Corrections_Today_July_August_2020_Vol.82_No.4

nEWS & vIEWS

Correctional Chaplain Perspectives

Time to adopt your local prison? Challenging times call for innovative and creative solutions. By Hans Hallundbaek, D-Min

T he first 20 years of the new millennium has brought much progress in the American correctional system. We have seen increased programming, reentry training, reduced recidivism and ef- forts towards recognizing the dignity of incarcerated individuals. More progress is always welcome, and inspiration can be drawn from Eu- ropean systems, where governments have long realized that people in prison represent a valuable potential, which with careful rehabilitation can be transformed into contributing citizens. In this country, where vol- untarism has always been high, we are blessed that almost every one of our close to 2,000 state and federal prisons scattered across the country have dedicated volunteers bringing a variety of support programs to the incarcerated population. Recently a new innovative ap- proach is showing promise for a more broad-based community engagement with local prisons. It is a pilot program in New York state, daringly called Adopt-A-Prison (AAP). It is based on the idea that well-established concepts like

Photo courtesy Angela James Photography

An information and recruitment table for DOCCS at the Adopt-A-Prison Event held in Bedford, NY.

adopting a highway or a park can, with good results, also be extended to local prisons in our midst. The concept for this idea was initially introduced in July of 2017 at a work- shop presentation by the Interfaith Prison Partnership (IPP) at a national Presbyterian conference on Race, Reconciliation and Reform at Wash- ington University in St. Louis, MO. Based upon the encouraging response received, IPP brought the

idea to the governing board in their home town of Bedford in West- chester County, New York, a small community of about 18,000 people, of which about 1,000 are women in its two state prisons — Bedford Hills (maximum security) and Taconic (medium security) Correctional Facilities. The response was positive and led to a series of meetings with the prison superintendents as well as interested community members from

10 — July/August 2020 Corrections Today