CJR News

Short articles highlighting PF national affiliate justice work.

Sycamore Tree Project® Launched in Italy

On Saturday, 6 November, members of the recently chartered PF Italy facilitated their first Sycamore Tree Project® (STP) session in Milan’s Opera Prison.

Inside Rimutaka's faith-based unit

From the article by Nikki MacDonald in the Dominion Post: It's a topsy-turvy world where a killer is held up as a role model of morality, Mongrel Mob and Black Power gangsters sit tattoo to tattoo and talk about their feelings and the weapon of choice for settling scores is the gospel according to St Matthew, chapter 18, verses 15 to 17.

Prison Official On OverCrowdedness At Prison

From the article in The Inquirer Online (from Liberia): The Coordinator of Access to Justice and Legal Aid in Liberia has criticized the over crowdedness of prison centers across the country. Rev. Francis Kollie attributed the situation to the lack of access to justice and poor justice system in Liberia.

Volunteers even more important in bid to reduce re-offending in prisons

From the announcement on the PF England and Wales website: More volunteers are being recruited to help run Prison Fellowship’s restorative justice programme Sycamore Tree as work in prisons becomes even more reliant on trained volunteers.

From Rwanda, a message of hope

From the article by Chris Buckley on Colorado Connection Fox 21: Pastor Deo Gashagaza lost dozens of family members in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He remembers the horror when he returned to his homeland in 1995.

PF New Zealand’s Faith-based Unit

Te Korowa Whakapono — the PF New Zealand faith-based unit that opened in October 2003— seeks to reduce offending of the 60 individuals involved in the programme at any one time. Along with the Operation Jericho aftercare programme, the unit provides a therapeutic and restorative community built on Christian principles and practices to provide effective rehabilitation and reintegration.

Latin American Seminar about APAC

From 21 to 23 September, PF Brazil hosted a seminar on the APAC methodology for representatives from Prison Fellowships in four Latin American countries. Staff and volunteers provided instruction on the methodology while recuperando— the name used for prisoners in APAC— talked about their experiences in this unique prison.

Maelanga says gov’t supports healing process

From the article in the Solomon Star: DEPUTY Prime Minister Manasseh Maelanga has reiterated that the government is committed to heal the nation through forgiveness and reconciliation. But he said true forgiveness and reconciliation must come from a heart of a person and that is when that person receives Christ in his or her heart.

PF Georgia Offering Legal Assistance

For many prisoners and their families in Georgia, economic realities limit access to legal aid for a variety of issues including legal defence in criminal cases, allegations of human rights abuses, and civil matters. In response, PF Georgia mobilised a team of ten certified attorneys to meet the legal needs of prisoners, their family members and other citizens.

Helping Churches Learn about Restorative Justice

In early September, PF Australia (South Australia) mailed sermon notes about restorative justice to 140 of its supporting churches. The notes, written by coordinating chaplain Bill Reddin, were meant to encourage the churches to prepare for the International Restorative Justice Week observed during the third full week of November.

Further mediation with their victims: South East

We have had some exciting developments concerning Sycamore Tree in this region, and an example of this is the course currently running at HMP Swaleside. We were approached by the prison in September 2009 to see if we could run three Sycamore Tree courses – this was fantastic as we last ran a Sycamore Tree course at HMP Swaleside about 10 years ago!

Turning point for many

Sycamore Tree is a Restorative Justice course that aims to make offenders aware of how their actions affect their victims, their communities and themselves, “It’s amazing, a drug dealer does not think he has any victims, just customers, but after six weeks with Prison Fellowship they know exactly who their victims are and the impact they have had on people’s lives.” (Diane Duckworth, Group Facilitator)

The Sycamore Tree course and me

I was dreading the Sycamore Tree course. The guilt, remorse and shame I felt for my crime was nearly overwhelming and I expected the course would deepen these feelings. The night before the course had me sleepless and fearful, but I was determined to complete the course.

PF Rwanda's Restorative Justice Workshops

This month [September], Prison Fellowship Rwanda (PFR) conducted its fifth ‘Restorative Justice’ three-day training workshop, this time in Juru Sector, Bugasera District, Eastern Province. The class was made up of 15 participants, half of which were genocide victims, half ex-offenders and a handful of local authority members. The aim of the class was to promote continuing unity and reconciliation, and sustainable peaceful cohabitation within the community. By training participants to become peace activists, PFR hoped that they would continue to mobilise others in their respective communities in the prevention and resolution of any conflict that might arise.

PF South Africa Engaging Churches through STP

From 12 to 15 July, Douw Grobler, PF South Africa executive director, conducted Sycamore Tree Project®training for 28 second year students at the Methodist seminary in Pietermaritzburg. The four day event included sessions on the impact of crime on society, restorative justice, the role of the church, each of the Sycamore Tree Project®sessions, and a prison visit.

STP Going Strong in Western Australia

On 9 August, PF Australia (Western Australia) celebrated its 34th Sycamore Tree Project®. The course, the fifth to be run in Casuarina prison, included twelve prisoner and seven victim participants. They each reported meeting their personal goals for participating in the programme. Participant comments included:

APAC: Brazil’s Restorative Justice Prisons

From the blog entry from Lorrenn Walker: On July 5 & 6, 2010, I visited two APAC prisons (Associacao de Protecao e Assistencia aos Condenados in English translated as: Association for Protection and Assistance of Convicts) in the city of Itauna, state of Minas Gerias, Brazil. The original APAC prison, which was in San Paulo, Brazil was reportedly the “first contemporary prison” to totally apply a faith-based approach to all parts of prison administration. (See: “Prison Religion: Faith Based reform and the Constitution”, Sullivan, 2009, emphasis in the original, p. 247).

Prison Should Not Include Rape

Prison Fellowship in the United States advocates for legislation to adopt rape elimination standards in U.S. prisons.

Left and Right Unite to Bring Justice to Drug Laws

From the article by Pat Nolan on the ACS Blog: In an important victory for justice, President Obama today [3 August 2010] signed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, putting an end to the 100-to-1 disparity between punishments for crack cocaine and powder cocaine.

PF Brazil Signs Agreement with the Government of Minas Gerais

In late June, PF Brazil signed a cooperative agreement with the Secretary of Social Defence of the State of Minas Gerais.