. v.j ¦ , • •: 1 it Former cop, now head of dentention ministry, looks fo r ways to bring justice to all I By Evelyn Zapp ia l ^r—- •¦ ¦¦. > : , - .»'fe,-i: cop, ;' . .- ; ;::y McReofij - ^ftlj ui:;." lrS« "s'.oiddii 's Sods tlies'i ;S viewed ike p-opfe lie afTesied ' % ¦;' !:: ; i ¦ ¦ s • ¦ : . ; ?ksii eno ygh," and "die goosies: tl_< y . {?*•: S-.ey away the better off 1 ¦ : :-: • ;¦ ¦ "' :;':"/ f:'*H$J€l h**. '' B«H£ S^fflf'ls/lief* lu :. ' i-:;. ;-v.; ;- ¦ -.' : ": , " 5 j ,\?0C£;«S rf JlKWJSfdf- si v, •". . ; ¦¦ ' .¦: nMYk, p lace in.Ms tsfe _jsd Sii-t- i :¦ ¦ îisiî g wi'ilia sii'Siss.'" ."'¦ sm.4 <>3 ; .: :' " wd i-ross f«x;fe.iaj| ttitesii r. - ' :: •/' .:"¦•,";.'"4< .;«;.; ; piniua! exffe- ; ' : '' ; :¦; I .¦: . ' ; at'tj 5}- -/ " ; V;1h : ?! ,Vi} itV ^:ts ii, lt 'i i^ c iiMksi ;' lu kiiCttei'M liff liS IIMI I |v.\i -«; :-:] . ;¦ ; "¦¦' • . ¦ ¦.' I ^f^fc. -J ' .' IW ¦; !;iii '''::-; : "i ;i; : svr'V- "- '. ' ,-4' f'H ' V; -¦3-l:' ' ,' , ':" :*'* ' ,^ : ,: 'C:-- ':?M?fll "TOfiitft?' ' ' : ; Ills' . : M ( si'. Uirefltoi fii ,i ¦ stf„ - ;- - -, :vr — isStirt! ikH derk '" ¦ ;.: .,' ir M ^ l m _*_ « part-fin* <:^C .. ¦ , " ¦' '; '' :." -ni'«; ' .H" i '!''- ! '' i -i"' r y 5i;:'. '- " ' ,(; - : ' ! ' ; "' ; ¦' Vtt£*\ SXV'J ' i fv'i's ' ' 'IV'UCcS . W.,, U „ , - .u,ruw,M^ .M J , _, ,,„ _ I Btdmilmi minh^ylm *e Arcfed- ociw s*f S, _ti.f.«irtvis*:*> - lk: -ita«# Ij in ;«5>1__.*? from ^ " s IS-yeas: niifilstry i'v&ifd& ft *? tfe_ Califoraia Sfcite: a«clFederal p&M qstemfi, «N *Wi |ii« pcwpiectiwr of todny^ pri^^p. | « :; ¦ «|S ^xpeneitce , cm*w Mcgs^* . w ss^Kse, fwo. eia?-c«a#-Ji, y.«p 5 |i^rit^B. Sslli heavflv affect the pcw-re?;;' c?yn4rfifj ik ift.Oiu r sn?eU% sswi caw§e : ! jniiiTj' ;>f ilie decpes? 1K«»: that ge« ?? .: i. ^tuloaj; irxhsshs v. IK> liryios, . " tie ::,,':)• ':¦:, ^Tiw-ts t-a n piU i ;M ? ".;• ^ M1. a'.'iy fe £tes?f>ftK5&:|"«-' to iK ;:. ' " :.; ;: br ftgrsc*!! h? s.M_ cft?jr»tr y sietMally esaeflemces s ¦ [j reasoiiaiik 0^|M>t!ttaily .*- tlsc fXffistJtml&iiKsl ^larasatees Usaf w._ say we |', ¦' ¦'¦ * , ¦"' / u , fef tliftse mssK>s't'5.e:-- '':i'i» aiU-bear sir siSsidi <>f tlae¦ : ! b:mdmhi? ili>e lest /UiMjii'teaB. d« a; := . ' : |.. h iwmiu quote of Mr. KcKetHi 'j ' ;?; 004* liiat was used s*taa by Istt 1 \ Sea Robert 'K. Kcpitedy. 'Jkmu j>«*.ft pl< ae_ tftiags alii aife why. I clreû; : rf ¦ftslsiig^ fltgl ncVer were aiwl i?r?S.. ^4i ms>i i- [ After 29 years of being a police officer and arresting people day-after\ day, how did yon become a detention minister? ! knew I wasn 't going to stay in police work ;md f didn 't have the sense of what I S wanted to do when I got ready to leave. In 1979, ray wife and 1 atte nded a Marriage I Encounter and then a Cursilto. , .both resulted in life-changing experiences and I i became aware of my need to do some recovery work. Also , my work with Adult Children | of Alcoholics brought me to the understanding that a lot of my life , as a result of my I childhood, had been dysfunctional and 1 started to make some chan ges. 1 began to experience an awareness of my solidarity with the people I had been an-esting | all those years.All of a sudden I began to see myself in them. It was really a strange experi| ence. The more I prayed about where I was going and what 1 was going to do, the message ij came to me - you have some business to take care of. So, I decided to try detention ministry Before I retired from the police force in 1989, 1 filed an application to work in Detention Ministry It took about eight months or so, and by the end of 1990 , 1 was volI I unteering in jails and I was pleased with the experience . I Did you attend any Archdiocesan workshops or courses to prepare for I tills ministry? 1 attended the Clinical Pastoral Education program that was offered by the original I founder of Detention Ministry in the Archdiocese, Sister Joan Camp bell , it was an eight| week course, but I can say, I spent most of !CK)2 in training. What did you learn from the program? You take the worst part of your life and hold it up to God and then ask, 'what do 1 do with this mess?' And God gives an answer. The thing that was the worst part of my life \ suddenly becomes my gift. And I learned that I had a skill to translate what I learned as an adult child of an alcoholic into the experiences of many of the people I visited, giving me an insigh t to myself as well. I realized any one of those people I talked to could be me sitting in their place. Do you ever tell prisoners you were a police officer? 1 always want them to know I was a police officer so they will think before they tell me anything. Just in case there is any question in their mind where my loyalty is which is always with them. After a few weeks, those who feel uncomfortable begin to relax with me and eventually it becomes second nature. Having to talk to someone from the outside is kind of a bonus for them - gives them another perspective of the kind of issues they are dealing with. Do they ask many questions about the outside world? Very seldom. The outside world isn't that important to them. Usually, it's about what's going on with them in the jail and their spiritual life and how they are trying to get to know God. They talk of the struggle to see God in other people inside the facility. Many times, they deal with their dysfunctional issues from their childhood. So, what is your perception of today's inmates? I don 't know how accurate my perception of inmates is because Im always looking through my 'cop filter ' I realize that part of what I learned as a policeman still affects me today. I actively work to not let the 'cop filter' enter my conscious mind but. I don't . - Itejjfisjl^d, know the extent of the unconscious level that remains with me. ¦ My personal observations jt ltfijjk tell me that roughly 60'% of the - JH|9 inmates might consider changing JB| their lives but the opportunities for %' flfl them to do tl lat particularly if ¦ wRf H they go through the State system - ¦ ¦ . ?/', ¦ ^ is very minimal when they come out , ^-1BL*'« ':,^JH because there are so few 1 lalfway house programs to support them. ^Sîf 1 Another percentage, I believe llM \" could be roughly 30% to 50% who are : ^ ' i experiencing ja il the fi rst or second v ' ' .'- - | ^BH time and are , at least , intellectually 'dlsî exploring the fact that they can change ' f ' JP| *% _ their lives and looking for an alternative for their lives. |,;.' " ., W Then, there are those inmates who ¦ [M have no big incentive to change their lives. They get caught for the first, second, ,\ . % ¦ or third time - not for major offenses |¦-'*? 1 ' and they are usually looking at a couple of years in the State system or maybe one year in County jail. Most of them have a drag his- N| f , ¦* tory and they see j ail as j list part of life — occasionally you get caught and you do your • time. Most of them are suffering from the V effects of racism, poor economic situations , and \ : \ poor education systems. For those who come from poor hard-knock communities there are minimal and very few, success stories. But when they are successful, as soon as they get a good job . and good education they get out of those neighborhoods - they don't stay. So the good examples leave and the other examples stay. Inmates are broken down in levels. Level-.!,is the lowest security where prisoners might be in honor camps, levels 2 and 3 are at San-Quentin. Places like Pelican Bay, Folsom and Cochran are almost all Level fours. There is even a Level 4+; these are the people going to the secured units or locked-down kind of arrangements where they are not permitted to associate with other inmates. Who are these Level 4+ prisoners and p lease describe locked-down arrangements? They tend to be dangerous people, violent or gang oriented with a lengthy criminal i»t-«ia!4'e«_T«;T i - " > .., .."wJMBT»niafsjnwMWMwMaiMiirtM i ¦mmMrai JUTnjinmni Hm n—iwiBuwnMnMiflBBEBm ffitrd i i' mm wim imtt* history — with no small amount of injury to humans behind that record. As a police officer, I would ran into them on the street , once in awhile, the kind of people you always dealt with veiy carefully because you knew the potential for violence was very hi gh. As prisoners, they live in total isolation. For example, they bring the shower to your door and bolt it on the outside of your cell. They slide the door back in and the prisoner , steps into the shower - the prisoner showers and then steps back out. The guard closes the door, unbolts the shower and brings it to the next person. Their food is brought to them and they have little or no recreation. The private cells intend to ensure a minimal amount of opportunity for violence to anyone else. San Quentin has a couple of areas where prisoners are locked-down - Death Row is one. Some of these prisoners locked-down have entered with non-violent crimes but gang fights and other prisoner problems can lead them to become totally isolated . What do you see as the biggest crisis in the prison system today? I see it as being a parole problem. Many of the people who are in prison now are parole violators, They have done their time but because of the lack of rehabilitation programs, the system is designed to just get the prisoners out the door. But before they tu rn them loose, they are given $200 gate money. Of that $200, they buy a $35 pair of brown pajamas costume-type, awful looking things, because they can 't walk out naked. Then, they are driven to the nearest bus depot with $165.00 in their pocket and are expected to go out and make a life with that. They also have 48 hours to report to their parole officer. My experience is most ot tnese men wno are not ""1 successful are young, unmarried males with drug or \ alcohol histories of dysfunction who have burned So isthey get \ most of their bridges with their families. do \ the and the use it gate they money first thing ^%: ¦ \ for their addiction -because they have been dry for V. a while - not that they have to stay dry in prison | — but drags are more difficult to get inside. _ Of the more than . 160,000 state prisoners | l l.. 1 1 1 1 today, about 90 ,000 of them will be paroled next ffflyfl year - giving us a bigger population coming Wlk out than left in the facilities. The unfortunate of |npMM P 3^ *s mat roughly 70% the people will be 'SS^fTmk going back because most will haw their ar0 rev0 hin the first 90 days _P _f4î P 'e ^ wit; pE J ' \ because of the absence of the support sysRUg Ai 1 tems for them both in and outside. ' •w i What do you think could be done k:f*«__? 1 t0 c*mn8e tn 's? that ' ' 't have out: prison that we type of *•.! *' geared inmates dondemonstrate for good *^^^ ¦ where they receive intensive behavior, " ¦fc'llllr^l H»l suPP ort Retting ready for release and 12 HI after release, a pi ace for inmates who ' 'v^^dm are stI™n £ t0 8et themselves back together. As it stands now, the only HH. A! j llajjjg l II tiling good behavior does is keep you IH from getting locked up longer. When ^ Pf \ problems start happening at any ' ^Hg _j ^|' prison, no matter how low-level the m prison , or security level, if a few Hp inmates act up, then everybody ¦ . ' ! .ill he graphics for this feature were created by an inmate at Salinas Val ley State Prison in Soledad who was born and raised in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He sent his artwork to Catholic San Francisco with a note saying it was a gift to I the staff because he enjoyed reading the paper, - "B?¦ v : .: ¦£ |] :! I::- /a, j• ¦;>' is ;> <; .;. /: . -oo;.¦ • fr j — and as soon as someone does act up - he/she shouldn 't stay __ .„-.----""****"' there and should be sent somewhere else. The system should be designed to get as much help as we can to the people who are trying to make the most or mat experience. For those who have serious, social kinds of adjustment problems, they need intensive therapy in an environment where the opportunities for violence are reduced. They need to be -around caring people who give them role models to work with if they are to have any hope for rehabilitation recovery; But the emphasis has been on detailing people safely and getting the staff, the resources and the facilities to put them in — with no thought of the cost — or what is happening to the people when they leave. DETENTION MINISTRY, pag e 13 ¦ ¦:.¦" _ _*¦!:_-i _^_ict-_«-n--a>__<_Mi_uB_aH(8 wajuumMBuw__^mm--al-^B-a«-B3!â-ial»v¦-;:^ ^:a; ,v_iv-'j-aija « _ - -> ;j?.1 _:i_^_si:I _i-* ii;i-w-_«1._ii.'.':!.;i_ i._fc»-- :-«¦- ._=:;¦«*.L c<±.'i x..'..-. _v_;.i i.ui_.... v.-_-> __ ;f,_ ;Wi_:_;_„-:.> ¦; -¦-¦- ¦.-- HI . ...-«_ ¦_-____, „_ '¦ : i i i i ' resh out of the U.S. Navy in 1959, Ray McKeon moved from the East Coast to the West. In I 960 , he was accepted into the South San Francisco Police Department. His family have been parishioners of St. Veronica Parish in South San Francisco since 1974. Mr. McKeon is active in his parish as a lector and Eucharistic minister. He married Mauree n Spingola and they have four children , Therese , Maty, Michael and Anne Marie. j In 1989, he retired with the rank of Captain from the police force and began volunteering in the Archdiocesan Detention Ministry program . In 1992 , he was hired by Catholic Charities as director of Detention Ministry and in 2000 , the position was p laced under the direction of the Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns of the Archdiocese. He "enjoys working with the inmates one-on-one and hel ping them to get throug h the experience with as little suffering and pain as possible." Every Monday nig ht he visits inmates at San Quentin and is spiritual director to four men. He also visits inmates in San Francisco jails each week. . At present , he says there is no existing chaplain position in San Francisco and it: is greatly needed. Also, the new design of the jails, described as the "cell pod system, " has created additional small segments with each segment requiring its own service. Where it once was possible to cover 11 services each Sunday with two people, now be needs 11. In Marin County, Mr. McKeon has five volunteers where 15 are needed for trie ministry. One of Mr. McKeon 's favorite quotes is by Father Tony Rose the director of Detention Ministry of the Santa Rosa Diocese, "The thing I see that is most disquieting is that the systems are creating situ ations of hopelessness for the inmates - and then they call it good. " For those interested in the Catholic Perspective on this subject , Mr. McKeon recommends the Statement of the Catholic Bishops of the United States titled , "Responsibility, Rehabilitation , and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice , written Nov. 15, 2000. "It speaks volumes, " said Mr. McKeon, For information call (415) 614-5569. ¦ ¦ ¦ - ¦ ' ' ' _ ._ ,:. / ., ¦¦ . ;.; .„ _;