Activism

Prison pilgrims

by Kristen Lombardi

Never mind that most Americans could not care less about what happens to someone in a jail cell. Or that states collectively spend more money building prisons than they do building universities. Forget that the drive to limit prisoners' rights has gained so much momentum in Massachusetts that there's a ballot initiative to strip inmates of voting privileges.

The hostile climate around all things punitive hasn't hindered those behind the Massachusetts Interfaith Prison Pilgrimage, a unique educational campaign that's meant to get people thinking about prison policy and the need for reform. Says organizer Abigail Hannaford-Ricardi, "The hostility toward prisoners is largely based on inaccurate information and a desire to blame."

In the next three weeks, dozens of civil-rights advocates and religious leaders -- representing creeds as diverse as Quakerism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Catholicism -- plan to walk to jails across the state to raise awareness of what's been described as a "prison crisis."

This Saturday, the pilgrimage kicks off in Greenfield, where participants will hold a vigil in front of the Franklin County Prison. They will then travel through Worcester and up to Shirley, where a $1 billion super-maximum facility is located. The "super max" has been criticized by Human Rights Watch and other groups for its brutally and unnecessarily severe conditions.

After leaving the prison's klieg lights and razor wire behind, participants will loop around Boston, stopping at facilities in Bridgewater, Framingham, Concord, and Cambridge. The pilgrimage ends November 9 after a stop at the state's most crowded jail, the Suffolk County House of Corrections, where two and three inmates are routinely housed in cells designed for one.

The interfaith pilgrimage -- the first of its kind in the state -- arose out of a year's worth of discussion among 12 leaders from religious orders including the Agape Community, the Nipponzan Myohoji Peace Pagoda, and the House of Peace. All were concerned about what's been called "mass incarceration" in the US. The number of Massachusetts state and county prisoners hovers at a record 20,000, while more than two million people -- or about one percent of the population -- sit in jails nationwide. America has more prisoners per capita than any other country in the world -- five to 10 times the rate in most industrialized nations.

"If people are concerned about violence and security," says John Schuchardt, who directs the Ipswich-based House of Peace, "then they should be concerned about the counterproductive effects of our prison system."

The Massachusetts Interfaith Prison Pilgrimage has a call out to people of all religions to join the walk to 21 prisons statewide. To get involved, call Community Change in Boston at (617) 523-0555, or visit www.prisonwalk.org.