Mark Rice Shares Justice Work

Mt Zion has had an active prison ministry for many years with members corresponding via letters and cards to people who are incarcerated, our support of Antwan Robinson, our weekly prayers for incarcerated people who are dear to members’ hearts, and more recently with the Breaking the Chains volunteers associated with the Felmers-Chaney facility who are assisting in maintaining our building.

So it was no surprise when the UPPER Room was at capacity on January 19 when Mark Rice, Transformational Justice Campaign Coordinator for WISDOM Wisconsin led our faith forum.  I was gratified that I was not the only one in the room with personal connections to incarcerated people in Wisconsin’s prisons, along with a host of others who are concerned for how politics and corporations can negatively influence incarceration practices and the people for whom we care.

Mark’s personal journey, which included a sentence spent imprisoned during and after which he earned his BA and 2 MA degrees, led him to his work with Wisdom Wisconsin, a state-wide organization that began with MICAH’s founding in 1988 and has now grown to 13 affiliates across the state.  Mark advocates from a faith-based lens to increase awareness of prison issues and gain legislative support for local transformational programs that would promote healing for incarcerated people who have suffered from trauma, addiction, or mental health issues with the aim of promoting racial, social and economic justice.  He talked about how politicians have built new prisons instead of expanding funding to community-based alternatives that would promote re-integration into communities.  He emphasized Christian charity in giving dignity to incarcerated persons.

Some of Sunday’s presentation concentrated on Wisdom’s current Connecting Families 2025 campaign. Studies show maintaining family connections for incarcerated individuals reduces recidivism, improves mental health and helps in reentry (also helps incarcerated people’s children, who do better in school and have better mental health when they can communicate with their parents). One way of doing that is to provide community-based alternatives to crimeless probationary revocations  (i.e. probation revoked for having a cell phone that assists in job applications).

Another need discussed was to reform the contracts granted to exploitive correctional telecom corporations that enjoy monopoly contracts over the service or rates that incarcerated people pay to stay in touch with their families.  He shared stories that pointed out that no matter whether someone is behind bars or not, we all deserve to communicate with our loved ones without going into debt.  Families still pay full price for connections that are bad, calls that are dropped, or video that is fuzzy. A 30-minute video call can cost $15, but when the connection is lost, families don’t get a credit.

This informative presentation inspires Mt Zion’s hope and support for Wisdom’s work!

~Mavis Roesch