Reprinted from The Common Good, No 13, Spring 1999
JUBILEE 2000 Ð Amnesty call for prisoners
Submission
to the Justice and Law Reform Committee, NZ Parliament,
from Christchurch Prison Chaplains
Introduction Ð The Failure of Prisons
Christchurch prison chaplains strongly oppose the current punitive thrust of government policy in the criminal justice field, particularly the lengthening of prison sentences.
Prisons fail on practically every front. They fail to rehabilitate. Nearly eighty percent of inmates re-offend again within a short time. They are extremely expensive at S50 000 per head. Basically it is money wasted. They undermine family life and leave children minus a parent. They are spiritually bankrupt in that they suppress the growth and freedom of people. They help create more crime by bonding similarly-minded rejected members of society. They upskill their graduates in further anti-social techniques, which makes prisons the most successful tertiary institutions in the country. They breed violence and are the principal recruitment locations for gangs. They guarantee continued high rates of re-offending. They punish the innocent especially partners and children. They fail in practically every positive human indicator scale. As a 1993 Time magazine front cover boldly proclaimed, ÔEach year jails take large numbers of hopeless people and turn them into bitter hopeless peopleÕ.
Prisons are the dinosaurs of the modern age. In no other area of human life and development do we allow 19th century philosophy and practice to dominate. In health, in education, in accounting and banking, in sport, in family life, in business management, evolving philosophies have seen changing patterns of social organisation more in keeping with modern thought. But not so when it comes to prisons. There we remain stuck in the 19th century. And the results show it.
There are unquestionably a Ôdangerous fewÕ who need to be kept out of circulation for the safety of both themselves and the community. These may well number a few hundred at any given time. But they should be kept in humane containment and encouraged to make constructive use of their time. Otherwise, imprisonment should be the very last line of resort in the sentencing process.
Year of Jubilee
The Churches have declared the year 2000 to be a Year of Jubilee. The Year of Jubilee is an ancient Judeo-Christian tradition celebrated every 50 years, stretching back more than 3000 years in history. The Book of Leviticus, Ch 25, says ÔYou shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee year for you.Õ Jesus confirmed the themes of Jubilee as part of his overall teaching (Lk 4).
Among the themes of the Year of Jubilee were the restoration of right relationships, the freeing of those in captivity and the cancellation of all debts. They are based on a belief everyone should be given a fresh start and the need from time to time to step outside the usual laws governing society and think laterally, so that compassion, justice and generosity could be better practised. Currently, there is a huge movement internationally called Jubilee 2000 which seeks to wipe the debt to foreign banks of certain indebted Third World economies so that those countries might make a fresh start free of debt in the new century.
So it should be for prisoners who are Ôpaying their debt to societyÕ.
Jubilee is founded on the best traditions of justice and mercy, which flow from the very nature of the Divine, present in our midst. The opportunity created by the pending Millennium celebrations is a unique one in our lifetime to implement one of GodÕs tools of forgiveness and reconciliation.
We submit that the Year of Jubilee should be celebrated in New Zealand by providing an amnesty for certain prisoners, and by promoting restorative justice more widely among adults, as a millennium blessing for both victims and offenders. This isnÕt about being soft, but about maturity.
Proposal
In honour of New ZealandÕs celebration of the millennium and in recognition of the Judeo-Christian Festival of Jubilee in the year 2000, we urge an amnesty be granted on 31 December 1999 to
(a) all prison inmates serving a sentence of 12 months or less (b) all inmates eligible for work release conditions (c) all women inmates who have two years or less to serve and have dependent children
We submit that parliament should legislate for the development of adult restorative justice processes to enable victims of crime and offenders to be better served by the criminal justice processes.
Conclusion
We firmly believe that an amnesty is appropriate in a mature society that recognises its Christian origins and traditions. Family life would be better enhanced in the future if imprisonment was used less and the resources saved put into constructive restorative options.