| – Consider this startling fact: There is not one single solitary Mormon incarcerated in an American prison today. Not in a federal prison. Not in a state prison. No Mormons. Chaplain Gary Friedman, chairman of Jewish Prisoner Services International (JPSI) explains why. “When a Mormon goes to prison, he or she is excommunicated.” Hence, no Mormons are in prison. On the other hand, notes Friedman, “A Jew is always a Jew. When you go to prison, you’re still a Jew.” As long as there are Jews in prison, says Friedman, the Seattle-based JPSI is one of the all too few Jewish non-profits that will be there to provide them with programs and other types of needed assistance. To be sure, their needs are great. By most accounts, Jews make up less than one percent of the federal and state prison population in the United States – though the exact number is difficult to determine, because many choose not identify themselves as Jews for fear of anti-Semitic backlash. “The day I arrived at Danbury a Jewish woman came up to me and said, ‘I saw your Star of David. Put it inside your shirt and don’t tell anyone you’re Jewish. They hate Jews here,'” says Laura (not her real name), who spent 15 months at the federal institution a few years ago on a bankruptcy fraud conviction. To be sure, Jews are not the only category of prisoners who are subject to harassment from other prisoners. “Most prisoners come from minority communities and they don’t like white people, especially middle and upper class white people,” says Laura, who because she steadfastly maintains her innocence, turned down the opportunity to plead guilty and avoid jail time. Incarcerated in Danbury’s minimum security prison, that, contrary to popular notion, also houses gang members and other violent offenders, Laura was herself physically and verbally assaulted several times. Nonetheless, she says, Jews are a primary target for hate – and not just on the part of prisoners. “Both the staff and the inmates hate Jews. They call us Christ-killers and they prey on us.” While some agree with Laura – “anti-Semitism thrives in prisons from staff,” concurs Friedman – others qualify their response. “The fact is the guards are often not the best educated nor the most worldly and their lives are rather unpleasant. So they’re susceptible to racism and anti-Semitism,” says Rabbi Lazer Gurkov, spiritual leader of Chabad of Danbury, who recently ended a three and a half year stint as a contract chaplain to the Danbury prison. “When it comes to the prison administration, however, some complaints are legitimate and some are not.” For example, prisons offers a meal plan known as “common fare” to meet the dietary requirements of various religious groups, including Jews, Muslims, and others. “One Jewish inmate who requested common fare was subject to a test by the assistant chaplain, a minister, who quizzed her on the laws of kashrut. He wanted the Jewish inmates to prove that they knew what kosher was before they could get kosher food. That’s basically harassment. And it’s clearly against the law.” According to Gurkov, prisons are required to meet the religious needs of all inmates. They do so, as he puts it, “within limitations.” Within the federal system, this means that each prison facility is required to have on staff one full-time chaplain, regardless of his or her faith, whose primary responsibility it is to meet the spiritual needs of all inmates, regardless of their various faiths. The prison then contracts with clergy from other religions to come in on a part-time basis to provide services for their co-religionist inmates. Thus, in Danbury, for example, it is the staff chaplain, who is a nun, or the assistant chaplain, who is a Protestant minister, who coordinates and provides the Passover seder for the Jewish prisoners (prisoners are allowed one religious ceremonial meal a year), instead of the rabbi who, as the Jewish contract chaplain visits once a week. At one time, inmates were invited to attend Rosh Hashanah services at the United Jewish Center, a Reform congregation in Danbury. Accompanied by guards, they were required to wear their prison uniforms and were subjected to strip searches upon their return. “The indignity of it all made all the inmates who I knew choose not to go,” says Gurkov, noting that a group of volunteers from the same congregation visits on Friday afternoons to celebrate Shabbat with the inmates. Unlike the federal system, the Connecticut state prison system has on staff one full-time Jewish chaplain, who provides spiritual guidance to Jewish inmates at eight facilities throughout the state, and coordinates Jewish programming for four prisons in northern Connecticut. Services are held several times a week at Osborn Correctional Institute in Somers, where inmates have a separate Jewish chapel. During the High Holidays, inmates from surrounding facilities are brought to the Osborn facility to join in a service conducted by the chaplain, Rabbi Baruch Schechtman. Lack of support While the chaplains describe their jobs as emotionally intense but extremely fulfilling, they continue to be frustrated by a lack of support for the Jewish inmates on the part of the Jewish community. “There is a lot that the state does not provide that the Jewish community could help with. But there is nothing done in the organized Jewish community for prisoners,” says Schechtman, who often uses his own funds to purchase holiday items for prisoners. JPSI and the Aleph Institute, a non-profit group sponsored by Chabad that also provides programs and services to Jewish prisoners, voice the same complaint. “We’re from a people who would prefer to believe that we don’t do anything wrong. But you can’t ignore it,” says Friedman. “Jewish prisoners need help, and they get little or none from Jewish Federations.” Money isn’t the only issue, says Jane Davis, founder of the Atlanta-based Hope-Howse, a non-profit peace organization that stands for Help Other People Evolve through Honest Open Willing Self Evaluation (and expression). “The lack of a Jewish community presence in prisons and the total absence of Jewish volunteer work there is felt not only by Jewish prisoners, but by non-Jewish prisoners and staff as well,” says Davis, who works with inmates of all races and religions, but is especially involved with Jewish prisoners. “It contributes to anti-Semitism. The consequences can be devastating, because everyone knows that there is no one who will stand up for Jewish prisoners.” It also opens the door for other religions. “We never have enough money to fund our programs,” says Friedman, “But it’s amazing how well financed the Christian ministries are. They’re constantly proselytizing and the pressure is unbelievable.” In addition, he notes, “A Jew who asks for a Jewish chaplain may very well get a Messianic. I have a shelf full of Messianic material that I collected from prisons, including a Haggadah that shows Jesus as the korban Pesach (the Passover sacrifice), the wine as his blood, the matzo as his body, and so on.” Schechtman would also like to see greater support from the Jewish community for Jewish ex-convicts. “There’s a crying need for the Jewish community to help Jewish inmates who are released from prison to get back on their feet,” he says, “Housing, jobs… anything that can give them a positive connection to the Jewish community. Many of these inmates have nobody when they get out and it’s extremely difficult for them to make it on their own. Christian organizations provide programming. Jewish organizations should do so for Jewish ex-inmates.” A connection to Judaism can aid inmates in their rehabilitation and re-entry into society, points out Schechtman. “Judaism is a fantastic system for those who want to rehabilitate themselves, because we believe that God creates the world over every day. So, we each have a chance to restart our lives every single day. Being responsible for one’s own actions and having the God-given ability to start over again is the basis for rehabilitation.” Davis sees the lack of community support as an opportunity lost. “On Chanukah we’re taught about the light and about bringing light into dark places,” she points out. “Prisons are certainly dark places. Prisons are wonderful places to practice tikkun olam – repairing the world.” For information on the work of Jewish Prisoner Services International visit http://www.jewishprinsonerservices.org.; for the Aleph Institute, visit http://www.alephinstitute.org; and for Hope-Howse, visit http://www.hopehowse.org. |
Wendy Golenbock Educational and Advocacy Blogs 