The song “None of Us Are Free” has been recorded over the past 28 years by various artists, including Ray Charles and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It goes:
“None of us are free if one of us is chained
None of us are free
And there are people still in darkness
And they just can’t see the light
If you don’t say it’s wrong, then then they say that it’s all right”
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Perhaps you have seen pictures of men being dehumanized in the U.S.-funded Salvadoran mega-prison. Or you may have heard the president say these men are “not humans, they’re animals.” If you and I “don’t say it’s wrong then they say it’s all right.” Silence is seen as acquiescence.
Many have rightfully protested the deportation to El Salvador of two men who were legally in the U.S. At the same time, the other 286 men sent to El Salvador are suffering torturous confinement. Up until now, the Department of Justice has incarcerated people in the Federal Bureau of Prisons regardless of their citizenship status. After release, non-U.S. citizens were returned to their home country.
The mission statement of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), where I was a chaplain for 20 years, is to “protect society by confining offenders in facilities that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure, and that provide work and other self-improvement opportunities to assist in becoming law-abiding citizens.” Of the 122 BOP facilities, places like the Rochester Federal Medical Center, that offer more humane environments, have less violence and lower recidivism rates.
Treating the people in prison humanely is beneficial for everyone involved, even staff. Prison staff who treat those in their care humanely are happier and feel more rewarded than those who do not. A correctional officer told me, “Chaplain, I’m unconsciously treating my children like I treat the inmates.” It saddens me to think of what is happening to the children of the guards in the gulag the U.S. is funding in El Salvador.
I led a restorative justice program for 14 years in the BOP. Some of the men who participated were not U.S. citizens. (U.S. immigrants are half as likely to commit violence as U.S. citizens.) They chose this transformative program though it required the dangerous process of leaving the gang and it didn’t reduce sentences.
Most of these men are now positive influences in their communities. That experience taught me not to label someone by the worst thing they ever did. One of these men, Luis, memorized entire chapters of books that he found inspiring. He now is in his home country where he is a leader in his church and a supervisor at a resort.
Another courageous program participant, Manny, who has tattoos on his face like some of the men sent to the Salvadoran gulag, left a West Coast gang and moved to North Carolina, where he is a mechanic and a caring grandfather. After the flooding there last year he was featured in the news for helping neighbors and saving stranded animals.
The millions of dollars the U.S. is spending on the inhumane prison in El Salvador is making the world more violent. You can’t solve the problem of violence with the same level of thinking that created the problem. Hurting people to teach them not to hurt people backfires.
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In contrast, humane, restorative programs have shown over and over that they cut reoffending rates in half. And they meet the needs of victims and help restore peace to the communities where the harm originally occurred.
I was proud to serve in the Department of Justice when it sought to fulfill the mission of providing humane, self-improving options for people who have caused harm. Do DOJ staff still feel pride in their work?
Please consider, do you feel safer with leaders who boast about treating people like animals or leaders who are smart on crime and use humane, effective means of decreasing violence? Like the song says, “If you don’t say it’s wrong, they say it’s all right.”
Kendall Hughes is co-founder of Three Rivers Restorative Justice and a retired federal prison chaplain.
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