Near the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth, he tells a crowd,

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:35-40)

Who are the least of these? Widows? Orphans? Those who are homeless and/or sick? Undocumented workers? Yes. All of above but we must also include one group that does not regularly receive much attention or care—those incarcerated by the prison system.

According to the US Bureau of Justice, nearly 7,000,000 adults—a staggering one in thirty-five—are either in prison or on probation or parole. There are 70,000 youths detained in correctional facilities, jails, and prisons. About 40% of those youths are locked up for low-level, low-threat offenses: technical violations of probation, drug possession, minor property offenses, and public disorder offenses (i.e. truancy).

According to the author of Burning Down the House, Nell Bernstein, “Police arrest nearly two million juveniles each year and demographers predict that one in three American schoolchildren will be arrested by the age of twenty-three.” You read that correctly: one in three.

Your chances of being arrested increase dramatically if you are non-white. From Burning Down the House:
• About half of white teenagers arrested on drug charges go home without being formally charged. Only a quarter of black teens catch a similar break.  
• Despite the fact that white youth are more than a third more likely to sell drugs than are African American youth, black youth are twice as likely to be arrested on charges of drug sales.
• Nearly half of the all juveniles incarcerated on drug charges are black while blacks make up 17% of the juvenile population.

Bernstein concludes, “Racism does not merely inform or infuse our juvenile justice system; it drives that system on every level, from legislation to policing to sentencing to conditions of confinement and enforcement of parole.” (Something to think about as we process the events in Ferguson, Missouri.)

Once these juveniles have been incarcerated, they are likely to be victims once again—if not by fellow inmates by the guards. Systemic abuse by correctional facility staff is well documented and widespread. Though the figures are less clear for juveniles, according to a study done by the Department of Justice, 7.7% of all youths detained in correctional facilities have been sexually abused by the very men and women who are paid (by our tax dollars) to protect and rehabilitate them.

The thought of one of my sons being arrested for skipping school or for possessing marijuana (particularly now that certain states legalize it) is unfathomable. Even more deplorable is the reality that while in prison, they might be paced in solitary confinement for extended periods of time, deprived of basic humans rights, or physically or sexually abused by the guards. (This is not to imply that all or even high numbers of prison guards are evil but to put on your screen what those in the prison system have knows for decades.)

Why bother highlighting a broken system when 99% of you have no authority to change that system? Again, if you are a person of faith, we are asked to care for the least of these. Here are a few ideas:

• Pray for justice for those who have been incarcerated.

• Multiple organizations work to free wrongly held men and women. Check out International Justice Mission for ideas on how to use your legal skills.

• Become involved in prison mentoring, as my friends Kathy, Marya, and Ellen have done for many years. Mentoring is a huge need and presents an enormous opportunity for those of us who want to do something. Bernstein writes, “Rehabilitation happens in the context of relationship.”

• If you are a theater or writing person, several programs have been created which give incarcerated youth the chance to explore their stories in a larger context. Check out Prison Creative Arts Project, Theater Lab or StoryCatchers.

• At least consider reading Burning Down the House or other books about the need for prison reform. The broken system is not going to change if we are ignorant and fail to speak up.  

I leave you with Bernstein’s words:
That juvenile incarceration was, in the moment, profoundly dehumanizing was something my conversations with young people had made painfully clear. What I had not quite understood was how a youthful incarceration might shape a life indefinitely; that despite the rhetoric of rehabilitation, clean slate, and new beginnings, what is stripped away behind prison walls is so very hard to retrieve.

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