November 11, 1999

CLEVELAND—The United States puts more people in jail than any other country in the world and church people were urged Wednesday to visit their local prison to see for themselves how prisoners are being treated.

Panelists at a forum on the "prison-industrial complex" also urged churches to oppose the privatization of prisons which they said exploits prisoners for profit in a "modern slave trade."

"There are certain things our society does not want us to see. Prisons are hidden from our view," said Susan Sanders, minister for Volunteer Services of the United Church of Christ. "Do you want to find out what is going on? Do you want to be involved? Go to jail. It’s that simple."

Sanders told 60 persons attending the forum that churches could be involved in local prisons through visitation or by offering Bible studies and worship services. Sanders, who visits prisons about once a month, said she tells people who worry about her safety that "it’s the safest three hours I’ll spend all month."

Elsie Dursi of the Mahoning Council of Churches in Youngstown, Ohio, said there are 50,000 persons incarcerated in Ohio at an average cost of $17,000 a year – a cost she compared to Harvard tuition. Nationally, the average annual cost per prisoner is more than $25,000. "I want the church to pay more attention to this issue," she declared

Dursi described conditions in a privately owned prison near Youngstown that holds 1,500 prisoners. "Fewer than 200 of those prisoners ever get a visitor" and most prisoners have no advocates or know anyone who would care if they were killed, she said. "Private prisons exist for profit, not rehabilitation," she said. She urged denominations to oppose the privatization of prisons as a moral issue.

Nazomi Ikuta of the United Church Board of Home Missions cited facts and figures of what she called the "prison boom." The U.S. prison population is 1.8 million, a half a million more people than in Communist China’s jails, she said. The prison population has increased 50 percent since 1991 while violent crime has fallen by 20 percent, Ikuta said.

More than 70 percent of prisoners are poor, persons of color, are illiterate or have a history of substance abuse, according to Ikuta. and African Americans are eight times more likely to go to prison than whites.

Native Americans are the nation’s most imprisoned group per capita, said Andrea Smith, a prison reform activist from California. "Indians are most likely to be victims of crime, 60 percent of which is inflicted by whites," she said.

Heidi Cecil, who works with families of prisoners, called for reform of the parole system. In many cases prisoners maintain spotless records in prison but are rejected for parole for reasons that are never explained to families. "Your loved one comes up for parole and is rejected because of ‘the nature of the crime,’" she said. "Well, the nature of the crime never changes. Families are devastated and frustrated when they are not told definite reasons why individuals are not coming out."

Cecil acknowledged that "not everyone in prison should get out today" but she urged churches to work for a system in which prisoners who show remorse for their crimes and behave well in prison have a fair chance for parole.