In the Book of Isaiah 42 and 61, two things are said of prison. It is written that it is the will of God “to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.” The Prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus, that God sent Him “to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
As beautiful as these words are, what do they mean in the modern day of high incarceration rates across the industrialized nations of the world, much less the less developed nations of the world?
Pope Francis provided an answer. He is long known for washing the feet of prisoners and others who are considered “less than” in society, but on Sept. 27, the Pope, while visiting Philadelphia, went to a local prison and explained the meaning of the words of Isaiah.
On that Saturday, the Pope visited the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, which is located in Philadelphia and is a medium security prison within the Philadelphia Prison System. When the Pope arrived, he was presented with a wooden chair that the prisoners made for his visit. The chair was a replica of the chair that the Pope sits in as Bishop of the Church in Rome.
After thanking the inmates for the chair, the Pope began his speech by identifying with the prisoners as human beings who, along with their families, do indeed suffer for their behavior. He said, “Thank you for receiving me and giving me the opportunity to be here with you and to share this time in your lives. It is a difficult time, one full of struggles. I know it is a painful time not only for you, but also for your families and for all of society… I am here as a pastor, but above all as a brother, to share your situation and to make it my own.”
Note that the Pope did not say they did not deserve to be in prison. He made it clear that, “This time in your life can only have one purpose… to enable your rehabilitation.” In noting that “confinement is not the same thing as exclusion,” the Pope made clear that Christ has provided a way for all men to rehabilitate themselves. He said Jesus made a way through the act of washing his disciple’s feet.
The pontiff explained that Jesus, “wants to heal our wounds, to soothe our feet, which hurt from traveling alone, to wash each of us clean of the dust from our journey. He doesn’t ask us where we have been, he doesn’t question us about what we have done. Rather, he tells us: ‘Unless I wash your feet, you have no share with me.’ Unless I wash your feet, I will not be able to give you the life which the Father always dreamed of, the life for which he created you. Jesus comes to meet us, so that he can restore our dignity as children of God. He wants to help us to set out again, to resume our journey, to recover our hope, to restore our faith and trust. He wants us to keep walking along the paths of life, to realize that we have a mission… He washes our feet so we can come back to the table. The table from which he wishes no one to be excluded. The table which is spread for all and to which all of us are invited.”
The Pope explained that all of society has a part in this process of redemption and rehabilitation. In defending the value of rehabilitation and those who are to be rehabilitated, he said it “benefits and elevates the morale of the entire community and society.” He bemoaned that, “It is painful when we see prison systems which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities. It is painful when we see people who think that only others need to be cleansed, purified, and do not recognize that their weariness, pain and wounds are also the weariness, pain and wounds of society.” Moreover, he warned that the pain of the incarcerated matters and, “Any society, any family, which cannot share or take seriously the pain of its children, and views that pain as something normal or to be expected, is a society condemned to remain a hostage to itself, prey to the very things which cause that pain.”
Pope Francis ended his speech with a simple prayer: “Let us look to Jesus, who washes our feet. He is ‘the way, and the truth, and the life.’ He comes to save us from the lie that says no one can change. From the lie that says no one can change… May God bless you and protect you and His face shine upon you and may He grant you peace. Thank you.”
From the early 1980s, banishment and physical control have replaced rehabilitation as the stated primary purpose for the operation of prisons in America. But Jesus said, “you visited Me in prison… When you did this for the least of these.” The Pope reminds us that it is the will of God that those in prison are not to be abandoned but rather to be cared about and helped. As it is written in the scriptures, “to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison… to heal the brokenhearted… [and] to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Arthur H. Garrison is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Kutztown University.
