Date: Monday, March 23rd 
Scripture: Isaiah 40:28-31
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”
By: Bill Lockhard, DeafCAN! program director
I am Program Director for a variety of human services under Christ the King Deaf Church. Our services are totally non-discriminatory, do not proselytize, or refer to any of our work a “ministry,” as we reach out to serve those of any or no faith and don’t want even a perceived barrier. Our work focuses on those who are Deaf or hard of hearing, AND something else that makes them doubly or triply isolated, including homeless, immigrants/refugees, Deaf & blind, and inmates & returning citizens.
I have worked at Graterford/Phoenix State Prison, along with multiple county jails for the last 23 years. The intentional mass incarceration cruelty of the last 40 years has ravaged many individuals & families and communities of color. To add to the cruelty, there is a significant population of aging, slowly dying, physically disabled, blind, and deaf or hard of hearing inmates.
The mere size of the prison population has given the Dept of Corrections the ‘rationale’ to ignore the special needs of most of these mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, and brothers. Those who have family behind bars or who are working to improve the respect, dignity, & humanity of those inside are often blocked from knowing what goes on due to “security reasons,” which only increases the cruelty.
The inmate populations we work with are rarely granted access to call family and friends and cannot participate in programs that bring light and hope inside. If they are lucky enough to win early release, they are more prone to re-arrest parole or probation violations they didn’t understand in the first place. Our Lutheran Church tries to live “God’s Work Our Hands.” Our Voices and Hands must insist on, and invest in, alternatives to prisons. When prisons are the answer, they must be prisons focused on and built for forgiveness, rehabilitation, and hope.
Prayer: Dear God, We pray for our elected officials, those who work in corrections, and for the most vulnerable populations among us. May our leadership be guided to restoration and redemption instead of vindication and vengeance. Amen.
Criminal Justice Fact: After lowering their solitary confinement population by 85% Colorado reported their lowest rate of prisoner on staff assaults in 9 years.
Action: Consider hosting a “chalk in.” Draw a 6×9 ft box with chalk and sit in it, symbolizing the average dimensions of a cell people spend 23 hours a day for months, years, and even decades in solitary. Invite your friends to join you, take pictures, and share on social media.
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