The Jubilee is the biblical call to forgiveness, reconciliation, emancipation, and justice. Within the prison world, the Jubilee call is to be addressed not only to prisoners, but to guards, judges, district attorneys, chaplains, and everyone involved in the criminal justice system - a call to examine one's attitude as they relate to the dignity of every person. In recent years that has been extensive media coverage disclosing the deplorable conditions of our penal institutions. This past year, Amnesty International added U.S. prisons to their human rights watch for violations. Pope John Paul is asking that as a part of their Jubilee visit, all bishops send in a report on the conditions of jails and prisons in their respective diocese.
Punishment is the basis for sentencing dispositions in criminal cases.
This punishment model of justice blunts community concern for the brutal conditions that exist in many jails and prisons. Presently, we incarcerate more people than any other country in the world, filling our jails and prisons more often with the poor and people of color. As a result our penal institutions have become overcrowded, with services and supplies cutback or eliminated, exacerbating the potential for violence within these institutions. The Jubilee report on the Justice Center could include a historical Perspective, with a Statement Supporting Onondaga County in the Sheriff's Department in the effort to operate a more humane jail - no easy task in this political climate. A different model of justice is needed for the millennium.