Chaplain’s Perception of Difficulty in Implementing Religious Services in Prisons
- 1. Ozivefueshe Dimowo History 111 3/20/2013 Chaplain’s Perception of Difficulty in Implementing Religious Services in Prisons “And I started going in there, 2002 and just this last year we were not able to give our programs anymore because of the AB 109 changing. They’re realigning all the inmates for lesser offenses to go to jails and then they’ve cut back on their staff there at the prison. And they have made it a policy that they had to have a sponsor inside the room where we were giving the class. And that caused problems because you had to have a paid personnel, plus since we came in on a weekend like a Saturday, it was overtime so that was a problem so after 10 years they told us that we could no longer do our program”1. Rosalie Martinez was the director of chaplain programs for 10 years until legislative procedures at the California Institute for Women prevented her from continuing her outreach last May. Far from being an anomaly, her frustrations concerning her ability to implement the program in that facility is a widespread finding not only amongst mine and my colleagues’ research on prison chaplaincy but also in the academic literature outlining the growing resistance from chaplains to budget restrictions that limit their resources2. Although these restrictions are a significantly growing issue concerning chaplains nationwide, this systemic struggle is only one facet of prison chaplains’ obstacles they must overcome to continue their services; chaplains also perceive substantial obstacles from prison staff, outside sources of income and the prisoners themselves. Encountering a stressful prison environment whilst facing increasing institutional barriers to their work may force some chaplains to terminate their 1 Interview with RosalieMartinez,Menifree, California,February 2013 2 http://www.capp.50megs.com/recentnews159.html
- 2. services, creating a dearth in the only staff created solely to support the rehabilitation process of the incarcerated. Though little has been documented on their importance, chaplains serve a myriad of functions in prison systems; many times the first institution prisoners enter into after the penitentiary is religious. In the following essay, I will discuss the interpersonal and structural objectives of chaplains in prison systems and obstructions to the fulfillment of those responsibilities. I will use anecdotes from qualitative interviews my research team and I collected over the course of 10 weeks in concordance with both qualitative and quantitative research to wholly analyze chaplains’ perceptions of difficulty to provide religious services in prison. Lastly, I will illustrate how the growing demand for Wiccan chaplains contributes to a history of trepid inclusivity of religions unique to California that does not address the lack of social and political capital unavailable to religious minorities. According to Los Angeles archdioceses director Gonzalo DeVivero the purpose of prison chaplains is to “provide religious services to inmates” indicating that chaplains are not only responsible for their own religious outreach but also for the administrative duties, service provisions, monetary provisions necessary. Mr. DeVivero was responsible for training individuals to become chaplains, contacting the various prisons he provided services for and was still responsible for giving sermons and the Eucharist in jail. Similarly, John Lewis, a chaplain in the Inland Empire, also states that he performs administrative duties as well as interpersonal religious outreach3. Chaplains are also indispensable to the rehabilitation of prisoners and the mental health of service providers. In Doing God’s Work Behind Bars, author Sundt Cullen indicates that prison chaplains are often supportive and compassionate, contrasting the often 3 John Lewis, Interview held at Faith BaptistChurch,Wildomar,CA, February 2013
- 3. contentious relationships between prisoners and correctional officers4. During our interview Mustafa Kofo nostalgically spoke about parolees coming to him for guidance after leaving the prison, eventually becoming regular attendees of his sermons outside of prisons. He also retold an anecdote about a cold winter night in which he was giving a sermon but was bothered by the freezing temperatures5. The correctional officers wanted to “make the inmates as uncomfortable as possible” but Dr. Koko reminded them of the prisoner’s humanity and the correctional officer’s relented by turning on the heater. This demonstrates another important role required of chaplains; they are often forced to be mediators between the incarcerator and the incarcerated. Despite their numerous responsibilities, chaplains continue to find themselves in the position of Rosalie Martinez, or are forced to severely limit their ministry. After conducting individual interviews with chaplains, volunteers and coordinators with a wide range of experience, the most indelible theme was the difficulty to continue their work within the complexity of the prison systems. The ambiguousness of the validity of religion in prisons prompted Rosalie Martinez to change the format of her outreach to be more secular so she could secure more funding. Mr. DeVivo alluded to these difficulties by describing some of the restrictions on those who can serve. He stated that one must finish 110 hours of training to become a chaplain, and an extensive background check once the initial application is turned in was required. All of those interviewed mentioned how for security purposes they or what they brought to the prison were either not allowed or diminished. Dr. Koko, for instance, delineated how there were books that could not go to the prisoners because they were hard-covered, which could be utilized by the prisoners as a weapon; it is apparent why later in the interview he stated 4 Sundt, J. L., & Cullen, F. T. (2007). Doing God's Work Behind Bars: Chaplains' Reactions to Employment in Prison. Journal Of Offender Rehabilitation. 5 Interview with Mustafa Koko held at the Islamic Center in Riverside,March 2013
- 4. that they were unable to bring pencils or pens into the study. The chaplains additionally had issues with the number of prisoners that could attend their ministry or speak to them individually, and the time allotted to carry out their ministry. Chaplains John Lewis, Mustafa Koko and Rosalie Martinez had to contend with capacity restrictions that restricted their ability to reach people who wanted counseling or other services6. Both Dr. Koko and Mr. Mustafa explained how the lack of resources of other jail programs (such as security services) also negatively impacted their own institutions. Mustafa Koko retold a humorous story about being locked in a room with a convict on death row for an hour after the deputy accompanying him to minister was called into an emergency while Mr. DeVivo recount of a lockdown while in prison and the subsequent early ending of his service demarcated his frustrations with the Inglewood facility. In addition to prison system hindrances, the chaplains also had extensive difficulties in fundraising in their communities. Dr. Koko in particular acknowledged that his mosque spends finances for religious celebrations, such as making Ramadan dinner for prisoners. Rosalie mentioned that she received “minimal resources” from her parish, which aided in her secularizing her teachings. Statistics considering the budgetary cuts in prison support these anecdotal adversities as many states have cut chaplain services in some of their largest counties, including Texas and Colorado; in California the cuts to juvenile agencies was described by George Wallace as essentially terminating the “life changing works chaplains do”7. Although there is an infinite amount of difficulties discussed above, some chaplains, particularly Mustafa Kofo, found that the jail system he worked with actually encouraged his 6 Clear, T. R., Hardyman,P. L., Stout, B., Lucken, K., & Dammer,H.R. (2000).The Value of Religion in Prison:An Inmate Perspective. Journal Of Contemporary Criminal Justice,16(1),53. 7 Hicks,Allison M. “Role Fusion:The Occupational Socialization ofPrison Chaplains.” Symbolic Interaction 31.4 (2008)
- 5. work. Mustafa generally found his time in the prisons to be very joyous as facilitated great change between the inmates and correctional officers. He emphatically stated, to my surprise, that not only were no congregations opposed to his ministry in the prisons, but also the tragic events of 9/11 that spurred backlash against various Muslim communities (source) positively affected his ministry, siting many prisoners and staff in prison alike who increased their genuine interest in Islam. Unfortunately, other chaplains were not as enthusiastic about their interpersonal relationships with the prisoners and prison staff. A clear point of contention for prison chaplains was imminent recoil from those operating in the prisons themselves8. Backlash from prisoners was generally scarce with most of the individuals interviewed having positive reviews of the prisoners, although John Lewis does recall some prisoners only go to services to leave their cells, also stating that prisoners are “ not very obedient people”. We found that our interviewees generally enjoyed working in the prison with the prisoners, but other research has produced opposite results; chaplains were often mistreated or manipulated by some prisoners and were sometimes terminated because of testimony from adversaries. Interactions with correctional officers, however, was not as joyous; The feelings of those interviewed generally supported a study indicating that most successful interactions involving chaplains and correctional officers amounted to chaplains acquiescing to the desires of the correctional officers. Accordingly, chaplains generally perceived that correctional officers had the ability to be lax on some rules but chose not to based on the relationship with that chaplain. In addition to the interpersonal complications discussed above, religious minorities must contend with more obstacles, including less access to resources, and more perception of them as 8 5. Roman, C. G., Wolff, A., Correa, V., & Buck, J. (2007). AssessingIntermediateOutcomes of a Faith-Based Residential Prisoner Reentry Program. Research On Social Work Practice,17(2),199-215.
- 6. religious extremists. These minority communities are doubly affected by the recent budgetary cuts that have limited chaplain outreach. According to Dr. Koko who ministers to a religious minority, in the prisons he has worked with the dominant religion receive the largest amount of resources (such as number of chaplains employed at the prison per religion, or time to use the multipurpose room, for examples). The fact that there is only 1 Muslim chaplain for 900 Muslim inmates, for instance, is an indication of an inequality between Islam and Christianity, who represent 83% of all chaplains in U.S. prisons. These systemic issues within the prison are prevalent in the larger community as well, although not in an explicit terms. In her discussion of the Harvest Crusade, author Eileen Luhr examined how Christian culture is influenced by American culture and vice versa, in which Protestant Christianity occupies a space of being uniquely “American” that no other religion can boast. Just as the Anaheim Angels Stadium (consider the name) has cultural capital as a space where baseball is played, the Harvest Crusade encapsulates that capital as well. Although Luhr succinctly illustrates Christianity’s unique place in the American trajectory, her analysis does not eliminate the opportunity for Californians to be nominally inclusive; Californians can also uniquely boast about their ability to As illustrated by author Justin G. Wilford a large component to California religiosity is non-conformity that lends to inclusivity. This has manifested in the demand that Californian prisons should employ Wiccan priests as chaplains, making California the first state that must employ a chaplain of a Wiccan tradition. Wilford’s analysis of the religious pluralism that helped to spur large-scale Evangelical movements in California illustrates the individual acceptance of this religious pluralism but the institutional adherence to Evangelical dominance; the response to the growing tide of multiple religious representation, for example, the inclusion of Wiccan
- 7. chaplains in prisons, has been a cultural revolution that relies on the ideas and traditions that U.S. political and social institutions purport. An investigation of difficulties for chaplains to provide their ministries in prisons indicates a complex, interpersonal and systemic range of impediments that reduce efficacy of their work. Chaplains must contend with the demands of the legislative, security and religious communities that each have different objectives when interacting with chaplains. They also are largely an autonomous group that does the administrative work necessary while ministering to the prisoners themselves. Additionally, traditionally underrepresented faiths are adversely affected because they lack further resources and must contend with stereotypes in the penitentiary systems.