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 at HMP Full Sutton 4-5 News 6-7 Health through peace Frank Boulton 8-9 reform Juliet Lyon 10-11 The climate in our 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 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.

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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 . 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 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. earthquake in Nepal in April. the disaster-hit areas to plan relief Friends also conducted three More than 9,000 people were efforts to address real situations, Alternatives to Violence Project killed in the 25 April earthquake. and an international discernment (AVP) basic, trauma healing and Several hundred thousand people team listened and offered feedback. psychosocial wellbeing workshops were also injured, displaced or lost FPT provided 8,340 kilo-grammes for social workers from the their homes. of rice for 696 families; 800 bundles earthquake-affected areas. Friends consider the purpose of business More than ninety Friends met on 4 November Professor Colin Mayer of the University of for the Quakers and Business Group’s eleventh annual Oxford’s Saïd Business School gave a brief history of conference. corporations and models for the future. He concluded Quakers and Business Group (Q&B) elder Tim that companies need to rebuild trust and combine Phillips opened the conference with the quotes ‘The economic efficiency with ethics. business of business is peace’ and ‘Power is accountable The conference also featured an open session where to those whom it affects’. He highlighted that while Friends considered issues such as who decides public Q&B focuses on the practicality, not the theory and interest, the government’s investment in an old- theology, of business, Quakers recognise that these fashioned approach to business and how to educate lie at the root of their practice. Speakers included the leaders of the future. sustainable business expert Giles Hutchins, who spoke Seventeen students from Quaker schools atended of the future of business in a time of transformation. the event. Closer ties key for QPSW Seventy-five Friends gathered nature of QPSW and developing QPSW secretary general Helen at Swanwick, Derbyshire, from closer ties with Quaker Life. Drewery spoke on the main themes 30 October to 1 November 2015, Participants discussed working and looked back at Friends’ work for the annual Quaker Peace & ‘more with and through partners’ historically on , prison Social Witness (QPSW) autumn in overseas projects and with reform, and war relief. Alistair conference. Local Meetings to support their Fuller of Quaker Life spoke of the Themes addressed at the concerns and help them speak out spiritual roots of the organisation’s gathering included the changing effectively. work. Warwick pushes eco agenda Warwick Friends recently held a sustainability organise a sustainability forum. forum as part of their bid to become an Eco- The event, inspired by Banbury Meeting’s own Congregation. forum, was held at Dormer Place Conference Centre The Meeting must meet certain criteria in order in Leamington Spa on 7 October. to become an Eco-Congregation. One of these is to Some forty people attended, two thirds of them from the wider community. The Meeting had advertised the event widely, ‘to attract the general public who may not have considered sustainability issues before’, assistant clerk Wendy Edwards explained. Four speakers took part, each discussing what their organisation is doing to promote sustainable living. The speakers represented the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Community Energy Warwickshire, Action 21, a local recycling charity, and Canalside

Photo: John Sheldon Photo: John and Caroline Series Community Food (a community-supported Some of the audience at the sustainability forum. agricultural scheme).

the Friend, 13 November 2015 5 Peace

Health through peace

Frank Boulton writes about the background to the Medact conference being held at Friends House this weekend

uakers’ unique contribution to the development He was a great community physician who, with his of Peace Studies goes right back to George Fox wife Ada, had transformed the lives of his constituents. who, in 1651 (at the age of twenty-six), wrote Qto the Commonwealth Commissioners about In his masterly book The Origins of the Second World the ‘power that took away the occasion of all wars’ and War in Europe, P M H Bell points out that statesmen use nine years later, in a letter to Charles II, the restored war as an instrument of policy based on power, profit or monarch, developed the well-known statement at the prestige; but also respond to emotions, prejudices and heart of Quakers’ current Peace Testimony: assumptions related to their upbringings.

‘All bloody principles and practices we do utterly Successive claims have been made that peace would deny, with all outward wars, and strife, and fightings be favoured by industrial ‘progress’ and free trade, or with outward weapons.’ alternatively by the abandonment of capitalism, or by disarmament and open rather than secret alliances, or In the dark 1930s Alfred Salter worked incredibly by internationalism rather than nationalism. None were hard to persuade the and satisfactory. Neither the ‘war to end all wars’ (world war president Theodore Roosevelt to convene a World one), inter-war ‘’, nuclear weapons, the United Peace Conference. Salter was a Quaker doctor, Nations nor the European Union have eliminated war. pacifist, co-founder of the and the ‘No-Conscription Fellowship’ and Labour MP for Pacific power from 1922 to 1945. The Quaker Socialist Society’s annual lecture, which is given each year just Loren Cobb is a professor of mathematics and an American before Yearly Meeting, is named after him. Quaker and pacifist. He alarmed the US military when he was commissioned to make mathematical models of World Peace Conference NATO simulations of a Soviet invasion of Germany – they all ended in worldwide nuclear holocaust! Alfred Salter felt encouraged by a wide, favourable response (including, apparently, Adolf Hitler himself!). Loren Cobb still supports the Gandhian concept of This episode is now largely ignored by historians, who the pacific power of spiritual strength, to which the poor generally disparage the allies of the Peace Pledge Union, and deprived can, tragically, aspire only with difficulty. favouring instead the more successful political outcome of the Churchillian mood of the early 1940s which, It is all very well for those of us privileged by life nevertheless, was associated with the loss of over twenty in Western democracies, and protected by a hidden million lives. but ruthless ‘security’ apparatus, to preach love to the citizens of, say, Gaza, Syria or the Ukraine; but the Alfred Salter became depressed by his ‘failure’, but essential question is how to tip the balance in favour still opposed the strategic bombing of German cities, of the more difficult choice: nonviolence. Cobb also in spite of his constituents’ sufferings from . describes the vicious cycle of war and psychological

6 the Friend, 13 November 2015 …a ‘healthy planet’ relies on peacetime to develop those global collaborations in health and development that wars deny.

trauma (PTSD), attributing to this cycle a powerful This is nothing new: the Medical Association for the driver for the continuation of war. Prevention of War (MAPW, now ‘Medact’) was founded at the height of the Korean war after its founders (who Climate change included the Quaker, leading geneticist and psychiatrist of the day, Lionel Penrose) published in 1951 a letter in The However, over the last twenty years (or longer) there has Lancet, which also drew much criticism from its readers. been increasing recognition of a hitherto unconsidered factor, the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Among the members of Britain Yearly Meeting, Resource-depletion is an inevitable consequence indeed among Quakers worldwide, are many health of climate change and a rising population; and the professionals: doctors, nurses, psychologists, health ever-widening poverty gap is a seemingly inevitable scientists, health administrators and managers, social consequence of the errors of current world economics. scientists and ecologists. The definition may be broadened further to include lawyers and journalists A ‘vicious cycle’ of factors linked to environmental who advocate health issues, engineers, degradation and loss of biodiversity can be related health educators and – sooner or later – we all become to mass movements of migrants, public health ‘patients’. emergences, increasing conflict and the psychological consequences thereof. Furthermore, the revolution in The vast majority of health professionals in this communications technology has opened the eyes of widest sense can address the political and economic the global poor to their state of gross disadvantage, developments of society globally, nationally and/or fostering envy, the rise of terrorism and a further twist locally. Quakers who are professionals and, indeed, to this vicious cycle. those of all ‘peace faiths’, can ‘punch above their weight’ in bringing about a global revolution in societal A healthy planet attitudes to war and peace, and to a ‘healthy planet’.

In contrast, a ‘healthy planet’ relies on peacetime to develop those global collaborations in health and Frank is a member of Southampton Meeting. development that wars deny. Maintaining positive peace, in which diversity and indeed competition is The ‘Health through Peace’ conference will be held valued, is hard work, not least in the field of conflict at Friends House on Friday and Saturday 13 and 14 resolution. But it offers the best hope for breaking the November. Friends are welcome. vicious cycles described above. Further information: The medical journal The Lancet is frequently criticised www.medact.org, www.healthyplanetuk.org by some doctors for its advocacy of ‘political solutions’.

the Friend, 13 November 2015 7 Prisons Week Prison reform

Juliet Lyon argues that the prison system in Britain is in need of serious and significant change

Prison is a place where people are sent as a and courts now cover over half of England, and a full , not for further … Human national scheme is expected to be announced in the beings whose lives have been reckoned so far in costs autumn, subject to treasury approval. A courageous – to society, to the criminal justice system, to victims mother of a young man suffering from schizophrenia, and to themselves – can become assets – citizens who who took his own life while in custody, said: can contribute and demonstrate the human capacity for redemption.’ My son did not cope well with prison. Care for the mentally ill should be therapeutic and in hese were the words of Michael Gove, the surroundings conducive to peace and recovery – not incoming secretary of state for justice, in July this the barred, noisy, stressful and gardenless prison. year. For Friends, and others with a longstanding Those of you who have visited prisons will be aware Tcommitment to prison reform, this was a welcome of how unpleasant and entirely unsuitable a place reassertion of the principles which should underpin any they are for people who are mentally ill. civilised penal system. So far so good. However, the justice secretary has inherited a system that is deteriorating both In a letter I received after his death, my son wrote: on internal and external measures, and a requirement to ‘you must understand that one of my beliefs, at carve anything from twenty-five per cent to forty per cent a deep level, is that the world is a dangerous and out of its budget over the next five years. malevolent place – this is common with my illness. Violence and disorder have risen sharply to their highest As a result, I do assume that everyone is out to get ever recorded level. Suicide and self-harm continue to me... You can see that I am in a terrible situation, rise. Reductions achieved through painstaking effort in segregated, hated by the entire jail it seems and not the previous decade have been reversed. Last year levels knowing what will happen next... I hate this kind of purposeful activity were judged unacceptable in three- of life and I have considered actual suicide. I am by quarters of prisons inspected. myself and the cell is cold.’ Longstanding flaws and inequalities remain. More than a quarter of live in overcrowded prisons. We resort to far more readily than One in four of the country’s prisoners comes from an anywhere else in Western Europe. In England and ethnic minority – compared to one in ten of the general Wales we imprison 148 people in 100,000 compared, population. Eighty-two per cent of women are in prison for example, with 100 in France and seventy-eight for nonviolent offences. The population of prisoners per 100,000 people in Germany. Other European aged over sixty has tripled. Twenty per cent to thirty per countries can tell us much more about a sparing use of cent of prisoners have a learning disability or difficulty imprisonment. Current and former prisoners, prisoners’ that interferes with their ability just to understand the families, prison staff, visitors, chaplains and independent criminal justice system. A staggering 12,000 prisoners monitors have informed views on what needs to change. are serving life or indeterminate terms. Many are held Yet their voices are rarely heard. Government would beyond tariff and do not even know when they will be be wise to check its justice reform programme to learn released. from other countries and to listen to, and draw on, the A better, more humane response to people with experience of people within the system. mental health needs or learning disabilities caught Economic imperatives and pressure on the Ministry up in the justice system should be a priority. Liaison of Justice, an unprotected department, represents an and diversion services with nurses in police stations opportunity to rethink our approach – both to the use of

8 the Friend, 13 November 2015 Advices & queries (33 and 38) could well be taken to speak to Michael Gove’s current condition: ‘Bear witness to the humanity of all people, including those who break society’s conventions or its laws… Seek to understand the causes of injustice, social unrest and fear. Are you working to bring about a just and compassionate society which allows everyone to develop their capacities and fosters their desire to serve?’

‘If pressure is brought upon you to lower your standard of integrity, are you prepared to resist it? Our responsibilities to God and to our neighbour may involve us in taking unpopular stands. Do not let the desire to be sociable, or the fear of seeming peculiar, determine your decisions.’ imprisonment and to the experience it should represent. ever lengthening sentence lengths and mandatory We will not solve the problems of imprisonment by penalties, dealing with the dragnet of indeterminate looking within prison alone. Solutions do not all lie sentences and the use of joint enterprise, getting a grip behind prison walls – whether Victorian or newly built. on unnecessary use of and recall, and dealing Instead they lie largely within communities, public case by case with the forgotten thousands of prisoners health, safe housing, education, skills and work, and still held long beyond terms set by courts. There is also within families. If we are to re-imagine imprisonment, an urgent need to invest in diverting addicts and people we must reintegrate prison back into communities. We with mental health needs into treatment. must make prison smaller – smaller in our minds, and Winston Churchill’s seminal speech in parliament smaller in number and capacity. in 1910 is a lode star for Michael Gove’s developing A quiet success story offers hope. The number of reform programme. He often cites Churchill’s reference children (under-eighteens) in custody has fallen by to ‘an unfaltering faith that there is a treasure, if you can over two-thirds in the last seven years. Yet at the same only find it, in the heart of every man’. Less quoted, but time, the crime committed by children has plummeted, nonetheless of significance here, Churchill concluded with proven offences down by seventy-two per cent with a salutary warning: from their peak in 2005–2006. The number of young adults (eighteen- to twenty-year-olds) sent to prison …when the doctors, chaplains and prison visitors has also started to decline, as the conveyor belt from have come and gone, the convict stands deprived child offender to young adult prisoner has slowed. If of everything that a free man calls life. We must we translate that determination to make imprisoning not forget that all these improvements, which are children genuinely a last resort into the adult sphere, sometimes salves to our consciences, do not change and reverse the sentence inflation which accounts for that position. two-thirds of the population growth of the last two decades, the possibility of making dramatic savings is Loss of liberty is the most serious punishment that real. A prison population at the level it was the last time can be levied by the UK courts. Notwithstanding there was a Conservative majority government would any improvements that can, and must, be effected in save its current successor around £1bn a year. prison treatment and conditions, we should never Increasing sentence lengths has been a comfort underestimate the impact of that loss of liberty and the blanket for every government of the last twenty years. enduring shadow it leaves long after release. The only To make matters worse, prison is still seen as a free way to reform prison is to put it where it belongs – at good so far as local communities are concerned – the the far end of a fair and proportionate justice system as trade off between money spent on prison officers rather a place of absolute last resort. than nurses or teachers remains invisible to the local taxpayer. The uncomfortable truth is that most of that expensive additional prison time is both unnecessary Juliet Lyon (née Southall) is part of a Quaker family and wasted, leading to frustration, depression, idleness and attends Meeting at Spiceland in West Somerset Area and long, pointless hours behind cell doors. Meeting. The justice secretary’s commitment to better conditions and more effective rehabilitation is welcome. She is director of the Prison Reform Trust and secretary Many of our prisons need to be shut down. But prison general of Penal Reform International. Before the end of reform is about more than replacing old buildings. November the Prison Reform Trust will send copies of The crisis he faces now is with prisons that have its Bromley Briefing Prison Factfile to all Meetings for deteriorated sharply as budgets have been slashed and Worship across the UK. staff numbers cut. Pressure on the system has to be relieved by revising the sentencing framework, curbing For more information: www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk

the Friend, 13 November 2015 9 Prisons Week

The climate in our prisons

Melanie Jameson considers the state of British prisons

eeply unsettled’ is how I would describe the Women prisoners make up nearly 4,000 of the overall climate in our prisons today. Changes to the figure. We still await the implementation of the 2007 National Offender Management Service, Corston Report (accepted by the government of the ‘Dintroduced in the last parliament, have been far-reaching, day) which recommended that all women’s prisons be especially with regard to the Probation Service, which replaced with ‘suitable, geographically dispersed, small has now been effectively dismantled; this ironically multi-functional custodial centres’ to help maintain coincides with the centenary of a service that was the family relationships during imprisonment. But the envy of the world. cost of producing and maintaining such units was considered too high. Inspections, however, show an Being an ‘unprotected department’, the Ministry of overall improvement in women’s prisons. Justice (which covers prisons) continues to be subject to severe funding cuts. As a result, prison governors The old and young have two overarching concerns: security and operating within their shrinking budget. Reductions in staff (down Two further sectors of the prison population deserve by twenty-nine per cent) and less ‘purposeful activity’ special mention: first, the elderly, which is on the mean that prisoners face longer periods ‘banged up’ increase, and second, children under eighteen, which in their cells. The rise in the use of new psychoactive has (thankfully) been decreasing over a number of substances also causes concern. years.

The vicious circle spirals down, leading to high levels People age more quickly in prisons; the category of of staff sickness, more prisoner-on-prisoner violence ‘’ refers to the over fifties. But it is the and an increase in self-harming and suicide. The annual lack of facilities for elderly prisoners that gives rise report of HM chief inspector of prisons (HMCIP) 2014- to concern. Prisons are not designed for people with 2015 makes depressing reading, highlighting that more mobility problems or other disabilities. If they cannot prisoners feel ‘unsafe’. access dining areas all their meals are taken in cells, which is very isolating – compare this with the range Overcrowding of activities provided for residents of care homes. A correspondent to the prisoners’ newspaper Inside Overcrowding remains endemic. The latest statistic, Time, writes of elderly prisoners on his wing receiving on 30 October, gives the prison population as 85,843. incorrect medication and poor basic care. Another tells With the cost of an average prison place now at £36,237 of slow responses to prisoners ringing their emergency per year, can the nation afford such high levels of bells. incarceration, especially when results, in terms of reduced reoffending, do not show this to be money well spent? Is Turning to young people and children: a proposal to cost the factor that will finally cause the reevaluation of replace existing provision with new Secure Colleges has imprisonment that so many of us hope for? now been scrapped; these were based on economies of

10 the Friend, 13 November 2015 scale so that high numbers of children with complex narrative and supportive brotherhood of Islam? needs would be concentrated together – often far from home. The deal was that the decision would be delayed A reconsideration of the punitive rhetoric on prisons until publication of the findings of an investigation comes from a surprising quarter: the new secretary into suicides of young people in custody during a of state for justice, Michael Gove, has accepted the six-year period. The resulting Harris Review reported damning findings of the HMCIP report, declaring, this July, recommending that maturity should be a ‘We must change the way we treat offenders… We primary consideration when deciding about diversion, need a new and unremitting emphasis on reform, sentencing and appropriate custodial accommodation rehabilitation and redemption.’ Quakers would agree for young people. with the next remark: ‘How many of us would want to have our lives defined by our worst moment… it is Eighty-seven young people had killed themselves wrong to think of them forever as offenders, instead during the period under consideration (2007-2013). we should think of them as potential assets. When Across the whole prison estate, in 2014 alone, eighty- someone is in prison, it is an opportunity for them to two prisoners took their own lives; this is many times reflect and for us to help.’ higher than the suicide rate in the general population. Another report highlights the psychological impact of Reforming prisons exposure to suicide/attempted suicide. Reforming prisons while making further cuts is a A murder took place right in front of a prisoner formidable challenge. An ex-prisoner sums up the mentor known to me, causing him mental trauma and situation of many inmates: ‘People in prisons, they a spell in the prison medical centre. This high security often don’t have any other experience and don’t know establishment is the prison I know best, so let me they can have a different life. How do you change your provide a brief overview: the trend has been towards whole life? I was brought up around chaos, didn’t have more ‘restricted regimes’, with less time out of cell and any positive role models and had very little belief in my fewer activities. The enthusiastic ‘writer in residence’, own capabilities.’ who inspired her groups to value themselves as writers with something worth communicating, has long gone. So where does all this leave us? In these dark days only big ideas are worth considering. Two initiatives The full-time librarian has been replaced by a part- would cut the prison population by at least seventy time administrative assistant, but she is on long-term per cent making savings to fund the alternatives with sick leave with stress, so there are no library services. money to spare. First, the decriminalisation of drug Last month there was a lockdown lasting four days. use. Second, the transfer of the mentally ill to properly There is still resentment at changes to the Incentives funded facilities where they can receive the treatment and Earned Privileges Scheme, which saw the banning they need in humane surroundings. of books sent to prisons on the basic level (now overturned) and a much harsher regime. A Quaker vision statement includes this line:

Shafts of sunlight We are for the use of prison only when there is no reasonable alternative. A few shafts of sunlight pierce the overall gloom; these are invariably due to the commitment and efforts of But for now, the climate in our prisons is best the charitable and voluntary sector. The long-standing summed up by a member of User Voice (the prisoners’ work of the Prison Phoenix Trust, which provides association): booklets and CDs on yoga and meditation, continues to turn lives around, as a glance through the letters page The situation is like treading on egg shells, waiting for of their newsletter will testify. The Shannon Trust has something to go seriously wrong. upped its game by working more closely with prisons to establish a ‘reading plan’, which pairs a literate prisoner with one who struggles to read. They have just transferred to a bespoke set of materials, designed for Melanie is a member of the Prisoner Learning Alliance the adult prison population. The range of opportunities with a special interest in supporting prisoners with offered by the charitable sector goes some way towards dyslexia and related conditions. combatting the prisoner’s greatest enemy: boredom. Is it any wonder that some are attracted to the discipline, She is a member of Malvern Meeting.

the Friend, 13 November 2015 11 Prisons Week

Facing peace within prison walls

Judy Roles and Sarah Lane write about a moving experience with prisoners at HMP Long Lartin, Worcestershire

I believe peace is not gotten from a silver plate. extraordinary testimonies took the words away with You need to work for it. them, to ponder further and, in due course, make their You have to do something extraordinary. own personal response. Sometimes seeking for peace demands that you swallow your pride. This all happened because the regular chaplains Sometimes it means that you let go your power. were on holiday. There was a blank on the rota so they The power in you… to dominate has to be let go. asked the Quakers. However, offering even a half-hour The superiority complex in you has to let go of quiet to those attending on a Sunday might have So you remain flexible enough prompted the regular Anglicans and Free Church So that you can be able to change your position. attendees to give us a miss. So, we took this opportunity to offer the themed Meeting, inspired by Michael hese words from the testimony of Benard Lismadi Langford, chaplain at Peterborough prisons, who had Agona spoke powerfully to men attending our the original idea of using the exhibition as a focus for programmed Meeting for Worship in the chapel worship. It was heartening to begin by enlarging our Tof HMP Long Lartin prison during a Sunday morning circle of chairs to welcome twenty men from the main in August. The exhibition This Light that Pushes Me, wings at 9am and another twenty from the support which celebrates the work of African peacebuilders, had wings, who attended mid-morning. It was also an been showing in the prison chapel throughout August opportunity for outreach, since apart from the regulars and up to eighty men daily had the opportunity to view at our weekly Friday Quaker group, most of those who the twenty photographic panels during coffee breaks attended did not have much understanding of where while attending education or chaplaincy groups. The Quakers came from and who we are. exhibition was the focus for our Quaker-led worship, which included testimonies, songs, a Bible reading and But why did these stories of ordinary men and women a period of silence to reflect on the peacebuilders’ words. from sub-Saharan Africa speak so powerfully to men And so it was that we held a Programmed Meeting in a hardened by long years in prison, disconnected from style Agona might be familiar with in Kenya, where he close relationships and isolated from their community? works as a Quaker pastor and educator. Alongside the life-stories and testimonies are the larger- The men attending these two services found the than-life-sized photographs of each peacebuilder’s face, experience powerful and moving. Their singing taken just after they had given their personal account of was heartfelt and those who were touched by these violent trauma during civil war and genocide. With the

12 the Friend, 13 November 2015 shadow of their emotional journey still lingering across fellowship over coffee and another chance to look at their face and their eyes shining with the light that the exhibition. The men lingered in the chapel before inspires them, these amazingly-present images hold our returning to their wings and there were conversations attention and speak to us of our common humanity. The about the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) and photographer Nigel Downes invites us to look at these ideas for future projects. One man offered an idea to faces for a considerable time, to hold eye contact with use his own gifts within the prison environment, which the person. He says: is now being developed. Sarah and I were out on the wings the same afternoon and there was a real buzz I believe that if you do so long enough you should from those who had attended. We had a lot of positive see parts of yourself looking back at you and you comment. A few days later a ‘petition’ from one wing will find what has long been understood and true was given to the managing chaplain, asking for the from Quaker tradition – there is that of God in Quakers to lead worship again soon. every person. Very sadly, Mathias died before the exhibition was Standing in front of these faces, the men could finished but Laura is hoping to find a way to have the experience for themselves the words of our Bible postcard translated into Kirundi so that his family can reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: know that his legacy lives on. The testimony which resonated most was Agona’s, perhaps because it spoke of Then we shall see face to face…Then shall I know how one man avoided carrying on the cycle of violence fully, even as I am fully known. and retribution and instead chose the ‘Light that pushes me’ to overcome those times of pain and loss of hope. I asked five men to read in each service, which they did with considerable respect and care. Some identified Dear Agona closely with the reflection that I gave them and took Your testimony really touched me. What jumps away a postcard and a copy of the words. In their out at me is that, by giving away your power, you testimonies, Agona, Mathias and Cecile speak movingly became more powerful; you gained the power to of the need for courage, compassion, endurance and change things, to forgive, to move forward, to see forgiveness in the journey to turn their lives around from things another way. Most of all, you gained the being victims to makers of peace and reconciliation. power to re-shape the world as God intended it to Responses to the peacebuilders gradually trickled back be and not how man in his greed and lust for power to me and Laura Shipler Chico, Quaker Peace & Social tries to make it. If people follow your dynamic we Witness programme manager for Peacebuilding in East will all live in a better world – a world of harmony, Africa, offered to forward them. peace and love.

One man wrote to Cecile: And here is his reply:

Having read your story, your testimony and looked I am humbled to read from you. Tears were lingering at your photograph, I am almost at a loss for words. in my eyes because of joy, just to learn that my Forgiveness is such a powerful thing, perhaps the simple words of testimony could touch someone in greatest gift one person can give another. Its cost is prison. It is my prayer that the Lord will make you often high but its value is priceless. The light shines His vessel of peace. Though far away from each through your words; may they bring hope to those other let this connection ignite an inner burning fire still struggling with conflict and suffering around of change that affects others as we share our stories the world.’ and we remember the power of our words! Receive my BIG thanks and best wishes. The quiet time at the centre of our worship was Agona rich from the testimonies and deeply communal. We described Quaker silence as our communion with God – just as other Christians take bread and wine – and as the time when we open ourselves to the spirit of God, Judy and Sarah are Quaker prison chaplains at HMP to the Inward Light, seeking from it strength and hope Long Lartin, Worcestershire. to sustain us. Many commented afterwards how much they had taken from this and handshakes at the end On Sunday 15 November BBC Radio 4 marks the were very affirming. beginning of Prisons Week with worship from the chapel Immediately after the service we enjoyed lively of HMP Long Lartin at 8.10am.

the Friend, 13 November 2015 13 Gleanings Transformational listening

Laurie Michaelis believes that we should use our listening practices more amongst ourselves

hen I work with Quaker and other groups in subtle ways by making low carbon choices easier on their responses to climate change, people and more attractive. often focus either on what the government There is another way, which is to treat people as Wshould do, or else on actions individuals should take in moral agents; to enter into a dialogue about the kind their lives. of world we want to live in, and the implications of The top-down approach, where powerful people our choices. Our political system doesn’t lend itself and institutions direct change, is the way issues are to such conversations. And climate change is hard to mostly discussed in the media. It corresponds to many talk about for all sorts of reasons. Most people can’t of our experiences at school, at work, and perhaps in get their heads around the scientific, technological and conventional religions. A lot of grassroots activism is economic complexities, never mind engaging with the directed towards top-down action, advocating changes emotional and existential implications. in government policy. Much Quaker campaigning Effective climate action needs to involve the whole naturally takes this form because we are concerned world. Nobody is in charge so it must be voluntary. about things that governments seem to control, That probably means people listening to each other like going to war or manufacturing and exporting – negotiators listening to each other at the climate weapons. But we also have a strong commitment to talks, governments listening to citizens, perhaps even searching out the ‘seeds of war’ in our own way of life activists listening to politicians. It’s not much good and ‘letting our lives speak’. everybody thinking they have the answer and trying to Climate change is a different kind of concern. It change each other. We have to answer that of God in is obvious that government is not the only player each other – treat each other as subjects, not objects. and that we need to change our lives. We also need a We have to be answerable to that of God in each other transformation of the everyday practices and cultures – willing to be changed by the encounter. of industries, cities, communities and just about every I recently attended an academic workshop on human institution. Stopping climate change means ‘psychosocial’ approaches to sustainability. I asked abandoning cheap fuels, technologies and ways of some participants about their experience of talking to life that seem to have worked for us by bringing their families about climate change. They just laughed. unprecedented levels of consumption, comfort and Our families are often the hardest to engage. But if convenience. we can’t have these conversations with the people It takes huge, consistent and concerted effort to closest to us, how can we expect to be part of a wider stop people doing what they want to do. We have transformation? just about managed it with tobacco in Britain. In As Quakers we inherit principles and practices for the case of energy and climate change, however, the listening ourselves into unity. They work. Yet, when we messages and incentives keep changing. Politicians of talk about climate change, we often get into the same all parties in government have lacked the stomach for arguments that are going on everywhere. We should use the bold measures really needed, especially those to our listening practices more amongst ourselves. And we reduce energy consumption. Successive governments should find more ways of sharing them with others. have looked for ways to get individuals to ‘do our bit’ through information and incentives. The latest fashion Laurie is environment correspondent for the Friend. is ‘nudge’ policies, trying to shape people’s behaviour Gleanings is a monthly column.

14 the Friend, 13 November 2015 Letters All views expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Friend

A charter for carrying on as before to common ownership (Leviticus 25). In our modern The logic behind Ian Beeson’s letter (30 October) on society that could be interpreted as a tax, which the statement Our Faith in the Future needs to be recovers the added value every fifty years, or two per underlined and answered. I offer some underlining: cent per annum. • One assumes there was an evaluation of the preceding For our modest terraced house that works out at five-year-plan. In what ways does the new statement double our council tax bill – the nearest we now have respond to that evaluation? to property taxation – but council tax is for services, • What are the tools in the new statement which allow not land value, so needs to be paid as well. its usefulness to be periodically evaluated? Gordon Ferguson • Does the new statement have a time frame in which Sheffield & Balby Area Meeting to be evaluated or is it simply a timeless set of fine Quaker aspirations destined to be brought out for Hospitality occasional dusting? To avoid this unfortunate fate Thank you, Andrew Backhouse (30 October). There is perhaps we now need to build on the new statement certainly a hunger to go deep and learn more among by creating a Framework for action and, most Friends. importantly, an evaluative system to go with it? The Quaker faith & practice study series has taken Who is going to offer an answer to the logic? off in our new Quaker Meeting in Wimborne Minster, Gerald Drewett Dorset. Chapter 21, Personal Journey, has stretched [email protected] to a third evening of our fortnightly Meeting for Learning– there’s been so much to share. In addition, Democracy UK? the Being Friends Together website has been a helpful I feel compelled to respond to Ernest Hall’s sombre and flexible tool with tips about how we can usefully letter (30 October). For ten years, I have been focus our reflections. labouring on a novel about a policeman going in We have many newcomers. Getting to one another search of the widow of a man he killed during a ‘in those things that are eternal’ is the essence of ‘dirty war’ between the government and the people these occasions. Meetings for Learning provide in Britain. Everything I put in that book has been opportunities for going deep in dialogue. Other done by the British police or police forces in other social occasions mean we continue to get to know supposedly civilised countries, or recommended by one another. We will soon have a supper evening in a retired NATO generals. It has turned out something Friends home and regularly meet for coffee. Vibrancy like a British Crime and Punishment and chillingly emerges, as commitment grows, from worshipping close to Ernest’s dark forebodings. together, understanding one another better and feeling Tony Crofts our lives being led from that deep place. 3 Windsor Terrace, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4LW Richard Bush [email protected] The housing crisis We own our own house. It is now ‘worth’ twice as much, adjusted for inflation, as we paid for it and twice as much as it would cost to rebuild it – in In essentials unity, other words, the ‘value’ lies in the land underneath in non-essentials liberty, the house. We have not worked for this gain and it in all things charity. troubles my soul. This ‘unearned bounty’ accruing to the elderly middle classes like us is, to me, a major underlying source of the housing crisis. The fact that many The Friend welcomes your views. Quakers own, or at least have a mortgage on, their home makes the problem for us akin to the problem of Do keep letters short (maximum 250 words). slavery and one of ‘indirect complicity’. Please include your full postal address, even We need to call for the taxation of all unearned when sending emails, and specify whether you income; and for housing, that means to me, land value wish for your postal or email address or Meeting taxation with no exemption, unlike current capital name to be used with your name. gains tax, which does not apply to your own house. When the Hebrews changed from a nomadic to Letters are published at the editor’s discretion a settled people they introduced the principle of and may be edited. ‘Jubilee’ – every fifty years all land was to be returned

the Friend, 13 November 2015 15 13 Nov 10/11/15 11:23 Page 6

For how to place a notice on this page Friends&Meetings please use the contact details on page 18. Felicity Ann HEMINGWAY (Ann) NAMING OUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS Births A memorial service to celebrate Friday 27 - Sunday 29 November. Minna Ann TOUSSAINT-STRAUSS Ann's life will be held at 2pm Thomas Swain. As part preparation 3 November to Joshua and Anneli Saturday 21 November at Friends for Yearly Meeting 2016! What am I Toussaint-Strauss, a first great- Meeting House, 18 Dundonald supposed to be doing? £165. granddaughter for Kurt and the late Drive, Leigh on Sea SS9 1NB. Glenthorne Quaker Guest House. Details from Ruth 01702 711163, Ann Strauss of New Earswick Grasmere. Tel: 015394 35389, [email protected] Meeting. Email: [email protected] Deaths Diary Meeting up “ETTY” American actress Susan Dennis BUCKLAND 26 October in Stein returns late January to perform SINGLE? WANTING TO MEET Treliske Hospital, Truro. Member of her moving play and discussion THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE? Truro Meeting. Aged 94. about the spiritual journey of Dutch Use the Meeting up column! Jewess and diarist Etty Hillesum, One entry £22.80 incl. vat for 35 words, murdered in Auschwitz. Meetings 3 entries £45.60, 6 entries £81. Box Memorial meetings interested in performances contact: reply service included. Send all entries [email protected] and replies c/o: The Friend, 54a Main Paul BARTON A Memorial Meeting Street, Cononley, Keighley BD20 8LL to celebrate Paul’s life will be held JUST THIS DAY On Wednesday 2.30pm Monday 23 November at 25 November we invite you to join A LONG SHOT, PERHAPS, is there Brighton Friends Meeting House, in wherever you are. Log on to the a male Friend out there who is Ship Street. At Paul’s request, please www.justthisday.org website at intelligent, caring, politically minded don’t wear black. Contact: 01986 10am to be with us in the morning and keen gardener, aged maybe 948299, [email protected] at St Martin-in-the-Fields or at 40-50? I'm an attractive intelligent 6.30pm at St James's Church, Quaker, hard working woman with BE SURE TO KEEP IN TOUCH... Piccadilly in the evening. Silence, lots to offer. Please reply to Box 973 Put all your family notices in the Friend! words and music. c/o The Friend Advertisement Dept.

Quaker Peace & Social Witness New Economy Project Manager Salary: £22,433 per annum (£31,407 pro rata). Contract: Fixed Term – 1 Year Maternity Cover. Hours: Part Time - 25 hrs per week. Location: Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1 Frustrated by the failures of our current economic system? Want to be a driving force within a movement, building a better economic system that works for both people and planet? This is an opportunity to assume management of an exciting and ambitious project currently in its early stages. This is a key role supporting Quakers in an exploration of a vision of what a ‘new economy’ might look like and in starting to take practical action that will help to turn that vision into a reality. Key activities will include project management, research, writing and editing, event design, delivery and networking with relevant organisations and local Quakers. We are seeking a knowledgeable, flexible and enthusiastic colleague with good communication skills, a background in transition/alternative economics and experience of supporting grassroots action. Closing date: Monday 30 November (9am). Interviews: Monday 14 & Tuesday 15 December 2015. For further details and information on how to apply visit www.quaker.org.uk/jobs Registered charity no: 1127633.

16 the Friend, 13 November 2015 13 Nov 10/11/15 11:23 Page 7

Act on 16 or 17

November The Kindlers Telephone Wednesday 18 November 6.30pm coffee, 7 – 8.30 pm action The Art of Worship Want to work as a against 2 of 5: Silence & Prayer Woodbrooke Led by Thomas Swain Gardening Friend? whaling at Friends House, Euston Woodbrooke is offering a unique opportunity to assist Garden Free: all welcome. Manager Steve Lock in developing No need to book. and caring for its beautiful organically managed gardens. A QUAKER BASE IN Gardening Friends usually work in CENTRAL LONDON the garden for periods of two to three months, joining a team of Central, quiet location, staff and volunteers on site. convenient for Friends House, We offer room, board, expenses, British Museum and transport. the opportunity to join available Comfortable rooms tastefully short courses free of charge and furnished, many en-suite. Full English breakfast. use of Woodbrooke’s other facilities. Discount for Sufferings and See the full role description and Club members. download an information pack at: Japan wants to kill almost 21 Bedford Place www.woodbrooke.org.uk London WC1B 5JJ If you do not have internet access, 4,000 whales in Antarctica Tel. 020 7636 4718 please call 0121 472 5171. between 2015 and 2027. [email protected] Closing date: 27 November 2015 The Penn Club www.pennclub.co.uk Japan has been defying the global ban on whaling ordered by the United Nations. Whaling involves the slow Britain Yearly Meeting painful death of these beautiful animals. Grants Programme Officer It sometimes takes them many hours to die in great pain. Salary: £18,478 (£30,797 Pro Rata). Contract: Part Time, Permanent Hours: 21 hours pw. Location: Friends House, Euston Rd, London NW1 Japan must accept the will of the International Community Are you able to deliver a work programme with fixed deadlines using and abandon whaling forever. project-management skills? Are you a skilled communicator used to dealing with sensitive personal information? Do you have experience On Monday 16 November of financial reporting and grant making processes? and Tuesday 17 November, please telephone the In this role, you will co-ordinate and oversee the distribution of Japanese Embassy in grants, following existing criteria, to Quaker meetings and individuals. Working independently within a friendly team in a Quaker organisa- London and ask them to stop tion you will serve as secretary to a grant awarding committee. all whaling immediately. You will need to be able to work within fixed deadlines, using your Please phone own initiative to achieve them, be able to analyse financial and narra- 020 7465 6500, tive reports, as well as having excellent communication skills. when you go through the You should have Knowledge of and sympathy with Quaker faith and options, and reach the values. operator ask to speak to a Closing date: 12 noon, Friday 20 November 2015. member of staff about Interviews: Monday 30 November & Tuesday 1 December 2015 whaling, or express concern to the operator. For further details and information on how to apply visit www.quaker.org.uk/jobs For more information phone Registered charity no: 1127633. Mark Franchi: 01239 810921

the Friend, 13 November 2015 17 13 Nov 10/11/15 11:23 Page 8

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Were you or was a member of your family a Conscientious Objector during the Second World War? the Friends We are searching for diaries, letters and unpublished manuscripts written by Second World War conscientious objectors and hoping to Quarterly find people who would be willing to share their memories with us. This information will be used as part of a research project at the University of Edinburgh entitled “A Comparative Anthropology of Quakerism and Ethics, Conscience and Human Rights.” Judaism issue Please contact Laura Major to discuss: [email protected] November 2015 Telephone: 0131 651 1329, or write to: Laura Major, Department of Social Anthropology, 15a George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD “This issue is scholarly The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, no. SC005336. and yet deeply personal. It examines with respect and tenderness both the relationship Britain Yearly Meeting between and the core essence of each faith. The articles promise Turning the Tide insight and inspiration Programme Co-ordinator in equal measure.” The issue is free to new Salary: £25,125pa (£31,407 pro rata). Contract: one year fixed term subscribers, £20 UK, £22 Hours: 28 hrs pw. Location: Friends House, Euston Rd, London overseas. Single copies £5+70p Join a small and dynamic team inspired by the power of non- UK post. Copies to share or violence to make big changes. We work with campaigners and for study group use are activists, grassroots people who are actively working for positive available at just £2.50 a copy change in the world. for 5 or more copies, including UK postage. We’re seeking a talented, enthusiastic person to co-ordinate Turning the Tide and the nonviolence training and education programme of Quaker Peace & Social Witness. Friends Quarterly • Can you demonstrate your sympathy with Quaker testimony Quakerism & Judaism to love, truth and justice? Please send me ...... copies of • Do you have solid training experience? Knowledge of this issue. Cheque enclosed for popular education methods? £...... payable to The Friend, at £2.50 per copy, minimum 5 • Are you committed to nonviolence? And do you have an copies, to include UK postage. understanding of the role nonviolence plays in social change? I am a new subscriber please • Do you have knowledge and understanding of grassroots send me my free copy. Cheque social change activism? for £...... enclosed. • Are you a people person, teamworker, self-organised and Single copies £5+70p UK postage. able to work alone? Name...... It’s a big job, but if you can say yes to all those questions, you should apply. Address...... Closing date: 9.30am Friday 20 November 2015 ...... Interviews: Wednesday 2 December 2015 Postcode...... For further details and information on how to apply please Please return to: Penny Dunn, visit www.quaker.org.uk/jobs The Friend, 173 Euston Road, Registered charity no: 1127633. London NW1 2BJ.

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