Prisons Mission Prayer Vigil

Churches Together in Westminster's Prisons Mission Prayer Vigil took place at Notre Dame de France on Friday evening and included a sequence of readings, dialogue, testimonies, reflections, music and prayer on the themes of prison reform, rehabilitation of prisoners, needs of victims and the Christian response.

Fr Pascal Boldin welcomed us to Notre Dame de France. John Plummer introduced speakers who described experiences and observations of prisons and the prison system from several very different perspectives:

• Paula Harriott. Lead Prisoner Involvement. Prison Reform Trust
• Erica. Ex-offender and Award winning artist
• Ruth Fogg. Specialist in youth crime and related matters.
• Marcel McCarron. Managing Chaplain HMP & YOI Bronzefield.
• Joanna Ex-Offender. St Giles Trust
• Josie Bevan. Wife of a serving prisoner.
• Gethin Jones. Care system to youth crime, custody and reformer.

Shirley Vaughan sang pieces by Handel and Fauré, both of whom wrote on themes of imprisonment. This performance was followed by ‘Voices from Prison’, a drama for three voices written and compiled by Richard Carter, Associate Vicar at St Martin-in-the-Fields, based on: ‘Koestler Voices: New Poetry from Prisons Volume One’. This book presents some of the best poetry from the 2016 and 2017 Koestler Awards. Poetry and prose has a long tradition in secure establishments and the criminal justice system. With the only materials needed being a pen and paper, poetry is the most popular type of Awards submission to Koestler Awards – with around 3,000 poems each submitted annually across Poem, Anthology, Poetry Collection and our Themed Category. One prisoners who writes explains the impulse like this: ‘Jail is like purgatory. You are still around, but you have no impact. No effect. The point of your existence is void. You slowly begin to die … In his introduction to ‘The Illustrated Man’, Ray Bradbury says that he writes “so as not to be dead.” And that is it.’

The Prison's Mission Team at Notre Dame de France led by Sister Catherine Jones guided us in our first prayer session based on Desmond Tutu's prayer: 

Goodness is stronger than evil;

Love is stronger than hate;
Light is stronger than darkness;
Life is stronger than death;
Victory is ours through Him who loves us.
I led the next prayer session based on prisoners & homelessness. Between April 2017 and March 2018, 38% of people (approx 491) seen rough sleeping in Westminster are known to had had experience of prison. 3% (14 people) of those new rough sleepers seen by outreach teams in Westminster were people who had been in prison prior to their rough sleeping. The majority (approx 79%) of these would have had alcohol, drugs or mental health support needs or a combination of these.

We prayed about the issues depicted in ‘Coming out after Fourteen Years’ by P and E (Manager): 'E and I created this piece by using cuttings from today’s newspapers about the complexities of society, which you are shielded from in prison. After 14 years I was that figure walking out into an overwhelming society, full of problems.'

P and E are both at KPH House, a hostel for 20 men convicted of criminal offences who have recently left prison. Their residents come to them from prison under license to continue their sentence within the community. It is one of 12 Independent Approved Premises in the country and is funded by the Ministry of Justice. We prayed for the ministry of KPH House and West London Mission.

The next time of Prayer was led by Major Richard Mingay, Corps Officer Regent Hall Corps. This session focused on Supporting Victims and was divided into four parts-

• 'The God of our Support'
• 'The God of Healing'
• 'The God of Forgiveness'
• 'The God of Hope'

Each section included a Scripture verse; a thought; prayer time and the song verse 'O Lord Hear my Prayer'.

Finally Prisons Mission volunteers presented their personal stories from prison visits and read contributions from other volunteers. Suggested areas for prayer included: those wrongly imprisoned; those who are depressed or lonely; those held beyond the end of their sentence; those experiencing ill health; and those fearing deportation.

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Gabriel Fauré - Prison.

First Impressions - Portraits from Prison

On Tuesday 8th May, a landmark exhibition of art made in prison will mark its official opening at St Martin-in-the-Fields, delivered by London’s Prisons Mission in collaboration with the Koestler Trust, and bringing together leading voices in the UK prisons system as recent Ministry of Justice figures show the steady climb of violence in custody. The Prisons Mission is an initiative of Churches Together in Westminster (CiTW) which provides support and assistance identified and needed by the multi-faith Chaplaincy Teams in prisons.

First Impressions - Portraits from Prison is curated by prison arts charity the Koestler Trust, which encourages offenders to change their lives through taking part in the arts, and challenges negative preconceptions of what offenders are capable of. The Trust’s curation showcases a selection of portraiture and sculpture entered into the 2017 Koestler Awards from across the UK. The artwork displayed is selected to highlight the skills and talents of people in prisons and other secure settings.

The exhibition’s private view at St Martin-in-the-Fields will take place on Tuesday 8th May (18.30-20.30), presenting talks from prisons experts and audience questions to the panel. Rory Stewart MP, Minister of State for Prisons, and Juliet Lyon CBE, Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody, will address the question 'Can Prisons Work - for offenders, for victims, for taxpayers?', alongside Professor Nick Hardwick (former Chief Inspector of Prisons and former Chair of the Parole Board), and Dame Anne Owens (former Chief Inspector of Prisons and Chair of Trustees for the Koestler Trust).

The event closely follows the publication of the Ministry of Justice’s quarterly report, which shows violence against prison staff and among inmates in England and Wales has reached record highs. Prisoner-on-prisoner assault rates increased by 11% from 2016 to 2017 (21,270 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in the 12 months to December 2017), while assaults on staff in 2017 were up by 23% compared with the previous year (8,429 assaults on staff in 2017).

Professor Nick Hardwick, former Chief Inspector of Prisons and former Chair of the Parole Board said: “The issue of whether prison works needs to include whether it works for the most serious and high-risk offenders, and we should ask the question from the perspective of the victim as well as that of the prisoner.”

Juliet Lyon CBE, Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody said: “The prison service is our least visible and most neglected public service. Prison can work as a place of last resort in the justice system for people whose offending is so serious or dangerous that they cannot serve their sentence in the community. Prison cannot, and does not, work as a capacious social service for people with unmet mental health needs, struggling with homelessness, debt, domestic violence or addiction.

“By overusing and overcrowding our prisons we do nothing to prevent the next victim.”

John Plummer, Coordinator of CTiW’s Prisons Mission said: “I am deeply ashamed of British prisons. A prison in which inmates are locked in a cell for 23 hours, day after day, is not contributing towards improved mental health, education, rehabilitation, restoration, or crime reduction.

“The Prisons Mission takes its learning from prisons back into churches to encourage informed discussion and drive progress: it's crucial that we share accurate information about life behind bars and the need for fundamental changes."

The Prisons Mission, an initiative of CTiW, provides support and assistance identified and needed by the multi-faith Chaplaincy Teams in prisons. It also aims to ensure that prisoners, while out of sight, are not out of mind.

The Koestler Trust is the UK’s best-known prison arts charity. It encourages ex-offenders to change their lives through taking part in the arts, and challenges negative preconceptions of what ex-offenders are capable of.

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Sarah McLachlan - In The Arms Of An Angel.