Posted: October 29 Updated: Today at 10:17 PM

Chaplains hope to build center to help convicts re-enter society

By Scott Monroe smonroe@mainetoday.com Staff Writer

FAIRFIELD -- When he served as a chaplain at the Maine State Prison, the Rev. Stan Moody recalls being horrified that he could not direct departing prisoners to a one-stop resource that would help them re-enter society as productive citizens.

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TRAINING SESSION: Dee Dee Coleman, pastor of the Russell Street Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, Mich., and founder of Wings of Faith, Inc., speaks to about 20 people Friday morning at Good Will-Hinckley in Fairfield during a training session for a new Maine Prison Chaplaincy Corps. Staff photo by Scott Monroe
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Offender snapshot A total of 54,312 people were arrested, summoned or cited by Maine police in 2010. The Maine Department of Corrections has six adult correctional facilities housing about 2,300 prisoners. The state department has an annual budget of $145 million and nearly 1,400 employees. In the United States in 2009, about 1.5 million people were in prisons; 760,000 were in jails; 819,000 were on parole and 4.2 million were on probation.

Sources: Maine Department of Public Safety, U.S. Department of Justice, published reports On Friday morning, Moody and others gathered for a two-day kickoff event in the hopes of building such a resource called Maine Prison Chaplaincy Corps. Moody, pastor of the Meeting House Church in Manchester and a former state representative, said the key is recruiting committed mentors in Maine who will build relationships with offenders and guide them through a new faithbased ministry program. "What we're hoping to do is wake up the sleeping giant," Moody said. Moody's initiative is buttressed by an $18,000 grant from American Baptist Churches USA and in-kind work to help with training. He hopes to train more than 100 mentors who will work with returning prisoners and their families, becoming the first step in a multi-pronged program that Moody hopes will also direct ex-prisoners to employment, housing and treatment. Friday's gathering attracted about 20 people to a conference room on the campus of Good Will-Hinckley. Some were members of Moody's church or affiliated with other religious organizations, while others were trained in social work, counseling and the arts. Also attending was John Richardson, a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and a former House speaker who later led the state's economic development department. Richardson related his years of experience as a criminal defense attorney and how he saw drug use and mental illnesses take their toll on offenders he represented. One of the attendees, Ken Hawley, Maine state director of Straight Ahead Ministries, said he is encouraged and excited about people coming together to help offenders re-enter communities. Hawley said he already works with young offenders at juvenile centers in Maine. "I hope this is a beginning, of meeting together more often," Hawley said. "The reality for me is there's such a huge need and I would love to see more people mentoring." Leading the kickoff training sessions are Fela Barrueto, national coordinator of prison re-entry and aftercare, and Dee Dee Coleman, pastor of the Russell Street Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, Mich., and founder of Wings of Faith Inc., a one-stop resource center for ex-offenders she started in 1998. Coleman started the discussion Friday morning, covering basic principals with attendees to try and give them an idea as to whether they want to be mentors. Several people who attended, however, said they already had mentoring experience. Coleman related her own prison ministry work and related how her re-entry program works, such as by setting up a "transition accountability plan" with the offender so they have specific goals and responsibilities that have to be met.

Coleman said she also refers to criminal offenders in her program as "returning citizens," highlighting the significance of their return to communities and how their underlying problems -- whether drugs, mental illness or other factors -can be directly addressed. "There must be some work that is done prior to release; the key is prior to release," Coleman said. "There is no reason in the world for us to think that if you don't make a connection on the inside, that somebody who gets out will be so happy to see you that they want your services. It doesn't quite work like that. We must make a connection on the inside and mentoring is the key." But such mentors must focus on their own skills and decide who they are able to mentor and how, she said. "Everybody cannot do this work, but there is something for everybody to do," she said. Establishing a bond while they're still in prison is key to mentoring, especially if the mentor is to successfully guide the offender, Coleman said. It's a difficult calling that requires great faith, because it requires being compassionate yet firm, she said. "This is some long patience -- this is some long suffering work," Coleman said. While it's important to be passionate about the work, Coleman warned that the prisoners are "cunning" at taking advantage of mentors for their own purposes. That's why it's important to be careful about how and where you meet them and what you say and do. On a large drawing board, she drew a circle representing an offender and solicited dozens suggestions from the audience of all the different types of people and things affected by "just that one person." There are real financial costs to incarcerating offenders and paying for their well being once they're released -providing more of an incentive to reduce such societal expenses, she said. Many prisoners who re-enter society have been "institutionalized," she said, meaning they've been so accustomed to the routine and control of prison life that they'll need guidance as they attempt to return to communities. More than half of Maine prisoners commit repeat offenses and violate probation, according to published reports. As the state and federal government look to reduce prison costs, faith-based programs and organizations are increasingly being turned to for help, she said. The average caseload for probation workers in Maine is 135 cases, according to Moody, which far exceeds the normal caseload of 40. "This is the prime time for the church. Saving is what we do," Coleman said. She urged Moody and the audience to not become too ambitious in the number of people who are initially served. Coleman suggested the Maine group provide services to 20 or so people and "get results," as opposed to 100 or more. "If you're going to mentor, don't take a whole lot of folk," Coleman said.

Moody thinks Maine is poised to lead with a grassroots movement because it has among the nation's lowest incarceration rates -- about 150 per 100,000 people, compared with a national average of more than 500. Moody, who has been critical of the Maine Department of Corrections and advocated for prison reform, hopes the school can get under way this spring and he is working to establishing a nonprofit community development corporation. "The objective will be to start building a community development corporation that addresses such things as housing, job training, mentoring, substance abuse, mental illness treatment and sending them back into society," Moody said. "This is a first step. What these people are excited about is they've been working by themselves mostly, and all of a sudden this idea comes along and they say, 'Let's start working together.' Most of us have been working in a vacuum, so we're trying to pull it together." Moody said anyone interested in the prison chaplaincy program can contact him at 626-0594. Scott Monroe -- 861-9239 smonroe@centralmaine.com