The Chaplain’s Pastoral Role among the Incarcerated
W. Thomas Beckner, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President
Good News Jail & Prison Ministry
Note: This article was originally published as “Your Pastoral Role: How Does It Fit?” in The Compass, 2/2 (May, 2006): 2, 6. © Good News Jail & Prison Ministry. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
When you look closely at the list of tasks associated with each of the Critical Dimensions that have to do with in-facility ministry, one thing becomes clear: the pastoral role of chaplaincy is one that no other correctional staff person can fulfill. While you have the arduous task of serving as a broker for a wide variety of program services, your central goal should always be to function as a facilitator of change in the lives of the incarcerated men and women you serve. As chaplain, you are an enabler for those who want to change attitudes and behaviors that have thus far produced disastrous results for themselves and others. Of course, other institutional professionals have similar goals, but as a chaplain, you come from a much different place than they do. You may be an encourager, a counselor, even an educator, but over and above all of these, you function from a theological perspective. Counselors, psychologists, correctional officers and other employees who are Christians are certainly able to inject a Christian influence into their job activities, but whenever they begin to perform as chaplains, they cease to function from the perspective of their designated professional role. Likewise, a chaplain ceases to act as chaplain when he or she functions primarily as a psychologist, case manager, or in any other role.
It is crucial, then, that you maintain a pastoral identity within the wide range of duties you perform and the hats you wear. You should continue to ask yourself: "How am I different from a counselor or case manager?" and "What do I do that another Christian staff member cannot or does not do?" Other program staff may help inmates face the truth about themselves and identify strategies for successful change, but unlike these professional care givers, the chaplain understands that lasting life change must come within the context of faith in a living, empowering God. But the dynamics of your pastoral ministry will differ depending on the nature of the institution you serve. One of my former chaplain assistants, whose wife was a physician, used a medical metaphor to describe that difference. He suggested that jails are much like hospital emergency rooms: they are trauma centers where wounds abound, blood flows freely, and people wait in pain to see just how serious their injuries are and what treatment will be administered. Friends and family stand by in the waiting room, sharing the pain and the uncertain future of their loved ones. Jail chaplains attend to the most crucial immediate needs: stopping the flow of blood, minimizing the pain, and offering reassurance to family members. The majority of the jail chaplain's time is spent in counseling with inmates about those needs, offering comfort and hope during a time of great stress, distributing religious literature, and sharing the basic elements of God’s love. Statistics show that most of those people who trust Christ while incarcerated do so in local jails when anxiety levels are highest, rather than in the prison setting after the immediate crisis has passed and some acceptance of their condition has taken place.
Prisons, on the other hand, function more like hospitals, where long-term therapy takes place. If you are a prison chaplain, you will have far more opportunities to disciple inmates through programs that carefully build character over a longer time frame and where you can support and supplement his/her growth in extended counseling sessions. Your role is that of teacher and mentor. At the same time, family issues remain central to your pastoral role. The families of inmates have to deal with the pain of lengthy separation—these families often break up, opportunities for being reunited (parole) are denied, etc. Much of the counseling that takes place centers around the adjustments inmates must make in order to cope with these issues. But regardless of whether the setting is a jail or a prison, there are common stress factors created by the loss of one's freedom that are then aggravated by the dehumanizing jail or prison environment.
There are at least four deprivations suffered by people immediately upon their imprisonment:
They lose their personal identity . They’re given a number, a uniform to wear, etc.
They lose autonomy . Prisoners are allowed little control over all but the most insignificant actions.
They lose all rights to privacy . Even the most intimate activities must be performed in the presence of someone else, and there are no quiet corners where one can escape.
They lose the freedom of contact with family and friends . Some forms of communication are stopped completely, visits are restricted, and interpersonal activity is curtailed.
Given the negative dynamics of institutional life, much of your pastoral attention focuses on interpersonal stress factors. Furthermore, the inmate problems that arise always seem to need immediate attention; they are permeated with a sense of urgency. In a world which affords prisoners little control over anything, they often try desperately to control something—for instance the response of a chaplain to a perceived crisis. Manipulation may be their only readily available source of power. Your effectiveness is directly proportional to your ability to distinguish authentic needs and appropriately prioritize the many requests for your service.
Some stressors are predictable, because they are part of an emotional cycle experienced by any incarcerated person. Times of high stress alternate with periods of relative calm as the offender progresses through a series of critical incidents in his or her involvement with the criminal justice system. When offenders are first jailed, they usually experience an extremely high level of stress. There is the trauma associated with the arrest: the humiliation of being cuffed and transported to jail; concerns over unfinished business, abandoned personal property, family members left unattended; and the uncertainty of what the future holds. Then, the prisoner adjusts to some degree to the conditions of confinement, and the accompanying stress moderates until the next crisis point is reached and the stress increases once again.
Consider these predictable stress-inducing events as opportunities to reach an inmate for Christ or to reinforce God's presence in his or her life. When anxiety is high, so is the potential for acceptance of a new lifestyle or the need for a reminder of God's concern for His children. Therefore, an effective chaplain will allocate time and establish programs to engage the prisoner during these critical occasions. How do you evangelize in a dehumanizing place where the physical realities of existence may never get better? Can you bring a liberating message into the institution, free from contradictions, distortions, and confusion?
As former Texas chief of chaplains Emmett Solomon has stated, "Systems cannot love; people love. Systems can serve, but they do so without love. They are efficient, but impersonal, and they don't make us feel good." Solomon identifies four essentials employed in raising children to be responsible adults that are also necessities for correcting human behavior:
1) love
2) guidance
3) nourishment or nurture, and
4) discipline
Jails and prisons,” says Solomon, "can only offer guidance and discipline; they are incapable of providing love and nurture." That’s where you, as chaplain, enter the picture. There are inherent difficulties involved in stimulating change in men and women who have enormous problems in their lives. Most of your work in helping inmates improve their lives is performed rather quietly, in relational contexts, and it happens over time. Authentic change cannot be coerced or manipulated; it emerges slowly, growing out of a unified chaplaincy program that incorporates both evangelism and discipleship methods. And trusting relationships provide the beginning point for successful intervention. Trust never originates outside the context of relationships, and relationships take time to develop. So, it is your ability to establish and maintain such relationships that is the primary determinant of a successful pastoral ministry. But trusting relationships between people can only reach full maturity through a union with Christ. That’s something no one else in your institution can deliver; it is your unique gift to that place, and it is the birthright of your call. Treasure it!