13 November 2015 £1.90 the DISCOVER THE CONTEMPORARYFriend QUAKER WAY Prisons Week the Friend INDEPENDENT QUAKER JOURNALISM SINCE 1843 COntents VOL 173 NO 46 White poppies 3 Thought for the Week: Acceptance and hope A prisoner at HMP Full Sutton 4-5 News 6-7 Health through peace Frank Boulton 8-9 Prison reform Juliet Lyon 10-11 The climate in our prisons Melanie Jameson 12-13 Facing peace within prison walls Judy Roles and Sarah Lane 14 Gleanings: Transformational listening Photo: Alun Williams. One of five white poppy wreaths laid Laurie Michaelis on Remembrance Sunday (plus a 15 Letters purple one for animals killed in war) following a local agreement between 16 Friends & Meetings the Aberystwyth branch of the Royal British Legion and Aberystwyth Peace and Justice Network, brokered by Aberystwyth Town Council. Cover image: Holloway Prison Photo: Edmund Clark. Correction: In the article ‘Mental health in prisons’ (30 October) Courtesy of the Prison Reform Trust it was stated that a quotation from Quaker faith & practice (23.101) was read by John Lampen. He was the author, not the Prisons Week is 15 to 21 November. See pages 3 and 8-13 reader, of the quotation. The Friend Subscriptions Advertising Editorial UK £82 per year by all payment Advertisement manager: Editor: types including annual direct debit; George Penaluna Ian Kirk-Smith monthly payment by direct debit [email protected] £7; online only £63 per year. Articles, images, correspondence For details of other rates, Tel/fax 01535 630230 should be emailed to contact Penny Dunn on 54a Main Street, Cononley [email protected] 020 7663 1178 or [email protected] Keighley BD20 8LL or sent to the address below. the Friend 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ Tel: 020 7663 1010 Fax: 020 7663 1182 www.thefriend.org Editor: Ian Kirk-Smith [email protected] • Sub-editor: Trish Carn [email protected] • Production and office manager: Elinor Smallman [email protected] • Journalist: Tara Craig [email protected] • Arts correspondent: Rowena Loverance [email protected] • Environment correspondent: Laurie Michaelis [email protected] • Subscriptions officer: Penny Dunn [email protected] Tel: 020 7663 1178 • Advertisement manager: George Penaluna, Ad department, 54a Main Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL Tel: 01535 630230 ads@thefriend. org • Clerk of the trustees: Nicholas Sims • ISSN: 0016-1268 • The Friend Publications Limited is a registered charity, number 211649 • Printed by Headley Bros Ltd, Queens Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH 2 the Friend, 13 November 2015 Thought for the Week Acceptance and hope s a prisoner with an indefinite sentence, I came to prison with a lack of direction, little to aspire to in the way of positive role models, and a pro-criminal attitude that I had built up over many years. However, I had always known, above all Amy many flaws that I needed to address, that I had good inside me, which longed for nurture to flourish. I found the very thing I craved through Quakerism. I truly believe God found me. Why? I knew nothing about Quakerism when I stumbled across a small Advices & queries book within another inmate’s cell. I read it, with great care, that night. I felt like I was being spoken to, and about, in equal measure. Advice 11 was the one that really struck a chord: ‘Be honest with yourself. What unpalatable truths might you be evading?’ I had much to face up to, but wasn’t it easier to hide? Advice 30 says: ‘Are you able to contemplate your death and the death of those closest to you?’ Me? Sure enough, a factor involved in my incarceration was the death of one of my closest family members. It was an extremely similar story with Advices 32 and 28. I had never felt religious, but for once I was being spoken to. These Advices enabled me to examine myself, and the person I was. I had to learn more, so I applied to attend the next Meeting for Worship. A really lovely lady came to see me and I was given a copy of Quaker faith & practice to read. I read it over the following week and was mesmerised by the content. I didn’t feel ‘force fed’ but guided, not only spiritually but as a whole person. I wanted to aspire to Quaker values of peace, equality, simplicity and truth and to guide myself to become that better person. I believe it has enabled me to lay down strong foundations knowing that if I now choose this way of life I wouldn’t have the desire to create more victims through crime. Instead, I wished to display the ‘seed’ of good inside and help people by being pro-social on the wings; helping those with mental health issues or diffusing difficult and tense situations that occur within high security prisons. I can’t credit everything to Quaker faith & practice, as along the way I’ve met some fantastic Quaker chaplains who have shown me understanding and believed in me to an extent where I felt not only acceptance for my past but great hope for my future. If you read Isaac Penington in 19.14 of Quaker faith & practice, he describes my experience almost to perfection. Over my incarceration I’ve never attended a Quaker Meeting outside these walls and often wonder how different they might be? Would attenders still be accepting of me… us… as they are here? The statements written in the ‘worship and prayer’ section of Quaker faith & practice do offer insight and a sense of comfort, but equally interesting to read is how worship and prayer have evolved over the years, though the most integral parts have not. I like how I’m able to speak to God on my terms through silence in the same way George Fox could. I’d like to finish off by thanking all the Quakers I’ve worked with over the years. Quakerism is rewarding, helping me to come to terms with my actions and take responsibility for the consequences. Quakerism is much more than a religion. It enabled me to look at the bigger picture and gave me values I could aspire to and keep on achieving. A prisoner at HMP Full Sutton the Friend, 13 November 2015 3 News Voices and Choices in Hexham Abbey AN EXhibition created by It documents the impact of the or to be an absolute conscientious Tynedale Friends has opened as war not only on men who fought, objector.’ part of a two-week-long festival of but also on civilians and non- The exhibition opened on remembrance at Hexham Abbey combatants from the three towns. 7 November after the annual and its visitor centre. ‘A primary aim of the Voices ecumenical and interfaith peace ‘WW1 Voices and Choices’ looks and Choices exhibition is to show vigil, organised by Hexham at the first world war through that involvement in war always Quakers. The exhibition will be on the stories of men and women involves costly personal choices display until 20 November. from the three twinned towns of and sacrifices,’ Andrew Greaves of The organisers hope to show it Hexham, Noyon in France and Hexham Meeting explained. in both Noyon and Metzingen next Metzingen in Germany, drawing ‘In Britain these choices were: to year. upon community archives. be a soldier… a non-combatant, ‘Made of Money’ anniversary QUAKER Social Action (QSA)’s ‘Made of Money’ campaign is ten years old. Nearly 2,000 families have attended a workshop in the decade since the pioneering financial education project was launched. Four out of five participants are now £50 a month better off, thanks to the skills learnt at the workshops. Some 12,000 people have benefited from a Made of Money course. Almost 750 facilitators can now, also, lead Made of Money courses. The team celebrated their first decade with a party at the Ragged School Museum in East London. They were joined in the museum’s Victorian classroom by families who had benefited from Made of Money courses. Activities included learning how Victorian spending Photo: Delberth Hemley. habits differed from that of today. Some of the those who have benefited from Made of Money. Long Lartin service marks Prisons Week Lancaster Friends engage with local SUndaY Worship on BBC Radio 4 on 15 November will be a special service recorded in the businesses chapel of HMP Long Lartin, in Worcestershire, to mark the beginning of Prisons Week. LancastER QUAKERS have marked Living Wage The service will involve music and spoken Week (1-7 November) by writing to local businesses. contributions, including one from a Quaker chaplain Friends wrote of their interest in engaging and a testimony from a serving prisoner whose businesses in conversation about the Living Wage. Quaker faith has restored his hope in a future. They also offered to explain it to any businesses who were still unaware of it. Health Through Peace Lancaster Meeting was invited to lead a national Quaker Living Wage campaign following Quaker A two-daY event, Health Through Peace, is Equality Week, which took place in March. Friends taking place at Friends House on 13-14 November. were asked to encourage Quakers and others to The conference is hosted by the Medical raise awareness of the difference between the Living Association for the Prevention of War (Medact), Wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, Kings College London, Britain Yearly Meeting and and chancellor George Osborne’s suggested ‘National others. Living Wage’. The Meeting has been actively promoting (See story on pages 6-7.) the Living Wage since 2014. 4 the Friend, 13 November 2015 reported by Tara Craig [email protected] Friends Peace Team recalls Nepal efforts THE FRIENDS PEacE Team Friends Peace Teams-AWP of corrugated zinc sheets to provide (FPT) Asia West Pacific (AWP) collected and channelled funds 800 families with roofing; and 208 has published a report on its relief to the relief coordinator in Nepal, relief packages for pregnant women efforts following the massive a local discernment team visited and new mothers.