10. Many people hate the idea of receiving counseling. How do you overcome that barrier in people to get them to want the help?
When we started our ministry, our number one priority was to be a power of example to people that you can survive prison and go on to live a faithful, productive life of integrity and authenticity. People identify with this, it gives them hope and promise that they can get through their issues too. Even the most resistant to pastoral counseling still seem to be drawn to our story, and the stories of others who have overcome great obstacles to success and happiness.
11. Why did you choose the name Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project?
The term “progressive” means that although we are a Christian faith-based project, we do not privilege one religion or denomination over any other. We have worked with and ministered to Jews, Muslims and those who have other faiths or no faith at all. After we started, it soon became clear that that there was no ministry in the country that had recognized the issues, and was dedicated to the spiritual health, of the spouses and children so we founded the Innocent Spouse & Children Project.
2. How are the spouses and children incorporated in the services?
We have a policy that it’s men with the men, women with the women. This avoids any transference issues that might come up, especially amongst a population of women who are often the spouses of powerful men. So my wife and partner-in-ministry Lynn handles all this. There is one exception: sometimes a woman will come to us with a complicated issue that requires one of our lawyer partners or professionals to review. In one case, an innocent spouse came to us after her personal assets had been frozen by the government along with her husband’s (he was accused of a white-collar crime). She had no money for food or to heat the home for her and her children, and certainly no money to retain a lawyer to help her. We put together a team that got her a recovery from the U.S. Receiver, the first time in U.S. history that such a recovery had ever been made in an active financial crime prosecution.
13. What is your vision for your Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project moving into the next 5 years or so?
Our number one goal is to move individuals and families going though these issues from lives of stigma, shame, ostracism and guilt to lives of faith, dignity, respect and productivity. To do that, we know we have to be not only ministers, but we have to be advocates, change agents and thought leaders until the public and the press accept and embrace that people are people, and that we are all bound by our brokenness. Our plan is to have a fiscally healthy, self-sustaining and fully accountable ministry that thoughtfully and carefully grows to meet these needs.
luctus interdum. Duis libero leo, conse-quat ut accumsan eu, viverra et erat.
14. Do you plan to take your services nationwide?
We are already nationwide, albeit mostly in a personal way. Off the top of my head, we have ministered to individuals and families in Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Miami, Washington DC, Virginia, Georgia, Buffalo, and of course New York City and the New York metro area including Connecticut and New Jersey. We do sometimes meet in person, but most times we communicate by phone, Skype, FaceTime, email or text. And federal prisons now have email called CorrLinks, so we stay connected even when they are serving their time.
15. If someone is interested in your services how can they go about getting help or even getting involved for that matter?
If your readers, their friends or family members are experiencing a white-collar or nonviolent incarceration issue, want to get involved, or want to make a contribution, information is on our website prisonist.org. I can be reached at [email protected]. We will promptly send out an information package by mail, email or via DropBox. The darkest days of a person's life can be a time of renewal and hope.
Photography by: David Cluett