U.S. Prison System

I, too, was struck this morning when I read the NYT article Michael posted.  And it is not just that the U.S. imprisons so many more people than do other countries.  I think we should be very troubled from the standpoint of Catholic thought both that there appears to be little effort at attempting to rehabilitate people while in prison and that we do so little to assist the reentry into society of those who have served thier time in prison.  Approximately 650,000 state and federal prisoners reenter society each year.  When they do they face tremendous obstacles, including difficulty finding housing and employment and health and substance abuse problems.  In the words of one Urban Insittute report, "an increasing number of prisoners are returning home, having spent longer terms behind bars, less prepared for life on the outside, with less assistance in their reintegration and, at best, strained connections to their families and communities."

"I was...in prison and you visited me."  In so many ways, we fail to internalize the message of the judgment passage in Matthew 25  - the invitation to see Christ in the face of the marginalized of society.  (I blogged yesterday about this messag in the context of St. Vincent, who among other things ministered to galley slaves, here.)