I was in prison, and ye came unto me

Back to that day when the immediacy of the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats hit me, we had a friend go to jail.

He was not a close friend. We talked to him sometimes and tried to keep an eye out for him. Still, this was big, and the least we could do was write to him.

In truth, we never actually visited him. Sometimes he was pretty far away, and most of the time there is this process where you have to get on an approved list and there can only be a limited number of people on the list, but a lot of it was learning to navigate the system.

At first, we could only send him post cards, which limited the available space, and there had to be a full return address, which meant you couldn't save space by abbreviating that. Then, when he got transferred we could start using envelopes and multiple pages again, but there were rules for that too. Sometimes they would forward a letter if he was transferred, and sometimes it would simply come back. One letter disappeared, and it seemed like it could have been a censorship issue, but I could not think of anything I wrote that was improper. I mean, I knew that was an issue and I wasn't exactly pushing boundaries.

We would have loved to send care packages, but that was out. You could send books as long as they came directly from someone like Amazon or Barnes and Noble. We could not buy a book and then send it ourselves, or use any of the private sellers through Amazon.

I think we did a phone call once. That is a hassle too, because they may that very expensive and inconvenient. It shouldn't be, because most phone services are pretty cheap now, but there are provider monopolies and they gouge. Some prisons are switching to video chat only, and they are gouging too.

It is easy to argue that a lot of these things are important for security. Some of them probably are. Today is not going to be my only post about this.

Just for today, though, one thing I remember noticing over time is that it seemed like when they mentioned any prison program at all - whether it was training shelter dogs or gardening or continuing education - the statistics on reducing recidivism were always good. It did not seem to matter what the program was, but just that there was something that was allowing them to connect and set goals and work toward something.

If such small things can be so valuable, it seems like we should make that a priority. Even if you don't care about the individual prisoners (and you should, but let's say that you don't), you should care about the overall reduction in crime. There is an advantage to having members of society that are productive, engaged, and fulfilled.

Instead, we take even something as minor as letting the prisoners stay in touch with people who care about them, and we turn it into an obstacle course and opportunity for profiteers.

There is more to this story.