Alternatives to Custody



Summary of the Report
 to the General Assembly 2007

Worship Resources

Bible Study

Church and Society Council
Church of Scotland
121 George Street,
Edinburgh, EH2 4YN
Phone: 0131 225 5722  
www.churchofscotland.org.uk

Charity Number: SC011353





"What's the Alternative?"

Introduction
It’s easy to think about prisoners in a "them and us" way. It’s tempting to think that just locking people up gets rid of the problem. But that sort of response is unhealthy for society and it’s not a Christian response. Crime and custody are difficult issues, but the Church has both a role and a responsibility in public debate and in action.
The Church and Society Council prepared a report "What is the alternative?" This builds on previous work done on prison overcrowding. It also draws on the enormous amount of valuable and often practical work carried out across Scotland by, among others, prison chaplains, support workers and volunteers. This report is for the whole Church and, in presenting it in this way with resources and discussion material, we aim to make it useful for congregations. Prisons are not somebody else’s problem. As people who believe in Christ and in his promise of restoration and wholeness, dealing with offending is a concern for us, for the whole Church.
Please use these resources, whether in worship or to stimulate discussion. If you would like more information, whether from the Council or other sources, please let us know. And please find ways of responding to the calls from the General Assembly, and to the call of the loving and forgiving Christ.
Morag Mylne
Convener, Church and Society Council




In this booklet you will find
* A summary of the "What's the Alternative?" report
* A personal story (told at the General Assembly)
* Worship Material
* Two Bible Studies



What is the Alternative?
(a summary of the report)
Crime, and the fear of crime, are high on the political agenda, because the pollsters are telling our politicians these are what people are worried about. But there may be a gap between what sounds good, as politicians compete to sound tougher on crime, and what works.
In Scotland, we imprison more people than almost any other European country, and our prisons are overcrowded. We are currently planning three new prisons, to tackle this overcrowding and to accommodate longer sentences; one of these new prisons alone is expected to cost £1bn over 25 years. Yet 64% of those imprisoned commit another crime within two years. The present system is not working.
That is the context for a report to the 2007 General Assembly by the Church and Society Council, entitled "What is the alternative?".
Who Is In Prison?
The report starts by looking at who are the people in prison. Half come from 155 of the poorest 1222 local government wards in Scotland; two thirds arrive in prison from unemployment, and three quarters leave with no job to go to; 70% of offenders have been in care. The Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service has been reported as saying that 85% of those admitted to prison are using drugs; around 60% enter prison suffering from some form of mental illness. 
If time spent in prison does little (despite the efforts of the SPS) to address these background issues, it is hardly surprising that so many commit further offences on release. If time in prison is, in the words of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, "always damaging", then damaged people will emerge to commit more crimes.
Some of these people have committed serious crimes and have to be in prison to protect the public. But the public also have an interest in ensuring that, whenever they are released, they are less likely to offend.
Why the Church?
We see the challenge for the church as of reflecting on this situation in light of our faith. Why should the church be concerned about all of this? Not just because we have a long tradition of pastoral care for people in prison, and not just because we believe in a God of justice. As folk who recognise sin and its impact, not least in ourselves, we are also people who reject a division of the world into monsters and decent citizens, "them" and "us". Ultimately we are people who believe in redemption, and who recognise its cost.
We approach these issues, and the people involved in them (offenders, victims and others), as people who believe in redemption; yet our faith is in a just God, whose activity in the world is the source of our understanding of justice. 
Jesus brings this understanding to life in ways that are more concerned with righting wrongs, with becoming involved, than with adjudicating guilt and sentence. And as the texts on "an eye for an eye" limited the human tendency to seek revenge, Jesus limits the human tendency to self-righteousness by asking who is really entitled to throw the first stone. 
This idea of active justice, God involved to make all things new, runs through the Old Testament and the New. But neither encourages us to offer "cheap grace", or to be "soft" on crime, in the sense of indulging the offender or playing down the impact on the victim. It is clear that God, by putting his life in the hands of suffering and death, identifies with the suffering of his people. God acts profoundly to put things, and people, right. Free grace is anything but cheap; it is the justice of God offered to the undeserving. 
The clash between Jesus' way and that of others is vividly captured in the story of the Gerasene or Gaderene demoniac in Mark 5.1-20. Off his and the disciples home territory, Jesus encounters a disturbed, violent man, whom the conventional wisdom had tried – unsuccessfully – to restrain, with ever stronger chains. Jesus sets him free, and empowers him for a new life in his own community. We are not seeking to trivialise this, nor to play down what is needed for this to happen – it is a miracle. But it is surely one which fits well with the Biblical understanding and experience of justice as proactive, dynamic and relational. That, we believe, points us towards restorative justice. Christians involved in the area of crime and punishment bring with them the belief that all things are possible with God.
A Way Forward?
We therefore believe that a major, effective step in this direction can be taken using restorative justice approaches. Sometimes derided as nothing more than shaking hands and saying sorry, these are far more than that: working with offenders to address their offending behaviour and its impact, where the current criminal justice system encourages them to minimise or deny that, and working with victims, who currently feel shut out of an impersonal process. The focus is very much on people - on the harm done, and on working with the people concerned to find a positive way forward.
One of the prisoners with whom we met said:
"Alternatives to custody will only work if they are sufficiently onerous on the offender, such that they can be seen as practical. In addition, it must be made clear that a term of imprisonment carries similar requirements for the offender to address their behaviour. If not, persistent offenders would prefer an unconditional period in custody to a non-custodial sentence with onerous conditions." 
This stress on personal responsibility, on facing up to the offence and its impact, is part of the strength of restorative justice programmes in or outside prisons.
This is an approach, in or out of prison, which has already shown very positive results, substantially reducing reoffending (though not for all offenders) and reducing crime victim's post-traumatic stress symptoms. 
Why Isn't This Working? (Politics and Crime)
We are not alone in raising these issues. Why, then, are these alternative approaches (often as part of alternative sentences) either not effectively in place or not being used? Finding a way forward is not helped by media labelling of alternatives as soft, with the repeated assumption that "prison works" (which it clearly does not, in terms of preventing reoffending, although playing a part in protecting the public from dangerous offenders). There is also a presumption that anything which supports offenders is hostile to victims (though this is contradicted by restorative justice experience of victim involvement).
Some current schemes have not been proved to be "effective" (in cutting reoffending rates); and anecdotal evidence and media coverage have too much impact on decisions. Some alternatives (e.g. Drug Treatment and Testing Orders) are people- and time-intensive, and therefore expensive – though much less so than imprisonment. Availability of programmes can therefore be a postcode lottery, and sentencers rightly want a disposal they know will happen.
There is also a big gap between our apparent willingness, politically, to pay for more prisons, and the under-funding which makes sentencers and the wider public distrust alternatives to custody when they are erratically available or inadequately supervised. Effective alternatives do exist, but struggle to compete for the resources to make them work.
What Can We Do?
So we are not just challenging politicians here. We are challenging our churches and communities. It is in our communities that crimes are committed, and it is to our communities that offenders return. The answers cannot lie somewhere else, or in reinforcing barriers within our communities. We therefore welcome the creation of Community Justice Authorities as recognition that everyone has a part to play in making a safer, less confrontational society. 
These CJAs not only present Churches with the opportunity to directly express their involvement and concern, but to earth criminal justice services in the communities they serve, by encouraging community ownership and discussion and care for all those affected by offending behaviour.
Our challenge to the church is to become more involved in projects like throughcare – starting to build supportive links with people in prison that can be followed through in the community on release. In places where this is happening, there are signs of success in helping rebuild lives and cut reoffending.
There is a role for volunteers in helping victims, prisoners’ families, those at risk of custody and those released from custody. This help can take many forms from mentoring, buddying, organising youth activities and circles of support. It also requires intensive professional input in recruiting, selecting, training and supporting those volunteers, and most importantly, by making the crucial decisions about which offenders are not suitable for volunteer involvement. 
It has also been suggested that the Church might itself run a prison. This might build on the church's engagement with prisons through chaplaincy and its experience in running residential establishments for young people many of whom have been involved in offending. There are also interesting recent examples of faith communities running prison wings in the USA and in England. The Kainos Community operate faith-based prison wings, offering a different experience of prison to inmates in four establishments in England. This model seems to work well in terms of better motivation, the support of a "therapeutic community", and a real challenge to act responsibly towards others; return to prison rates as measured by Kainos are very low. 
While we are not persuaded that the Church is ready yet to take up this challenge, making a distinctive contribution by running a specialist prison wing or a bail hostel (especially to address the urgent need for women on remand) may be an area worth exploring with ecumenical and inter-faith partners (such as Kainos).
We also note, with pride, the existing work of the churches in areas of criminal justice. There are several congregations actively responding in various ways to these challenges, building relationships with offenders; prison and throughcare chaplains play a significant role, increasingly appreciated by others in the criminal justice system as helping offenders to rebuild their lives; and a number of services provided nationally by many churches, and in the Church of Scotland through Crossreach, offer alternatives to custody. 
Crime is a country wide problem and there are church communities in every parish. However, the problem is greater in some areas than in others. Great work is being done in churches with the highest incidence of anti-social behaviour. However, their disproportionately heavy load could be lightened if congregations in more stable areas shared funds, expertise and prayer to encourage those who are almost overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.
We are all tempted to mind our own business. Does crime become your problem because you or someone you know has been affected by it? Is it your problem because you are afraid of crime and you want to feel safe? Or is it our problem because it is rife in the conditions of social deprivation that our society creates? What are we doing to bring the people who live in these areas into membership of the world in which we live? 
There is potential for a range of prayer and action by churches (and other faith communities) and their members, including:
(a) placements for prisoners preparing for release; (b) Circles of Support and Accountability; (c) Community Service Order tasks; (d) throughcare centres; (e) befriending; (f) transport to prison for families; (g) supported accommodation for those who need it (e.g. bail hostels); (h) affecting public opinion (i.e. winning hearts and minds).
Bridging the Gap
Bridging the gap between the current reality with overcrowded prisons and too many people afraid of street crime and the safer communities we'd all like to see is one we need to work together to bridge. These challenges are practical, but they are also theological. Do we simply take our own views (of whatever kind) to church with us and look for an endorsement of them, or are we able to reflect on all the disturbing facts in light of our faith, and then make a response which is goes against the current grain? These are tough questions, about what we mean in this context by big theological words like redemption, justice and forgiveness, but these are the places where our faith is earthed.
* * * * *

When this report was presented to the General Assembly in May 2007, the Assembly agreed to:

1. Encourage Presbyteries to join with local ecumenical and inter-faith groups in meeting with their Community Justice Authority to explore ways of increasing local involvement with offenders, victims, and others involved in the criminal justice system;
2. Encourage congregations to consider the possibilities for involvement contained in the report on Alternatives to Custody;
3. Call on the Scottish Executive to ensure that across Scotland (at Sheriff, District and High Court levels) there is a range of effective alternatives to custody, with adequate funding, evidence gathering and analysis to maximise that effectiveness;
4. Affirm the value and welcome the increased use of restorative justice approaches in dealing with offenders and victims, and call on the Scottish Executive to recognise, through funding, the proven effectiveness of these approaches.
5. Call on the Scottish Executive to consider carefully the implications of increasing the level and use of fiscal fines.

The Assembly also encouraged the Church and Society Council, within the next two years, to consider the effectiveness of possible ways of intervention with those in primary school and below to help prevent crime in the next generation.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY SPEECH, 2007
During the General Assembly of 2007, one parish minister put discussion of criminal justice into a very personal context, with this account:
Some five years ago my wife and I decided, for a variety of reasons, to become involved with and to become guardians of a young teenager who had just be sentenced to four years in Polmont for armed robbery. The crime had been committed not in order to fuel a drug habit but in order to feed his hungry body.
It involved a commitment on our part to visit him almost every week for two years – a round trip, including the visit period, of five hours. He was released to us on license after two years and we brought him home to live with us as a member of our family. It was not always easy. We had thoughts and expectations and Callum had all the energy of an 18-year old who had been locked away for two years. There were times when the clash was a hellish one but despite the many difficulties and differences – perhaps the same as those experienced in a family with any teenager growing into adulthood, but accentuated because of the circumstances – despite those we grew to love each other – and still do so. Callum lives now with his partner and daughter and is in full time employment.
There are many youths in HMYOI Polmont who ought to be there. They have committed crimes for which they require punishment and from which society needs protection. But there are also many youths in Polmont because we have a criminal justice system which has neither the means nor the imagination to do anything different. Many youths have had backgrounds of deprivation like Callum. And many could be far better dealt with and encouraged into a more productive adulthood, were better means sought to deal with offending behaviour.
When Callum was in Polmont he asked to be baptized. The chaplain organised the service and about twenty of Callum’s friends came to the service. It was a wonderful event. But the haunting words of one of the others, a boy from Hawick, will never leave me. During the party afterwards in the chaplain’s office, he asked me directly, "could you not adopt me too?" It is the plea, I suspect, of many. And any work done through the Jacob Project, through Camas, or through any other personal means, if it can address the rejection of so many of these young adults, is to be commended. The Iona Community needs to be congratulated for identifying the need and for working with Polmont, through these agencies, to do something to address the problem.
Taking a young boy like Callum into your home and family is not an easy thing. It is not to be undertaken simply by those who feel they want to do good. But it is something which perhaps more among us could contemplate. In my view, it is one thing to speak the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is another thing to ‘do’ it. And the time had come in this instance for my wife and me to do it. It was costly – but immensely worthwhile.

WORSHIP RESOURCES

1. Suggested hymns (CH 4)

    466 Before the throne of God above
    482 Come let us to the Lord our God
    521 Children of God, reach out to one another	
    528 Make me a channel of your peace
    553 Just as I am					
    555 Amazing Grace
    595 O Breath of Life					
    622 We sing a love that sets all people free
    690 When bonds of love are breaking
    706 For the healing of the nations
    


2. Possible prayers 

(a) Prisoners' Week prayer:

Lord you offer freedom to all people,
We pray for those in prison,
Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist,
Support with your love prisoners, their families and friends, prison staff and all who care,
Heal those who have been wounded by the activities of others especially the victims of crime,
Help us to forgive one another, to act justly, to love mercy and walk humbly together with Christ in His strength and in his Spirit, 
Now and every day
Amen.

(b) Prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord, vision.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we’re born to eternal life.



3. Scripture Readings 

The just God: Psalm 111
The need for repentance: Ezekiel 18:30-32
Restorative justice in action: Luke 19:1-10
Reconciliation as the essence of the gospel: Matthew 5:21-26,
2 Corinthians 5:16-20 

4. Sermon notes

Restorative justice in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
The prodigal realised his foolishness: "He came to his senses" v17
He wanted to make reparation: "make me one of your hired men" v19
He was prepared to come face to face with the principal victim: "So he got up and went to his father" v20
The victim was prepared not only to forgive him but to welcome him: "The Father saw him and was filled with compassion for him" v20
The culprit (the son) still openly acknowledged his errors in the presence of the victim: "Father I have sinned against heaven and against you" v21
The Father willingly restored him to the fold: "For this son of mine was dead and now is alive again" vv22-24
The elder brother may have railed against this form of justice but the Father held to the rightness and benefits of his approach: vv25-32

5. Children’s address
Show the children items that seek to put right things that have gone wrong… eg tippex for a written error, a plaster cast or sling for a broken bone, stain remover for an unsightly mark, adhesive for a broken toy, patch for a bicycle tyre. Speak about what kind of actions we can take to heal a broken relationship.



Bible Study – Mark 5.1-20
Although it is the pigs which have become proverbial, this story is better headed "The Healing of a Demon-possessed Man" (as in the NIV) or maybe even "The Healing and Calling of a Dangerous Man". It follows the story of a storm on Lake Galilee, calmed by Jesus, which ends with the disciples asking "who can this be? Even the wind and waves obey him".
Verses 1- 2
In a sense, then, Jesus seems to have been blown off course, into Gentile territory - the kind of strange foreign place where people do revolting things like keeping pigs (abhorrent to Jews). Perhaps the disciples felt a bit nervous, or uncomfortable; and the first person they encounter is this dangerous, violent man – who today would be seen as having severe mental health problems.
Try to imagine the disciples' feelings at this point. Can you think of any similar experiences you have had ?
What is the difference between the Biblical description of the man as "demon-possessed", and today's language of mental health, or even the tabloid-style description of a "dangerous nutter" or a "beast"?
Verses 3 – 5
The good people of Gerasa have done all they could to restrain or control the man. Like any other community, they fear for their safety; so they have tried tougher and tougher measures, but without success. All they can do is put him out of harm's way, among the tombs, where he continues to harm himself.
How would you expect your community to deal with such a situation? Do we have more effective ways to deal with someone like this?
Verses 6 – 7
When he charges up to them, this strange man answers the disciples' question from the previous story – he (or perhaps the demon in him) knows who Jesus is! 
Mark, in his telling of this story, seems to think this recognition is significant. Why?
Verses 8 – 13
The conversation between Jesus and the man reads strangely to our ears; we're not used to talking of demons - to them answering back or having names. Perhaps we could say that Jesus has to understand the man, and what makes him act this way, before he can heal him. Anyone who has been ill without doctors knowing what's wrong will recognise how important a diagnosis – naming the demon – can be. 
Jesus takes the opposite approach from what has been tried before. Where others had tried (and failed) to restrain the man, Jesus sets him free. But this liberation, this healing, has a cost, vividly seen here in the pigs.
The legion of demons and the effect on the pigs emphasise how seriously disturbed the man was. How would you feel about this as a disciple – stunned at the miracle (as well as its side-effects), still nervous about what's going on, or something else?
This is a miracle story, pointing to the uniqueness of Jesus. But many have taken Jesus' healing miracles as a call to heal. How could (or should) we follow Jesus in this?
Verses 14 – 17
Word spreads, and people come to check out the strange story. They see the man "clothed and in his right mind", but do not immediately shout "hallelujah" and take him home; nor do they produce other disturbed people for similar healing. Instead, they ask Jesus to go away.
Perhaps they are afraid, whether of Jesus' power or of the apparently-cured man, or both. How do you react to stories of violent criminals who have been "rehabilitated" and are ready to start a new life?
Verses 18 – 20
This twist in the tale is what makes this a "calling" story. The natural thing for the man to do is to want to go with Jesus, to build a new life. But Jesus says no, and sends him back to the community he came from, with a mission and a story to tell.
Why would the healed man be reluctant to go back to the community he terrorised?
How do you think the people of the "decapolis" would react to this man, back amongst them? 
Taking the story as a whole, what lessons does it have for how we (as a community) react to violent people? Does it have a challenge for you personally or for the church to play a part in this?


Bible Study - Luke 19.1-10
The Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem comes later in this chapter, so Jesus is on his way towards Jerusalem - towards a cheering crowd and, beyond that, towards the decisive moment. This incident, then, comes at a time when there might have been pressure to "play it safe" or even play to the crowd.
Verses 1 – 2
As Jesus is just passing through Jericho, among the crowd we catch sight of Zaccheus, a tax collector when that role was even less popular than today – someone seen as selling out his people and their faith by doing the Romans' dirty work for them, and rich (everyone would assume) because he cheated people by keeping more than his fair share of the takings. 
Who would be Zaccheus' equivalent today, attracting the same level of public hatred and disgust?
Verses 3 – 4 
The first surprise (in a story that is full of surprises) is that Zaccheus wants to see who Jesus is, and it matters enough to him for him to invite the ridicule of the crowd, who surely picked on him as he shinned up the tree. This is more than passing curiosity – why?
Today, when determination to "see Jesus" or discover more about him seems unfashionable, what might motivate someone to risk ridicule and worse in order to get to know more about Jesus?
Verse 5
The next surprise is that Jesus neither joins the chorus of voices naming and shaming Zaccheus for his sins, nor (as good Jewish teaching might have suggested) ignores him. He causes a scandal when he invites himself to Zaccheus' home. By making himself Zaccheus' guest, he turns the situation upside down.
How do you react when there's a chorus of voices denouncing (with or without good justification) someone's sins? Are there ways we should be turning these situations around?
Verses 6 – 7
Luke emphasises the speed of Zaccheus' reaction as he climbs down and takes Jesus home; he also highlights his great joy at this turn of events, contrasting this with the grumbling of the crowd. Any decent spin doctor (or even disciple) might have warned Jesus this would not go down well.
How much are our reactions to crime and criminals a matter of going with the crowd? What about politicians', or even judges', reactions on policy issues or in sentencing?

Verse 8
Jesus' action produces a reaction in Zaccheus; apparently without prompting or pressure from Jesus, he offers more than fair recompense to those he has defrauded. He gives something back to the community … "he restores that he might be restored", not as a condition of Jesus coming to his house, but as a freely given response.
What is it in Jesus' actions that brings this response? Are there ways in which our responses to crime can look for that kind of response, even when really serious harm (rather than money) is involved? What kind of restoration is possible?
Verses 9 – 10
What happens in this brief story sums up what the gospel is about: "salvation has come to this house today". And Jesus adds that part of this salvation is that Zaccheus the outcast is part of the community – not an easy thought for the crowd. This contact with a despised man, and the redemption it brings, are what Jesus came for.
What do you think "salvation" means here? Do the key parts of the story connect with your experiences? If this is what Jesus came for, what does that mean for the mission of the church today?
"No point is served in the life of human society, no truth is revealed about the justice of God, if release from past sin cannot be offered nor restoration accomplished. There must be ways in which a future is offered that is free from the stain of the past. The story of Zacchaeus shows the repentant tax collector seeking to find such a way through the recompense of the victims of his greed. He gives half his money to the poor and paying back four times the amount of any sum he has taken to himself in his cheating days. While no doubt unable to trace and compensate all the people who may have suffered at his hands, he at least gives something back to the community at large – he restores that he might be restored." (from the Assembly Report)





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