Tuesday, February 24, 2009
I’m going to prison…
...to visit detainees (thought that title might catch your attention). Detention centres are a very controversial aspect of current UK asylum policy. Dungavel is the only detention centre in Scotland and detainees are taken there for a variety of reasons: coming to the end of the asylum process and awaiting removal, being in breach of Home Office reporting conditions or thought to be at risk of absconding, and criminal convictions being a few. Many of those awaiting removal have no idea how long they are going to be detained and live in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety about their future and possible removal back to countries that they fled. Due to public outcry, the government have stopped the detention of children and families at Dungavel, though there is concern whether the Home Office is really committed to abandoning this policy (click here to read a report from the Sunday Herald).Clearly detention has a psychological toll on the detainees. By visiting them, they have the opportunity to talk about their struggles and have somebody actually take the time to listen to them. It also means that, as a visitor, we can supply detainees with items that can connect them with the outside world: phone cards, newspapers, contacts details for lawyers, etc. It's not much, but it is something.
It is possible that some of detainees might be in the detention centre for questionable reasons, but this doesn’t mean that God loves them any less; God’s grace extends uncomfortably. Such is the nature of grace: scandalously undeserved by all. Prisoners have a special place in Jesus’ inaugural address (cf. Lk 4:18), biblical books were written from prison cells, and many Biblical figures faced captivity: Joseph, Samson, Jeremiah, Micaiah, Zedekiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, Silas, Paul, Epaphras, Aristarchus, Junia, and even Jesus, who was held in custody between his arrest and crucifixion (homeless, a convicted criminal, and the child of a refugee family... the cynical thought has occurred to me that certain sections of the tabloid press, which purport to defend “traditional Christian values”, have lost sight of this).
I’m looking forward to this opportunity, please pray as I step into an area that is outside of my experience.
- Paul
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