An Open Letter to Governor Christie
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016
Dear Governor Christie,
On a beautiful autumn day in 2003 you and I joined together in prayer at the Morris County Correctional Facility at a ceremony celebrating the facility’s accreditation. I was the chaplain there, and I asked God to help us all to make MCCF a place of healing and rehabilitation for the inmates.
Citing Micah, I asked us to remember that we are all called to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.”
Today I write to ask you to sign into law the bill that has passed through both houses of the NJ Legislature that will set limits on the use of solitary confinement in New Jersey’s prisons and jails.
This law will limit solitary confinement to no more than 15 days in a row, it will protect the most vulnerable inmates, and it will mandate important mental health safeguards.
Our faith teaches us that each and every person is beloved by God. Solitary confinement is immoral, an extreme sensory deprivation that is imposed upon people in our state for months and years at a time. Both the UN and Pope Francis have named solitary confinement for what it is: Torture.
The pope strongly opposes the use of solitary confinement, calling it a “genuine surplus of pain that is added to the suffering of deprivation, and contrary to human dignity.”
While I was chaplain at MCCF I saw the most vulnerable inmates subjected to the torture of isolated confinement: Juveniles, the mentally ill, people with developmental disabilities, older inmates – all categories of individuals who will be protected by the law that sits on your desk awaiting your signature.
Ninety-five percent of people who are currently incarcerated will come home; they will return to our neighborhoods and communities. The pope states that “society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes.”
Solitary confinement does not rehabilitate people – it only increases mental illness and anger which makes people more dangerous when they return to society.
Please sign this bill. Your signature is the moral thing to do, protecting some of the most vulnerable people in our state as well as making our communities more safe. The passage of this bill will also help to make New Jersey a leader in criminal justice reform, a movement that gaining momentum across the country.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Prinz
Morris Township
Deacon, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Vice Chair, Lutheran Episcopal Advocacy Ministry
