By: Luke Lapean, SJ
When the average Catholic engages with the Corporal Works of Mercy, there is one that can seem particularly daunting – visiting the imprisoned. All kinds of thoughts and questions can come up: What does it mean to visit the imprisoned? I’m scared of jail! How do I get there? If you’re locked up you did something wrong and you deserve it! Lock them up and throw away the key! What if they hurt me? And on and on.
I am privileged to be able to work with an organization called Thrive for Life Prison Project, which was founded by a Jesuit, Fr. Zach Presutti, in order to transform lives behind and beyond the prison walls. We serve as chaplains, offer retreats, and otherwise accompany our brothers and sisters behind the walls. In order to better understand my work, it would be helpful to define some terms . A jail is a facility where individuals are held before and during their case. A correctional facility (aka a prison) is where an individual is sent once they are convicted of a crime, to serve out their sentence. For ease of understanding, I refer to all those I minister to as “incarcerated”, with specific facilities mentioned as needed.
The Church has an incredible richness of resources that allow us to lead discerning lives. We seek to make these resources available to the incarcerated, helping them to make the best decisions possible as they move forward with their lives. In particular, we use the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, adapted to the circumstances of the incarcerated.
The Spiritual Exercises invite us to contemplate where God has been at work in our lives and to place ourselves at the side of Jesus, all the while conversing with God as with a friend. For many of the incarcerated, thinking of God as a friend, rather than as a judge, is a different mode of thinking, one that allows them to more deeply communicate their own hurt and woundedness.
When you go behind the walls and set foot inside a space where our brothers and sisters are incarcerated, you are setting foot on holy ground, a space where you encounter raw unbridled humanity that cries out to God. For the past four years I have had the incredible privilege of accompanying many of our incarcerated brothers held in the New York City jails on Rikers Island as well as various correctional facilities in upstate New York and New Jersey. Every time that I step behind the walls, I am humbled and awed anew.
As a Jesuit scholastic (a member of the Society of Jesus with perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience who is studying to be a Roman Catholic priest), I am blessed to be constantly immersed in the world of Ignatian spirituality. St. Ignatius of Loyola invites us to look for God in all places at all times – especially those places where it seems the most challenging.
Working with the incarcerated has continually placed me in situations where I am asked questions that have no answer and many of the answers that I could give would seem patronizing. And so I listen. I listen to the man who has missed his little girl’s fifth birthday. I listen to the man who has been fighting his case for 5 years and is close to giving up. I listen to the man who has been in the United States for a week. And I hear the voice of God. A God who is with them in their suffering. A God who they continue to have faith in, even when everything seems stacked against them. A God who suffered unjust imprisonment and execution and so intimately understands their suffering and anguish.
When people find out that I serve as a chaplain in jails and correctional facilities, one of the most common questions that I get asked is “how do you avoid getting overwhelmed by the darkness?” The reality is that while there is definitely darkness, a darkness that can at times seem overpowering, as with most things, where you place your focus is what you will be. If you choose to focus on the darkness of the carceral experience – the violence, the loneliness, the warehousing of some of society’s most vulnerable – you will inevitably become sucked into that darkness. And as you become a part of the darkness, you contribute to it, through cynicism and inaction.
In my experience the key is, while not disregarding the reality and impact of the darkness, the world is one in which light is present in carceral facilities as well. The joy of the brother who just had his case dismissed. The fear and anticipation of a brother who has not been free in twenty years preparing for his release date. The relief of the brother who has just been told that his manner of prayer is as valid as any other. The authentic experience of joy within places of darkness and despair cannot be ignored nor minimalized. To do so is to construct a narrative in which carceral facilities are hell on earth and, as I tell the brothers who say as much to me, if hell is understood as complete separation from God, incarceration is not hell because I am blessed to witness God at work within the lives of the incarcerated every week. Voices are raised to God in cries of both anguish and joy and I am blessed to be able to hear them.
At Thrive for Life, we work with our brothers upon their release to ensure that their reintegration into society is as smooth as possible and that they are connected with the services available to them, from healthcare to housing. Once our brothers are released Thrive for Life is blessed to have three houses of study (two in New York City and one in Milwaukee) for those who are committed to the good work of continuing their education. What this looks like is different for every individual, from graduate-level classes to OSHA training – any education that will lead to gainful employment and aid in their successful reintegration into society.
At Thrive for Life, we work with our brothers upon their release to ensure that their reintegration into society is as smooth as possible and that they are connected with the services available to them, from healthcare to housing. There are also the barriers surrounding employment – how do you explain a twenty-year gap on a resume? How do you explain that you learned how to effectively manage people as the leader of a prison gang? Neither of these are insurmountable barriers, but you need to be able to present the experiences in such a way that a prospective employer sees them as positives, rather than as negatives. We have amazing team members and volunteers who walk with our brothers and help them begin to navigate the increasingly complex and digital world that we live in. The work that surrounds instruction in the use of a cell phone alone requires true dedication and a significant investment of time!
This work is not a special privilege that I, and Thrive for Life, perform in a silo. It is the work of the Church, commissioned by Jesus when he said that he was “in prison and you visited me” (Mt. 25:36). I invite you to be a part of this amazing work, work which has shaped my understanding of what it is to be a minister and what it is to be a Church where the marginalized are welcomed.
Being a part of this work looks different for every person according to their unique circumstances and how the Holy Spirit is at work in their lives. For some, it is going behind the walls. For others, writing letters to the incarcerated. Still others, praying for the incarcerated and those who minister to them. All ways of proceeding are essential to this work of ministering to the imprisoned, to reminding those whom society has chosen to forget that the Church and, more importantly, God, has not forgotten them and continues to walk with them in their suffering.
Born in Vermont, Luke Lapean, SJ is a member of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus. Luke can be found working with Thrive for Life Prison Project, reading, or exploring NYC. Feel free to follow his adventures on Instagram @thrivingjesuit.