"You Visited Me"

by: friar Angel Garcia, OFM Conv.

In my previous post, I wrote about North Carolina and the vibrancy in a community of recent immigrants. Now I turn my attention to a different group of invisible people, federal prisoners in Kentucky. 

While I did not personally encounter the prisoners themselves, except seeing a few prisoners being put into a van for transportation, we friars did meet with an amazing woman who regularly participates in a program that matches local people with prisoners for visitations (Prisoner Visitation & Support Program). When we asked her why she has been a part of this program for so many years, she responded that it is because of her faith and done through the American Friends Service Committee. She is a Quaker. As a member of the Community of Friends she believes that she has a responsibility for helping to build the “kingdom of God on earth.”

She sees the inmates are part of that "kingdom" even though they have committed crimes. They are children of God who deserve respect as human beings. Besides serving their time, numerous prisoners are sent to facilities far from family members. Places throughout Appalachia have become warehouses of prisoners, in areas where people in our country can more easily forget they exist. These remote prisons offer no close by airports, public transportation, nor hotels to accommodate family and friends. If a family does manage to visit on a given weekend, there are often spontaneous lockdowns that prohibit visitors for the entire weekend. As there is no week day visitation, the likelihood of visitations lessens. This is where our Quaker Friend, and others like her step in and visit the imprisoned, at the command of Jesus.

One of the things I will always remember is when she shared with us that these “hardened criminals” are often more nervous in meeting her than she is to meet them! The reason, we found out, was that they fear they might mess up the meeting and she would not return for more visits. Some prisoners go years without anyone visiting them. This brought a question to my mind, In the People’s Pastoral Letter, The Telling Takes Us Home, I read how background checks often prevent some people from reintegrating into the community in beginning the process of putting their lives back together (page 54). How much more so when a prisoner does not receive a single visitor for 3, 5, 10, 20, or 30+ years? I now understand, in a more concrete way, the words of Jesus when he said, “and when I was in prison, you visited me.” (Matthew 25:36).