The Pope's in Prison

America has gone Pope mad. Or that’s the feeling you get from American TV. Rolling news coverage of streets lined with well-wishers, children being kissed and crowds blessed tell you that the people love Pope Francis and he loves them back.

Today he’s in Philadelphia, and it’s the last day of an absolutely packed trip to the States. He’s already been to Washington and New York.

Today Pope Francis is going to a maximum security prison which holds 28,000 prisoners. It’s called Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.

Throughout America, there are 2.2 million prisoners. That’s 25% of the world’s prison population. These numbers are a worry to some, including to some high up in the criminal justice system in America. “We’ve gone too far in criminalization,” said Lou Giorla, Commissioner of Prisons in Philadelphia. Quite a statement from someone in his position.

Pope Francis has been described on TV today as “a pope of the periphery.”

That means he’s embracing people on the margins of society and showing that he cares. He’s already washed and kissed the feet of prisoners in Rome and visited a notorious prison in Bolivia.

The UK based religious commentator, Paul Vallely, has described prisoners as “a constituency in the modern world that is most neglected by us.”

I agree. I have recently finished a secondment as Head of Prison Radio in the UK and I have come to realise how society shuts down when it comes to prisons. We don’t want to know, hear or talk about prisons. Every now and again we get a news story about overcrowding in prisons, a death in custody or violence towards staff. But very, very few people know about the complexity of prison life, how it works and all the positive things that happen in prison. When it comes to prisons, it’s “us and them”.

I understand why. Many victims are severly damaged by crime and the pain can be eternal. But if we're to reduce crime, and reduce reoffending, we need to build a bridge between the people behind the prison walls and the rest of us. Why? Because one day offenders will return to society. They will be "returning citizens" as they say in America. A radio programme about prison issues could bring the two groups together and contribute towards a more informed society.

Sources: CNN News

International Centre of Prison Studies