A prison? I want nothing to do with that! Is not a prison for prisoners? Are prisoners not criminals? That is why it is good that there are prisons. You cannot simply let all sorts of riffraff walk free. Is that not asking for problems? Isn't locking up much better? There they must keep their hands off others, and from the stuff of others, anyway off of my stuff. I prefer that there be no theft, no home invasions, no violence, and certainly no murder and manslaughter. Good thing there are prisons. But you will not find me there.

My first reaction to the word 'prison' is to keep my distance. A prison is far removed from me. A prisoner is not locked up for nothing? It's your own fault ... you must not rob an elderly person of money for drugs.

All the same I know that giving help to prison­ers is a task for Christians. However, I find it difficult to take up this task because prisoners and prisons are outside of my field of vision.

The Sixth Work of Mercy⤒🔗

Helping and visiting prisoners is related to the sixth "work of mercy" according to the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46, "I was in prison and you came to visit me" (25:36c). But also "I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me" (25:43c). Basic mercy begins with giving food and satisfying thirst, offering shelter, giving clothing and visiting the sick. However it also concerns those people who are in prison. Prisoners are my concern.

Jesus urges his followers to remain involved with mercy. If you do not do this then you will fall short and stand with empty hands on the day of the (last) judgment. Mercy begins with simple things: food and drink, shelter and clothing, care for the sick and imprisoned (and dying). Mercy also involves showing care for those in prison, often in miserable circum­stances.

Prison←⤒🔗

A prison is a place of abandonment and de­spair. It is literally 'isolation': a prisoner lives isolated from the society around him or her. For prisoners a 'jail' is an imposed residence where you are put away for a shorter or longer time. It is safe storage, nice and tidy. A prison is another society – a society without freedom. Everything is forbidden unless you have ex­plicit permission.

For people who have little or nothing to do with prisons, a prison building is a symbol of evil, a symbol that evokes shudder and dis­gust. 'There they sit – the criminals'. When coming face to face with such a building, crime suddenly appears very close, and, as a decent citizen, you want to remain far from it.

A prisoner generally also feels abandoned and hopeless. No one looks for you. In the words of Psalm 142: "no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life." A prisoner has lost his freedom. That is typical and common to all prisoners. And that is so all encompassing: you no longer determine where you go or stand. Your cell door cannot be opened from the inside. The lock is not on the inside. As a prisoner you must wait until the prison staff comes in your cell, mostly at a most inconvenient moment.

In addition, for many pris­oners their thoughts are at home with their families. Their spiritual needs must not be underestimated. Many prisoners wrestle with guilt and meaning. In prison you lose your pretenses very quickly.

Of course there are all kinds of prisoners. There are people who have committed a serious crimi­nal offence and are sentenced to prison. With this you hope and assume that the laws of the country are equitable, that the trial process is honest and that the imposed punishment is reasonable. Unfortunately that is not always the case. All too often around the world people are locked up on the basis of laws that are not acceptable, without due process. People go to prison because they are critical, not because they are guilty, or because they are of a certain race or religious conviction.

Why do I find it so difficult to help and visit prisoners? Why would I rather not include a prison in my field of vision? Is it perhaps fear that prevents me from looking up a prisoner? Fear for a strange world of violence and crime? If I am honest then I know why. I am hesitant to visit a prisoner on account of the powerless­ness and loneliness, but also because I do not want to be confronted with myself, with the criminality and violence in myself. I would like to believe that I am not in prison because I am not as evil as those in prison. But if I visited a prisoner then I would realize that I am no bet­ter and that I could have also done what he or she is judged for.

Faith and Prison: Close Together←⤒🔗

It is striking how often the Bible speaks about prison and prisoners. It appears as if believing in God and being imprisoned for it – belong together. There are plenty of examples.

• Joseph first landed in the prison of an emp­ty pit and later in prison in Egypt (Genesis 37:24; 39:20.
   
• Frequently people could or would no longer listen to the words of a prophet and silenced him by putting him in prison. This happened for instance, to the prophet.
   
• Jeremiah who was put in prison because of the words that he spoke on God's be­half (Jeremiah 37 and 38).
   
• John the Baptist ad­dressed the tetrarch Herod about his relationship with Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. Herod put him in prison for this reason and eventually John paid with his life for his critical words (Matthew 14:1-12).
   
• The apostle Peter ended up in prison because King Herod discovered that he could find favor with the Jews by putting the apostles in prison (and killing them). However Peter was freed from prison in a miraculous way by an angel (Acts 12:1-19).
   
• The apostle Paul repeatedly spent time in prison during his missionary journeys (cf. Acts 16:19-40) and as a 'prisoner in the Lord' was transported to Rome due to his appeal to the emperor. In his letters impris­onment frequently comes up for discussion (2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:23), while several of his letters were written from prison. Paul characterized himself as "a (gospel) ambassador in chains" (Ephesians 6:20).

Disciples are not above their Master. Those who wish to be a disciple of Jesus, follow the one who himself also was imprisoned (Mat­thew 27:50, 55). A follower of Jesus must take into account a shorter or longer stay in prison (cf. Matthew 10:17-18).

Isn't it true that the people of God also came from prison? God delivered His people from Egypt – from the prison of slavery (cf. the word 'iron-smelting furnace' from Deuteron­omy 4:20). This deliverance cannot be denied, as can be seen from the history of God's people (cf. Hebrews 11:36). Captivity, also in the form of exile or foreign domination, always returns.

My Concern←⤒🔗

For this reason perhaps the call in Hebrews 13:3a is less strange than appears at first sight: "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners". Christians ought to be able to imagine themselves in prison, even though captivity is far removed from the reality of Christians in the West at the beginning of the 21th century.

Visiting prisoners was an important task in the time of the New Testament and the early church (cf. what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:16b-18).

In all sorts of ways the early church put Matthew 25 into practice, in spite of the fact that as fellow believers of imprisoned Chris­tians they took many risks. If Christians were condemned to work in mines, even then they did not abandon them. They remembered each one. They tried to maintain contact and made attempts to buy their freedom. Or brothers were sent to look them up and so bring relief. A. Noordegraaf

Why should I care about prisoners? Because a prisoner is more than just a criminal. There is more to him or her. There is a lack of home, pain over lost ideals, rage over a sense of hopelessness, sorrow because of the disrepute that marks a prisoner. In addition there is the need for conversation with someone who does not judge or condemn, but who simply listens, the need for conversation with someone who considers you a fellow human being who is more than a criminal.

Why should I care about prisoners? In this way I show as a follower of Christ how I value my God-given freedom and am prepared to share that freedom with someone who has no freedom.

Showing mercy to people who (justly) are in jail is not the same as justifying their crime. When you visit prisoners you need not avoid questions of guilt and reconciliation. You can have mixed feelings ('I visit a criminal who I continue to see as a person'). But the decid­ing judgment about a prisoner belongs with Christ, and with God who is righteous and merciful. Mercy for prisoners means that you must not deny them the light. It also means that you must step out of your own circle of fear and dislike in order that you can meet such a prisoner as one person to another, based on a common humanity that does not condemn.

The More Tangible the Better←⤒🔗

In the footsteps of Christ the diaconal congregation concerns itself with the care and consideration of prisoners. Care and attention from liberated Christians flow to those who have no freedom.

I will list three concrete opportunities for the care of prisoners:

1. Visiting Prisoners as Volunteers: In many cases prisoners may be visited, not only by their families but also by volunteers. You can go to the Stichting Gevangenenzorg Nederland (www.gevangenenzorg.nl) where they also offer training.
    
2. Children's Gift Project: As congregation you can work together with the children's gift project of Gevangenenzorg Nederland. By means of this project children are presented with gifts on behalf of their imprisoned father or mother.
    
3. Prayer Groups for Prisoners and their families: As Christian you can participate in a prayer group (also a program of Gevangenenzorg Nederland) that prays for prisoners and their families, but also for the prison staff.