On Faith and Justice by DONNA MCBRIDE

Rebecca Pullin on the call to social action, a Justice System that aims at restorative sentences for women, the effect of prison chaplaincies and leaving her job as an outreach worker to become an Anglican priest.

Rebecca Pullin is an outreach worker within a centre for vulnerable women, her job entails working with “women who may have been in the sex industry or prison or have some other kind of vulnerability.”

Rebecca often goes to court to support various women. She has spoken up for women in open court helping the Magistrates to see a fuller picture: “By going to court with somebody it means that we can write letters to the magistrates and explain a lot more about their background and how they have been involved with our project. Many times I’ve seen the magistrates take our letters into serious consideration and read them avidly. This can save a woman from going to prison, it may be that she ends up getting a community sentence or something a lot less than custodial. I think that my going to court with a woman can give her a sense that there is someone who cares.”

The women Rebecca works closely with tend to face charges that carry short custodial sentences, typically between 3 and 6 months. Such short sentencing is common, and its effectiveness is highly questionable. “I think its dualistic really because for some women when life is just so desperate and bad that little window of time in prison can mean that they get their 3 meals a day and maybe address their drug problem. If they are out of the horribleness of life even for a few weeks it can be a restoring time. However, the flip side of that is that if life out here is so awful that prison is a place where you feel you can get a little bit of security and a few hot meals a day then what does that say about society as a whole? That they have to resort to that? That, I think is a terrible indictment on society.”

As an alternative to custody, community orders may be issued to women who have offended. “I feel that if they get an order of 2 years, it does mean that services are bought on board to help the woman start addressing what is going on in her life and the recognition that it is going to take probably 2 years to start getting things together is a reasonable time. However, a lot of women have a lot of fears about them because they are an unknown. Going to prison which is a known and safe area is probably more acceptable to them than getting a community order. What we, at this centre, want to see is women who will be sentenced to under a year, instead, given community orders because it keeps them in community, it means their kids aren’t put into care, financially for tax payers it’s a cheaper option and long term it could mean that a woman could really begin to address issues within her life. There are a lot of services out here in the community.”

During her time as an outreach worker Rebecca has built relationships with local prisons and visits them as often as possible. Whilst there she spends time with individual women talking about what they may need upon release and how they can be supported whilst they are in prison. “Women come to us for all sorts. Sometimes they think we can produce a flat out of thin air and we have to explain that we can’t, but we can link them in with housing agencies and hostels. Often we will talk to the women about the centre for when they come out, the courses we offer and the help they can access with us. Other times it is just about being another woman that is available to talk about problems or whatever. We have had a few issues with children in local authority care, I’ve spent a lot of time helping women to get in touch with their children. Social services can easily not fulfil their obligations and I can just be a voice of support, you see sometimes feel like you have made a real difference.”

When questioned about other projects she has witnessed working within prisons Rebecca highlighted the strong links between Christianity, prison and chaplaincy. “There are a huge amount of projects that go into prisons, a huge amount of Christian projects going in and out. Prison seems to attract Christian projects. This may have something to do with the verse in Matthew…‘When I was in prison you visited me’. There are all kinds of motives but traditionally chaplaincy has always been at the heart of prison, it has been there from the start. It is an amazing set up. Chaplaincy walks a fine line between not being part of the establishment and yet being part of the establishment. Being there for the staff, the women and the relatives of the women. Whilst traditionally chaplaincy is very Christian, it is now very multi-faith, and is still is a very intricate part of prison life. Even if you were only in prison for a few months you would still get involved and go into the chapel. A lot of women who would never go to church on the outside will go to chapel when they are in prison because it becomes their community and it has understanding so it works very well. It’s a place where women will often talk about deeper issues because they have time to do that and the environment is confidential. With regards to suicide attempts, self-harming etc, chaplaincy is at the forefront of this. Faith, be it Christian or any other religion, is a very strong part of the prison experience.”

Rebecca will soon be leaving her role as an outreach worker to start a new chapter in her life as an Anglican priest. She reflects on social justice, simplistic living, her job and her faith.
“I couldn’t do my job unless I had a deep and real faith; it has been the bedrock of my life. This makes sense to me. Of course there are many forms of prayer but there has to be some prayer in every Christian’s life which compels them to some kind of social action.”

“I also feel, for me personally, I have to live a simple life outside of work. I would not work in a project like this and come to work in a large car, live in an exclusive house, have excessive money, possessions or opportunities to holiday abroad as and when. I recognise that this is a personal choice and I am not saying people who are well off cannot work alongside women who are disadvantaged. But for me, I feel this is a call from God and I have to live it as best I can. In effect this means living in a place where there is high unemployment, shopping in the same shops as everybody else, having the same GP and dentist and queuing for these services the same as everyone else. If I am not prepared to do this and to live on a relatively small income how can I look the woman I work with in the eye? I am rich compared to them in every aspect of my life and what I have can be achieved by them. However, once they have achieved this basic way of living, I would actively encourage them to want more and to live their dreams, meanwhile I am then available for the next woman who comes along and so the cycle begins again.”
“I do believe Christians are called to social action. It is important to not only spend time in getting to know what’s going on, but also to ground it in action. I am reminded of the epistle of James (2:18) “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith”. Sometimes Christians can come across as being naïve, well meaning or at worst ‘do gooders’. By taking time to be well informed, up to date with information and taking an active role in social justice, Christians can reverse this trend and end up being a powerful and energising witness to the gospel.”

“Christians involved in social action will often find they become passionate about what they see. They may experience times when they become angry about the injustices. At times, as they may feel they are the only ones standing up against a social injustice, it can be a very lonely place. That in itself is the place of the cross”.