low in their spirits and feel negative

about themselves, allowing prisoners to feel dependent on them as a source of

enlightenment and salvation. Because of this, I think UUism is needed desperately in

 69

prison....our focus on love, justice, reason can be a powerful antidote to the unhealthy

religious and social culture of prisons. I believe our work there is/can be transformative

and truly liberating"103 Opening Unitarian Universalist congregations to prisoners could

be part of the great desire to grow the church and increase its relevance in society. The

Congregation of the Larger Fellowship does incredible things with their ministry.

According to Rev. Patty, the director of the prisoner program, "many in our denomination

need a wake up call… Letter writing becomes a process of building a personal

relationship and hopefully will lead to [the free world person taking] more action,

hopefully getting involved in projects like bringing women prisoners closer to their

children or anything." The letter-writing becomes a tool of community building,

increasing the humanity of both individuals involved. Rev. Patty hopes that people on the

outside are able to understand that prisons exist as, "deprivation, cruelty, fear, and loss."

Yet so many prisoners, "are able to create lives of kindness and thoughtfulness even in

environments designed to be oppressive."

w. hold theological reflections on punishment in our society and how it relates

to Unitarian Universalist values

The restorationist controversy within Universalism was over the question of whether or

not there was a time of punishment before complete salvation after death. Engage the

conversation with Hosea Ballou's material on the question of future retribution. Discuss

the following quote and how it relates to todays understanding of punishment in the life

of the living, "It is well known, and will be acknowledged by every candid person, that

the human heart is capable of becoming soft, or hard; kind, or unkind; merciful or
 70

unmerciful, by education and habit. On this principle we contend, that the infernal

torments, which false religion has placed in the future world, and which ministers have,

with an overflowing zeal, so constantly held up to the people, and urged with all their

learning and eloquence, have tended so to harden the hearts of the professors of this

religion, that they have exercised, toward their fellow creatures, a spirit of enmity, which

but too well corresponds with the relentless cruelty of their doctrine, and the wrath which

they have imagined to exist in our heavenly Father. By having such an example

constantly before their eyes, they have become so transformed into its image, that,

whenever they have had the power, they have actually executed a vengeance on men and

women, which evinced that the cruelty of their doctrine had overcome the native kindness

and compassion of the human heart."104

x. build relationships with the local prison/jail chaplains

Congregations should know what jails and prisons are located around them. After getting

to know what buildings are actually located within an hour or two of the congregation

then phone calls should be made and meetings established. Congregational leadership

should get to know the local chaplains and understand what programs they are offering to

prisoners. Many chaplains do a decent job at being sure prisoners are getting access to

the spiritual needs they have, however there are endless reports of that not occuring.

Unitarian Universalists involved in prison ministry should not only be looking to spread

the good word of Unitarian Universalism within prisons but also being sure that those

with marginalized religious practices are getting access to their rightful entitlements to

practice. This means learning what faith traditions are present in the prison that the
 71

congregation may be unfamiliar with. This also may include educating the chaplain.

Congregations need to be cautious of these relationships, however. I will never forget the

Bureau of Prison chaplain who told me, while I was incarcerated in a federal prison, that,

"Lydon, the Bureau of Prisons comes first, God second. God doesn't pay the electric

bill." Chaplains can get lost in their service of two masters, the divine love versus the

evil of incarceration. When beginning to build relationships with chaplains

congregations should be open-minded and listen to the experiences of the chaplains as

they can be incredibly helpful as well.

y. provide space for survivors of "crime" and violence to gather and support

one another

Survivors of violence also need support of Unitarian Universalist congregations. Many

so-called victims rights organizations simply take advantage of survivors for the purpose

of moving forward their conservative political agendas. The work of the Political

Research Associates has tried to expose some of the contradictions of the victims rights

activists. Accordingly, "The majority of victim activists are white, middle-class and

female, which is far from representing the average victim of crime. These women are

more likely to believe that the punishment of the offender is their 'right,' the death penalty

is justified, and that punishments are often too lenient. Typical VR activists are more

supportive of police , prosecutors, and judges than the average victim." 105 Unitarian

Universalist congregations have the distinct opportunity to present alternatives to the

mainstream victims rights advocacy. Unitarian Universalist congregations can form

partnerships with organizations such as Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation,

 72

Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Families Against Mandatory Minimums,

Generation 5, and Communities United Against Violence. In relationship with alternative

organizations Unitarian Universalist congregations can provide space for survivors to

come together and do authentic healing without the violence of the prison industrial

complex impeding their lives.

z. look around, what work needs to be done in the community

Every community is different. Some communities are dealing with police violence

others are having to confront the exhausting presence of police in the high school

hallways. Conversations among the community one is involved in will likely bring

the best possible suggestions of how to be most effective in tearing down some

structures of the prison industrial complex locally. While organizing on a national

and international level is essential, the local work can at times be forgotten even as

it glares communities in the face. Congregations can assess their community and

determine the ways the prison industrial complex is manifesting before organizing

within the congregation and then in strong inter-faith coalitions to tackle any of the

obstacles to community liberation from violence.

1 UUA Commission on Appraisal, Engaging Our Theological Diversity (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association,
2005), 74.
2 Warren R. Ross, "Confronting Evil: Has Terrorism Shaken Our Religious Principles." UU World January/February 2002
available from http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/5787.shtml; Internet; accessed 3 February 2010.
3 Joan Martin - unpublished class handout; "Methodology in Womanist/Feminist Liberation and Theo-Ethics"
4 Joy James, The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings (New York: State
University of New York Press, 2005), 262.
5 The Network/La Red "What is Partner Abuse" available from http://www.thenetworklared.org/partnerabuse.htm;
Internet; accessed 13 January 2010.
6 The Pew Center on the States, "Pew Report Finds More than One in 100 Adults are Behind Bars" available from
www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=35912; Internet; accessed 22 January, 2010.
7 Ibid.
8 Palak Shah, Defending Justice (Somerville: Political Research Associates, 2005), 75.
9 Prison Policy Initiative, "Incarceration is not an Equal Opportunity Punishment" available from
http://www.prisonsucks.com; Internet; accessed 24 February, 2010.
10 James Samuel Logan, Good Punishment: Christian Moral Practice and U.S. Imprisonment (Grand Rapids: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 72.
11 "1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars," New York Times, 28 February 2008, sec. A, p. 1.
12 Logan, Good Punishment, Ibid. 77
13 Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2007), 247.
14 Andrea Smith, "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy" Color of Violence Anthology ed. Incite!
Women of Color Against Violence (Cambridge: South End Press, 2006), 67
15 "3 in 25 Juveniles in detention are sexually abused, Study Finds," LA Times 8 January 2010,
16 Just Detention International, "The Basics" available from http://www.justdetention.org/en/learn_the_basics.aspx;
Internet; accessed 13 February 2010.
17 Just Detention International, "LGBTQ Detainees Chief Targets for Sexual Abuse in Detention" available from
http://www.justdetention.org/en/fact_sheets.aspx; Internet; accessed 13 February 2010.
18 Prison Rape Elimination Commission, "National Report" available from
http://www.cybercemetery.unt.edu/archive/nprec/20090820154837/http:/nprec.us/publication/report/executive_summary
.php; Internet; accessed 13 February 2010.
19 Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt, "Prison Planet"; available from www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=9978; Internet,
accessed 16 December 2009
20 Ibid.
21 American Friends Service Committee, Struggle for Justice (New York: Hill and Wang, 1971), 34.
22 Ibid.,18.
23 Don Sabo, Prison Masculinities (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001), 37.
24 Ibid. 39.
25 American Friends Service Committee, Struggle for Justice., 26.
26 Sabo, Prison Masculinities, 40.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid. 41
29 Lee Griffith, The Fall of the Prison: Biblical Perspectives on Prison Abolition (Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers,
1993), 175.
30 Laura Magnani and Harmon L. Wray, Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison System
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006), 30.
31 Victoria Law Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women (Philadelphia: PM Press, 2009), 164.
32 The Sentencing Project Publications by Marc Mauer and Ryan S King, "A 25-Year Quagmire: The war on Drugs and its
Impact on American Society" available from http://www.sentencingproject.org/detail/publication.cfm?
publication_id=170; Internet; accessed 26 February 2010.
33 George Walters-Sleyton, Locked Up and Locked Down (Boston: Self Published, 2009), 55.
34 The Urban Institute Prisoner Reentry Portfolio, "Community Supervision and Reentry" available at
http://www.urban.org/projects/reentry-portfolio/community-supervision.cfm; Internet; accessed 26 February 2010.
35 Law, Resistance Behind Bars, 165.
36 National Association for Mental Illness, "Department of Justice Study: Mental Illness of Prison Inmates Worse Than
Past Estimates" available at http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?
Section=Top_Story&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=38174; Internet; accessed on 22
February 2010.
37 M. Wesley Swearigan, FBI Secrets: An Agents Expose (Cambridge: South End Press, 1995), 115.
38 Jamie Bissonette, When the Prisoners Ran Walpole: A True Story in the Movement for Prison Abolition (Cambridge,
South End Press, 2008), 11.
39 George Jackson Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (Oakland: Bantam, 1970), 26
40 Ibid. 203
41 James, The New Abolitionists, 120.
42 Ibid. 122
43 Ibid. 122 - 123
44 Ibid. 125
45 Ibid. 130
46 Law, Resistance Behind Bars, 7.
47 Ibid. 153
48 Charles A. Howe, Clarence Skinner Prophet of a New Universalism (Boston: Skinner House Press, 1998), 77.
49 Ibid. 117
50 Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation (London: Orbis Books, 1988), 9.
51 Robert Hardies and Rebecca Parker Blessing the World: What Can Save Us Now (Boston: Skinner House Press, 2006),
15.
52 Prison Policy Initiative, “Women in Prison”; available from www.prisonsucks.com; Internet; accessed 23 December
2009.
53 Katie Geneva Canon, Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community (New York: The Continuum
International Publishing Group Inc., 1995), 126.
54 Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, "Reporting Rates" available at www.rainn.org/get-
information/statistics/reporting-rates; Internet: accessed on 8 January 2010.
55 Delores Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenges of Womanist God-Talk (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995),
164.
56 Aaron McEmrys, "Engaging the Sacred Wisdom of Our Sisters in the Wilderness: A Unitarian Universalist/Womanist
Dialogue" available at www.meadville.edu/journal/McEmrysJLRFall06.pdf; Internet; accessed 12 December 2009.
57 UUA, Engaging Our Theological Diversity,75.
58 Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley, Soul Work: Anti-Racist Theologies in Dialogue (Boston: Skinner House Press, 2002), 114.
59 Hardies and Parker, Blessing the World, 23.
60 Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution of the Antebellum South (New York: Oxford University
Press USA, 2004), 294 - 295.
61 Ibid. 311
62 Ibid. 312 - 313
63 Safiya Bukhari, The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison, and
Fighting for Those Left Behind (Old Westbury: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2010), 71.
64 Samuel Wells, The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics (Chicago: Blackwell Publishing Limited, 2006), 102.
65 Ivone Gebara, Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers,
1999), 117, 120.
66 Clarence Russell Skinner, A Free Pulpit in Action (Freeport: Books for Libraries Press, 1971), 98.
67 Shah, Defending Justice, 36.
68 Ibid. 37
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid.
71 Ibid. 38
72 Suzanne Joseph "Palestine Solidarity and the Prison Industrial Complex," Critical Resistance Conference in Oakland,
California September 27, 2008.
73 Incite! Color of Violence, 223.
74 Ibid.
75 Logan, Good Punishment, 236.
76 Ibid. 203
77 Ibid. 207
78 Ibid. 229 - 230
79 Ibid. 231
80 Ibid. 162
81 Communities United Against Violence (unpublished, coped and distributed by organizations), "The Revolution Starts at
Home," 60.
82 Prison Research Education Action Project, Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists (Boston: PREAP, 1976),
 62.
83 UUA General Assembly Resolution in 1974, "Criminal Justice," available at
http://www.uua.org/socialjustice/socialjustice/statements/20212.shtml; Internet; Accessed on 20 November 2009
84 PREAP, Instead of Prisons, 63.
85 Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Inmate Expenditures," available at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=16;
Internet; accessed on 9 January 2010
86 Pew Foundation, "1 in 31 U.S. Adults are Behind Bars, on Parole or Probation," available at
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=49398#factsheets; Internet; accessed on 18 December
2009.
87 PREAP, Instead of Prisons, 63.
88 Real Cost of Prisons, "Minnesota Becomes First State to 'Ban the Box," Narrows Employer Liability for Criminal
Records," available at http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2009/05/minnesota_becom.html; Internet; accessed on
10 February 2010.
89 Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Recidivism of Prisoners" available at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov; Internet; accessed on 13
January 2010.
90 PREAP, Instead of Prisons, 63.
91 Mary Trotochaud, "Massachusetts Prison Pilgrimage -- Unmasking the Truths Behind the Prison Industrial Complex,"
Peacework Magazine December 2000/January 2001
92 A People So Bold Social Justice Ministries and Theologies: Resources for Congregations to Deepen Work for Social
Justice, Unitarian Universalist Association Resource DVD, 2010
93 James W. Perkinson, White Theology: Outing Supremacy in Modernity (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 216.
94 John Speer, Uncommon Community (Boston: Skinner House Press, 2008), 20.
95 Ibid.
96 Kimberley Bobo, Steve Max, and Jackie Kendall, Organizing for Social Change Midwest Academy Manual for Activists
(Cabin John: Seven Locks Press, 2001), 210.
97 Terence T. Gorski, "Post Incarceration Syndrome and Relapse," available at
http://www.tgorski.com/criminal_justice/cjs_pics_&_relapse.htm; Internet, accessed 19 January 2010.
98 "Families of Prisoners Coalition," available at http://www.familiesofprisonerscoalition.com: Internet; accessed on 19
January 2010.
99 "Portland, Oregon Cop Watch," available at http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/whois.html#Goals; Internet; accessed on
22 January 2010.
100"Bennett Award," Advocacy and Witness Office available at
http://www.uua.org/giving/awardsscholarships/bennettaward/8278.shtml; Internet; accessed on 19 January 2010.
101"At Memorial Service, Sadness and Anger over Inmate Suicides" Boston Globe, 23 April 2007, sec. B p. 2.
102Community Church of Boston Prisoner Membership Brochure, 2010.
103Survey Conducted by Jason Lydon response from Cyndi Simpson a UU prison chaplain
104Ballou, Hosea. An Examination of the Doctrine of Future Retribution, On the Principles of Morals, Analogy and the
Scriptures. Boston: Trumpet Office. pp. 36. quoted from: Southern, Vanessa R. (2004-02-22). "Is There More to
Universalism than Universal Salvation?". The Unitarian Church in Summit, New Jersey.
http://www.ucsummit.org/Sermons/VRS/20040222.shtml. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
105Palak Shah, Defending Justice (Somerville: Political Research Associates, 2005), 205.