Expressing Repentance and Forgiveness in the Ukraine
In early February, volunteers from PF Ukraine delivered a video taped message of repentance and apology to the victim of one of the inmates with whom the ministry is working. In the initial contact, the volunteers encountered anger and pain from relatives of the victim who had sustained three serious knife wounds during the crime. One of the volunteers present said that there weren’t words to describe the atmosphere they encountered as the family both expressed hatred and showed signs of aggression.
Yet, when the meeting ended the victim offered to walk the PF Ukraine volunteers to their car. Out on the street, the victim surprised them by saying, “I forgive him – Yes, I do. However, I do not think I will be able to ever see him again.”
This encounter between PF Ukraine volunteers and a crime victim resulted from a new pilot project launched by the ministry to video record messages from prisoners to their families. The project, Restorative Justice: My Family provides prisoners an opportunity to express remorse for their actions and ask forgiveness from family members. PF volunteers then visit the families to minister to them and play the message. If the family is willing, the ministry will record a response to take to the prisoner. The ministry was surprised when some prisoners began asking for messages to be relayed to their victims instead of their family members.
In its first three months, the Restorative Justice: My Family pilot project is experiencing success as more and more prisoners step forward to record messages either for their family or for their victim. In response to the positive impact of the programme, the prison administration recently asked for a proposal to expand it to all regions of the Ukraine.
April 2009
