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ABOUT SPIRITUALITY IN PRISON
The Challenge
Great efforts are being made to improve our offender management system and yet fundamental questions still remain such as:
- Where can we find the strength to keep going at a time of relentless change and constant pressure?
- How can we inspire and motivate each other to give of our best, whatever the circumstances?
- How can we cultivate greater harmony and stability in our working environment?
Answers to such questions go beyond the need for more physical resources and better organisation. We need to look within ourselves for more lasting solutions, hence the need for a spiritual perspective.
Spirituality in Offender Management
Spirituality is about:
- understanding that the source of all the positive qualities that enrich our lives lies within the self
- realising that we have a choice as to how we use our inner resources
- empowering our innate goodness so enabling us to deal more effectively with the challenges of modern life and make a more positive contribution to the world
- focusing on the good within others so transcending the barriers of gender, race, religion, class and culture
- recognising, appreciating and nurturing the inner being, the spirit, the soul
- discovering the spiritual laws that govern our existence and give a deeper meaning and purpose to our lives
- re-connecting with a higher Source
You can’t take the divinity out of a human being. It may be distorted, disfigured or disguised but it is there. The role of those who have a spiritual dimension is to try and create a space, which has sanctity, dignity, compassion and forgiveness, where all that is divine about a person has room to flourish
Alan Ogier
Methodist and Free Church Superintendent for Prisoners
What I enjoyed most was the opportunity to examine possibilities for change and improvement both for myself and the environment I work in.
Phil Nelson
Prison Governor