Photo

© 2004 Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen/King Features Syndicate

BRINGING THE OUTSIDE TO THE INSIDE

Christine Money©2000

(From “Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul”)

Each year every prison in our state conducts a full-scale exercise to practice our response to a serious security incident. As warden, I serve as the incident commander. It is always the most stressful day of the year for me.

At the end of one of these days, I was relieved that the scenario was over and was packing my briefcase to leave for 10 days. I noticed a small piece of paper lying on my desk, and an inmate’s name caught my eye. Only yesterday, Tom, a Kairos volunteer, had asked me to see an inmate named David. He had just received news of his nephew’s death — a suicide. I kept looking at that paper and could not bring myself to leave until I met with him.

I sent for David, and we talked about his nephew Tim’s death. It devastated him and his entire family. David had attended a Kairos spiritual retreat weekend, during which he had developed a closer relationship with God. He said he wished his sister could experience a weekend like he’d had. The only problem is that this retreat is for men in prison.

I left for England three days later and traveled with a woman named Jo Chapman. Several years ago, she founded a related ministry called Kairos Outside. It provides spiritual-renewal weekends for women whose lives have been impacted by incarceration. Generally mothers, sisters, daughters and spouses attend. In the United States, the weekend is conducted at a church or retreat center. When I told Jo about David’s story, I asked her if it would be possible to conduct the weekend inside the prison. That way, the inmates who sponsored their loved ones could also participate. Jo loved the idea and gave us the go-ahead.

A team of committed volunteers worked hard to prepare. Many details needed to be worked out, such as hotel arrangements for the “guests,” logistics of holding the retreat in the prison chapel, security concerns, preparing the team and meal preparations.

The inmates also worked very hard. They wrote the theme song, “Right From the Heart,” planted a garden, set up the chapel and worked behind the scenes preparing meals, writing letters and praying.

The first Kairos Outside held on the inside took place Sept. 17 to 19, 1999, one year after the tragedy in David’s family. His sister, along with 35 other women guests, participated in a weekend that none of us who attended would ever forget.

I have worked in corrections for more than 18 years and have been a prison warden for 11 of those. Kairos Outside, brought to the inside, was the most powerful event I have ever witnessed in a prison.

Reader Comments

No comments have been posted. Be the first!

Other Stories With Comments:
Article	Comments
Mill Basin Filmmaker Shoots Latest Movie On Local Streets	2
Golden City: Bought, Burned, Bought Again	1