Jail Visit - Part 2
This is a continuation of my first post on my jail visit.
So we enter the room where the meeting will be held. I would guess that the room was about 30 feet by 20 feet. The room was largely empty. It had a number of plastic chairs piled up on the sides. It had some tables along the edge. On one end of the room, it had a small alter. As we entered the room, Dave asked me to help move the alter to the middle of the room and then set up chairs around the alter. He told me that the group can vary from 4 inmates to 12 or 13. The average group was 9 or 10. The keyboard guy set up his keyboard and distributed sheet music on the chairs.
As we were setting up the room, Dave gave me a quick briefing. The format of the meeting was set up like a mini-service. We would pray, sing two songs, have a short sermon and a communion. The biggest difference was that the inmates would be encouraged to share their stories. The meeting was strictly limited to one hour. My role was mostly as an observer. I was welcome to enter into any group discussions if I wish, but it was not required.
The main "don't" is not to take anything away from the service or to agree to do anything outside of the service. It usually is not an issue. Dave commented that very rarily, an inmate will ask him to call a girlfriend or something like that. He always replies that he really can't do that and in every case the inmate has understood. As an aside, during the meeting several inmates commented on the difficulty of contacting loved ones on the outside.
After about 10 minutes, a guard brought in 7 or 8 inmates. After the inmates entered the room, the guard left to take care of other duties. The group was racially mixed. A couple of white guys, a hispanic guy, a polynesian guy and 3 or 4 black guys. As I found out later, all except one of the inmates were from the same wing and the wings are split to keep gangs apart. The guys seemed to know each other. Like all groups of people, a few of the inmates were open and friendly, a few were tentative, a few were laughing and joking among themselves and a few seemed withdrawn. Unlike other groups of people, some seemed almost embarrassed. Like they did not want anyone else to know that they were in jail, like they did not want to be known as an inmate.
In general the inmates seemed to be open and very appreciative that we took the time to come visit. Dave had earlier mentioned that there did not seem to be many programs in the jail for the inmates. Therefore they seemed to enjoy meetings with non-inmates. I never felt threatened, however I was always aware that the three of us were alone in a room with a number of inmates. Some of the inmates were large, rough men.
After we got seated, Dave gave a short introduction of our group and then asked us to go around the room introducing ourselves. A couple of the inmates made short introductions, however most just wanted to give their first names only. When it came to my turn, I gave my first name and talked about how this was my first visit. I was here mainly as an observer and just wanted to see what it was all about. A couple of the inmates smiled, welcomed me and thanked me for coming. A few others gave friendly nods and a few blank looks.
Hmm, this may take several posts. I'll continue later.
So we enter the room where the meeting will be held. I would guess that the room was about 30 feet by 20 feet. The room was largely empty. It had a number of plastic chairs piled up on the sides. It had some tables along the edge. On one end of the room, it had a small alter. As we entered the room, Dave asked me to help move the alter to the middle of the room and then set up chairs around the alter. He told me that the group can vary from 4 inmates to 12 or 13. The average group was 9 or 10. The keyboard guy set up his keyboard and distributed sheet music on the chairs.
As we were setting up the room, Dave gave me a quick briefing. The format of the meeting was set up like a mini-service. We would pray, sing two songs, have a short sermon and a communion. The biggest difference was that the inmates would be encouraged to share their stories. The meeting was strictly limited to one hour. My role was mostly as an observer. I was welcome to enter into any group discussions if I wish, but it was not required.
The main "don't" is not to take anything away from the service or to agree to do anything outside of the service. It usually is not an issue. Dave commented that very rarily, an inmate will ask him to call a girlfriend or something like that. He always replies that he really can't do that and in every case the inmate has understood. As an aside, during the meeting several inmates commented on the difficulty of contacting loved ones on the outside.
After about 10 minutes, a guard brought in 7 or 8 inmates. After the inmates entered the room, the guard left to take care of other duties. The group was racially mixed. A couple of white guys, a hispanic guy, a polynesian guy and 3 or 4 black guys. As I found out later, all except one of the inmates were from the same wing and the wings are split to keep gangs apart. The guys seemed to know each other. Like all groups of people, a few of the inmates were open and friendly, a few were tentative, a few were laughing and joking among themselves and a few seemed withdrawn. Unlike other groups of people, some seemed almost embarrassed. Like they did not want anyone else to know that they were in jail, like they did not want to be known as an inmate.
In general the inmates seemed to be open and very appreciative that we took the time to come visit. Dave had earlier mentioned that there did not seem to be many programs in the jail for the inmates. Therefore they seemed to enjoy meetings with non-inmates. I never felt threatened, however I was always aware that the three of us were alone in a room with a number of inmates. Some of the inmates were large, rough men.
After we got seated, Dave gave a short introduction of our group and then asked us to go around the room introducing ourselves. A couple of the inmates made short introductions, however most just wanted to give their first names only. When it came to my turn, I gave my first name and talked about how this was my first visit. I was here mainly as an observer and just wanted to see what it was all about. A couple of the inmates smiled, welcomed me and thanked me for coming. A few others gave friendly nods and a few blank looks.
Hmm, this may take several posts. I'll continue later.
posted by Steve @ 6:41 AM
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