Jesus Walks Them Landings

What do you reckon to our Prisons? A waste of time - just universities of crime - more like 3* hotels - food better than at home - more drugs on those Landings than on our streets - sentences too short, don't even fit the crime. These people are criminals and should be punished: that should teach them - they are released far too soon and come out worse than they went in. Lock them up and throw away the key. We are safer when they are Inside: we can get on with our lives. So goes the common opinion: include gyms, football fields, TVs and mobile phones and we turn away in disgust. It's much harder if you have been at the receiving end of crime, your heart weighed down with grief or your anger like an imminent volcanic eruption as you scream for justice and revenge.

Understandable: but we must beware lest we lock ourselves up in the high-walled prison of our minds and emotions - throwing away that key.

Both prisons need a rethink before true release and reconciled living are possible. Discipline Inside Jail: - Yes, but cruelty only worsens a situation already bad enough. The facilities that grate with you can work towards change for those who choose that route. You say you feel safer now `they' are Inside: the hole they left will soon be filled by others. Do you hope for a peaceful, reconciled life? Not yet, maybe: one day! But most of these people will be released back into society: then what?

This book is a must read for anyone connected with prisons, perhaps especially for those who turn a blind eye, a deaf ear - through fear or not realising how redemptive involvement can be.