A Mother’s Day Gift. (GOTB in Good Housekeeping.)

My friend, Nicole Gregory, has written a story for Good Housekeeping about Get on the Bus, an amazing program I have been a part of for 5 years. This year Get on the Bus will take over 1,000 kids to see their parents on Mother’s/Father’s Day. You can read it all here but here are some excerpts.

For many American kids, Mother’s Day means getting up early to prepare breakfast in bed for Mom, perhaps with a bud vase of roses on the side. But for 25 or so sleepy boys and girls in Los Angeles, the day starts in a very different way. Well before dawn, the children — a few still in pajamas or wrapped in blankets — shuffle into a church and prepare for the five-hour trip to see their moms. For some, it will be the only time this year they’ve seen their mothers; for a few of the younger ones, it may be the first chance they’ve ever had to really meet their moms. What unites these children is that their mothers are state prison inmates in Chowchilla, CA, 260 miles away.

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Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Get on the Bus program is the brainchild of Sister Suzanne Jabro, C.S.J., a Los Angeles nun, who discovered a hard fact when working with prisoners: “Nobody visits women in prison,” says Jabro, with her characteristic no-nonsense manner. “Their men have left,” she explains, “and the children live with relatives who can’t drive, can’t afford the gas, or can’t manage a carful of kids.”

As part of her job in the Office of Restorative Justice for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Jabro, with other members of an interfaith delegation, visited Chowchilla to find out how to help female inmates, most of whom are serving time for nonviolent, drug-related offenses. “Oh, we had all kinds of ideas,” she says with a self-deprecating laugh. “But when we stopped and asked them what they wanted, they said, ‘To see my kids.’ One woman told me, ‘Please help me. I can’t live without touching my child.’ Some of them hadn’t seen their children for four to nine years. The guards weren’t even aware these women had children.” What Jabro knew in her heart — that reuniting these broken families could have intense emotional benefits — has been borne out by research. In fact, a recent study in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency found that inmates who have contact with their families are less likely to be rearrested once they’re released.

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Although the families have only a few hours together, the lasting impact of that time can’t be underestimated, says Jabro. “When people think they’re forgotten, then they give up on themselves,” she explains. “What we’re about is restoring connections and healing relationships between parents and children. And in some cases, the caretakers are angry at what the women in prison did, and they need healing, too. Everyone says rehabilitation is great, but without access to one another, how will this happen?”

The minimal contact that Get on the Bus provides can make a major difference, says Jabro, recalling the first Mother’s Day outing. “One 17-year-old girl had been in foster placement and hadn’t seen her mother in nine years,” she says. “When they met, her mother just held her and stroked her hair.” Jabro wasn’t sure how powerful that reunion had been until the mother was released from prison. “The mom got a minimum wage job, but she gave 10 percent of her pay to Get on the Bus for a year. Seeing her daughter meant that much to her — it inspired her so deeply that she wanted to share it.”

And there are pictures here too.

Away all day.

I’m away all day for a Get on the Bus meeting so no posting until Sunday (hopefully).

Wrongly Accused Guardian Angel.

The Pasadena Weekly has a story about my friend, Gloria Killian.  Gloria and I worked together on the Get on the Bus project and another effort when I was a chaplain at LA County Jail.

Killian was released after 16 years of being wrongfully imprisoned for a homicide she had purportedly masterminded.

[...]

Gloria could justifiably be bitter and hostile now, stewing over the 22 years she spent working at clearing her name and sitting in prison. Instead, she has taken her tragic circumstances and turned them into goodness — and yes, some greatness — for others.

Read the entire story and, if you can, throw a few dollars to the charity she runs, Action Committee for Women in Prison.

10.

I’m away all morning and a good part of the afternoon at the California Institution for Woman volunteering for a Get on the Bus, picnic for about 400 kids, their caregivers, and their mothers who are inmates. Politics and other things will just have to wait

UPDATE: I’m back from the prison. It was fun watching the kids all excited to enter the prison yard for a full fledged country fair-like atmosphere. Games and events for the kids organized by the woman, many of whom did not have family coming.  I had intended to take some photos (at least outside) but wasn’t able to do so as some of the kids didn’t want their pictures taken. So, I have to wait for the official photos.

On a related note, I heard an interview with the CIW warden, Dawn Davidson, on the local NPR station this morning a I was driving to Corona.  She was expressing the excitement, which was apparent, among both staff and inmates for this event and how everyone was pitching in to make this event a success.  In addition, she commented on the fulfillment of the long awaited newborn nursery, a first for a California prison, which will allow new mothers to spend the first few weeks of their children’s life with their babies.

Banning Shackling Pregnant Inmates.

Now, for a change of subject. One of the real crimes of our criminal justice system is the continued shackling of pregnant inmates. Some prisons even shackle women during childbirth. Anyway, here’s welcome news.

The ACLU welcomes the Bureau of Prisons’ recent policy change barring the shackling of pregnant inmates in federal prisons in all but the most extreme circumstances.

This new policy represents a sea change in the United States, where the shackling of pregnant women during transport, labor, and even delivery has long been routine in jails and prisons. Currently, only California, Illinois, and Vermont have enacted state laws restricting the practice of shackling pregnant women. By contrast, international human rights bodies have repeatedly expressed concern about policies that permit shackling of pregnant women.

On a related note, I will be volunteering this Saturday at the California Institution for Woman where the Get on the Bus organization will be sponsoring a picnic for inmates and their children inside the prison. We will be bringing 400 kids and their care givers to see their incarcerated moms. The food has even been donated by the men in the neighboring men’s prison. I will post photos and some additional thoughts after the event.

Chowchilla Family Express.

Some of you may recall my involvement with Get On The Bus.  It began 5 years ago when, through a local Catholic nun, I got involved in the program which organizes bus trips on Mother’s Day to take kids to visit their mothers.  We coordinate with the families and prisons, provide transportation, meals and gifts for the kids, etc.  The program has grown from one bus nine years ago to over 50 this year.  And, my parish now sponsors 3 buses each year.

Three years ago we added a few buses on Father’s Day to several men’s prisons and then, 18 months ago the state of CA began to fund an expansion called the Chowchilla Family Express, which runs buses throughout the year (each weekend) from various starting points to Chowchilla, where the two main women prisons are located.  This program has grown and is a big success helping to provide intact families inmates, thereby helping reduce recidivism.

See the video below regarding the CFE.

Now the program is being expanded to provide transportation to the men’s prison and I have been asked to help coordinate the launch this test year.  Initially we will run 4 buses over the next 12 months to the 4 prisons that are the farthest from LA.  Pelican Bay is a 12+ hour ride and will require an overnight stay, so we will be coordinating with local parishes to provide showers and meals when the families arrive, overnight stays, etc.  If this is as successful as expected the state will add budget to fund the program.  Given the numbers of men in the 33 state prisons, this program could be big.

I will keep you posted.

(And, here’s a video of the GOTB program for Mother’s Day 2007.)