Volunteers package Christmas care items for inmates Dec. 14 at the Oakland County Jail in Pontiac.Metro Detroit — “If you don’t transform the way people think, and help them unlearn their old ways that were destructive, they can end up back inside,” said Jessica Taylor, police commissioner for the city of Detroit and executive director of Chance for Life.
Chance for Life is a nonprofit community service organization that trains inmates and parolees in conflict resolution, critical thinking, good communication, substance abuse awareness, and many more skills needed to become successful members of the community after their release.
Taylor has worked alongside Thomas Adams, founder and president of CFL, since the program’s beginnings in 1992, when they began training and mentoring a group of inmates.
“We give them a support system when they leave, or else they’ll have no choice but to (return to prison eventually),” said Taylor, explaining that the program also includes diversity training. “We teach them that it’s not just about how ‘you think,’ ultimately, it’s the way God would think.”
Led by their motto, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,” based on Romans 12:2, CLF focuses largely on transforming the worldview and perspectives of inmates and parolees.
Teaching the CFL classes has also given her a whole new perspective of them as persons.
“You’ve seen their souls,” she said. “A soul is a soul no matter what is attached to it … you get a chance to see it as other people might not see it.”
Shampoo, toothpaste, and tissues may not seem very significant, but when given to those who have just been released from prison, “they look at us like they hit the lottery,” says Deacon Mike Chesley.Ecumenical collaboration
The program serves all faiths, including Catholic, Baptist, Muslim, as well as every ethnic group. Though nondenominational, CFL collaborates with the St. Vincent de Paul Justice Initiative of Detroit, under the chaplaincy of Deacon Mike Chesley of St. Patrick Parish in White Lake.
The St. Vincent de Paul Justice Initiative (SVDPJI) is classified as a “special work” of the St. Vincent de Paul Society Detroit branch, and also processes volunteer applications for requests to volunteer in correctional facilities around Metro Detroit.
Deacon Chesley said a big part of the SVDPJI is an outreach program in the Catholic Pastoral Alliance Building on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit.
The SVDPJI provides spiritual assistance, as well as $75 worth of supplies including bus tickets, food, clothing and toiletries — items many would consider insignificant.
“But when we give them this stuff, they look at me like they hit the lottery,” said Deacon Chesley. “When they walk out of our office, they know that they are loved.”
Deacon Chesley, who has served as chaplain since its beginnings in 2010, serves with Marie Petricca, their SVDPJI council president who also counsels parolees who come to the office for help with their spiritual and material needs.
“This is a needed ministry,” Petricca said. “A lot of parolees have little to no assistance. You come out of prison with what you’re wearing.”
She admitted the SVDPJI is “a little different” than an ordinary St. Vincent de Paul Society chapter, but she is glad to help “people understand that there is a need.”
“We don’t just help with paying bills — it’s about ‘what are your needs and how can we help?’” said Petricca. “In many ways the parolees really are the least of our brothers and sisters.”
Gail Graor, who soon will be counseling parolees with Petricca on Saturdays, said they don’t excuse unlawful actions, but work to bring healing and love based on God’s love and forgiveness.
“I love diversity, so when I see people here from all walks of life and religions investing in prison ministry, it’s wonderful,” said Graor, who encourages others to be open to conversing more about this topic.
Loretta Cook has worked for six and a half years as an administrative assistant to the Chance for Life organization, and believes strongly in its mission.
“You have to believe in something bigger than yourself,” said Cook. “We understand that we’re here for the same purpose.”
Training parolees with technical skills without the spiritual and psychological support of CLF, “it’s a precept for sending them back to what they came from,” she said.
Bringing good out of pain
Dwight Williams, an on-the-street advisor present with Petricca and Graor during counseling to monitor the safety of those in the office, is a former parolee who helps SVDPJI volunteers understand situations through the eyes of their clients.
“I help the people see their own worth,” said Williams, who has been involved in the ministry since March, and offers a lot of insight since he has “been on the inside.”
“I have had to humble myself tremendously to be the man of God that I am today,” he said. “God still had me even when I was in a bad spot.”
Emily Shewell volunteers as deacon’s assistant and special events coordinator for the SVDPJI, which includes setting up giving trees for families of inmates and parolees at local parishes.
Shewell said she was particularly touched by one parolee who told her, “Thanks for always pointing me back to Christ.”
“God uses us to bring his love to our brothers and sisters,” she said. “It is the gift of the other person — the healing comes in the most unexpected ways.”
Connected to the community
Sr. Peggy Devaney, IHM, has served with the Jail and Outreach Ministry in Pontiac for 33 years.
“I see the jail as the place where all the problems of society gather in one place,” said Sr. Devaney. “The poor, the addicted, the abused; I’ve seen people crying in their bunks saying ‘why didn’t someone help me when I was a child?’”
She explained the ministry deals specifically with those in jail — meaning, those who are incarcerated for under a year, despite peoples’ inclination to use the terms “jail” and “prison” interchangeably.
“Jail is people who are serving a year or less, or waiting to go to trial,” she explained. “We see everything from the most minimal, like a traffic ticket that got more complicated, to the most violent crimes.”
Sr. Devaney, chaplain as well as president of the nonprofit, oversees all religious activities and spiritual needs of different faiths.
“We have representatives from various religions that have over the years become part of this,” she said. If a person wishes to see a particular faith representative, they give the ministry as much information as possible, and the ministry finds their faith group representative.
“We invite them to visit the person while they are incarcerated,” said Sr. Devaney. “We work on keeping the person in jail connected to the community, and encouraging the community to work with them while they are in jail.”
A testament of success
Rodney Edmonds, a training specialist with Chance for Life who today helps instruct inmates and parolees, speaks from the perspective of one who has been there — because he has.
At age 18, he was sent to prison after being convicted of second-degree murder.
“I was not accepting responsibility for what I had done, and it took time on the inside to realize that I’d need to change,” Edmonds said. “I knew I needed to figure out a way if I was going to return to society.”
After being introduced to Deacon Thomas Adams and Taylor, he became one of the first inmates in their newly started program.
“Jessica took some of the worst people in the system and worked with them,” Edmonds said. “If you change the way that people think, you change what they do.”
Edmonds did so well in the program that he was given the opportunity to facilitate CFL classes while still incarcerated. Six months after his release, he became employed by CFL to continue teaching others, and now collaborates closely with the SVDPJI.
“Our main objective is to serve humanity,” said Edmonds, who is Muslim. “The job of servicing humanity is what bonds us together. If you don’t have a common bond with people, you will never be able to cross over — but what we have is this ‘common thread,’ which bonds us together.”
Jail and prison ministry around Metro Detroit
• For more information about the St. Vincent de Paul Detroit Justice Initiative, visit svdpji.org, email [email protected], or call (855) 878-3754.
• To find out more about the Chance for Life organization, visit chanceforlifeonline.org, email [email protected], or call (313) 784-9209.
• To learn more about the Jail and Outreach Ministry in Pontiac, visit www.jail-outreach-ministry.com or call the Jail and Outreach Center at (248) 338-9310.
