Graterfriends A Publication of The Pennsylvania Prison Society January 2012

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January 2012

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THE LAST WORD

Lifers Find Ways to Give Their Lives Meaning, Even Behind Bars
by William M. DiMascio Executive Director, The Pennsylvania Prison Society
With such a huge number of men and women serving sentences of life without possibility of parole, the question often comes up about how one manages to live without hope. I have yet to meet a prisoner who does not want to be free. There are some, of course, who are probably better off in prison than they would be on the street. Still, the desire for freedom is a powerful draw and for lifers it can be the cause of deep depression. Somehow, however, these lifers get by not especially pleased or happy with their circumstance but trudging along one day at a time. For most of them, the dream of freedom dies slowly; eventually, though, reality proclaims itself. For some, at least, this is a turning point because as the dream fades so too does their depression. One seasoned prison visitor who also happens to be a noted psychiatrist recounts this experience from a meeting with a group of lifers: I once asked them how they can be so cheerful and joke with one another and seem not to have any depression. They were quiet for a few minutes and finally came up with one answer with which everyone agreed. They say, We have each other. They are able to make a family out of fellow prisoners to whom they attach. Hope is a yearning for something which leads to despair if it is unrealized. But hope of a sort may be rechanneled to focus not on what is out of reach but on what can be accomplished. Lifers, Inc., the organization of life sentenced prisoners
(see Lifers, continued on page 11) 12
The opinions expressed are of the authors and not necessarily those of Graterfriends or The Pennsylvania Prison Society.

at SCI Graterford, re-focused itself several years ago. The organization used to meet periodically with the sole intention of finding ways to advocate for parole release. But as commutations slowed to a trickle and the political environment turned increasingly sour, members began thinking about more positive pursuits. They began strategizing about what they might do to change the culture of street crime. They acknowledged the damage they had done to their communities and their families and wondered what they might do from prison to improve the situations their families were continuing to experience. The result was the Public Safety Initiative an effort by men convicted of murder or being accomplices to murder to convince others who were eligible for parole to become kind of urban missionaries when they were released. They wanted the men getting out to not return to prison as so many do but also to talk truth to younger men who appeared to be headed for incarceration. The organizers were convinced that they alone, by virtue of their own experience in the life, could persuade others to chart a different course. Methodically, these men met and deliberated on how best to achieve their goals. They wrote a white paper explaining their theory and had it published in the Prison Journal. Then, in 2005, they hosted a conference at Graterford for scores of criminologists from around the world who

Graterfriends A Publication of The Pennsylvania Prison Society January 2012 Lifers, continued from page 12

were attending a World Congress at the University of Pennsylvania. The Graterford meeting was titled Ending the Culture of Street Crime. The inmates presented their paper and sought feedback from the distinguished visitors. It was a truly remarkable undertaking and it continues today. In similar fashion, lifers at SCI Dallas developed a restorative justice program called a Day of Responsibility. The men spend an entire day in sessions with crime victims, community leaders and others and they discuss in raw and vivid detail how crimes such as the ones they committed have hurt their victims, their families and their communities. In the end they ask participants to pledge to themselves to live a better life. The Day of Responsibility is now held at Retreat, Huntingdon and other prisons using a guidebook available at the Prison Society. None of this should suggest that life in prison is anything pleasant or that inmates dont get depressed. But in the gloom and misery of life behind bars, it is possible to construct something of a positive life experience. Thats a New Years resolution worth making.

Across 1. Coin opening 5. Mas mates 8. Certain evergreen tree 12. Small horse 13. Illuminated 14. Length times width 15. Above, in Berlin 16. Beer 17. Send 18. Dry place 20. Happenings 22. Fast driver 24. Exposed part of an iceberg 27. Tank filler 28. Campers shelters 32. Brainwave 34. Employ 36. Bug spray ingredient 37. Civil War side 39. Will Smith title role 41. San Francisco or Chesapeake, for example 42. Courtroom VIPs 45. Make waves 48. Crowds in on 52. Bakery offerings 53. Inclined 55. Me neither 56. Basilica area 57. Fib 58. Haul 59. Clutter 60. Call off 61. Adjusts, as a clock

Down 1. Tater 2. Ear part 3. Aces, sometimes 4. What the Michelin man sells in England 5. High tableland 6. Be under the weather 7. Knight's mount 8. Did a decorating job 9. __ horse (locomotive) 10. Egg holder 11. Diner sign 19. Certain weapon, abbrev. 21. Dog doctor 23. School assignment 24. Food container 25. Bachelors last words 26. The p in m.p.g. 29. Colo. neighbor 30. Mad Hatter's drink 31. Pigs enclosure 33. Map books 35. Put in office 38. Controls 40. Like some verbs, abbrev. 43. Humpback, e.g. 44. Smooths 45. Unwanted e-mail 46. Organ part 47. Not as much 49. Encore! 50. Kind of fall 51. Email enders, abbrev. 54. ATM need

Rikai, continued from page 7

deserve severe reprimand. The death penalty reinforces this mindset. For these reasons, those of us in the abolitionist camp were rather shocked when the victims support group publicly announced opposition to placing 12 of the 13 cult defendants (minus the leader) on death row. These defendants are not a ragtag bunch of social misfits. Most of the twelve have advanced degrees (medicine, immunology) from flagship universities. The abandonment of occupation and family by social elites for a new religion with a blind, apocalyptic guru is a perplexing phenomenon. It demands study. Instead of execution, the survivors group has called for rikai a term that embraces enquiry, comprehension, and sympathy. Such progressive thinking deserves commendation. Rikai, rather than revenge, comforts the deceased, brings closure to victims, and advances humanity. Michael H. Fox is director of the Japan Innocence and Death Penalty Research Center (www.jiadep.org).
11

Easy Crossword #11 by Dave Fisher (puzzles.about.com) For solution, see page 4.

The opinions expressed are of the authors and not necessarily those of Graterfriends or The Pennsylvania Prison Society.