On Friday, General Synod discussed mass incarceration and its implications. Delegates approved a new liturgical document and called for a new learning community focused on the issue of mass incarceration. Both actions were recommended to synod by the Commission on Christian Action (CCA).
Synod directed the General Synod Council (GSC) to “to host a meeting of people interested in the study and work of mass incarceration as the beginning of a learning community.” The cost of this meeting is estimated to be $11,200, which amounts to a $0.08 per-member assessment.
In addition, synod approved the document, “The Church and Criminal Justice: A Brief Exhortation” as a new liturgical resource for the church. The document, available here, is an exhortation that laments the injustice and suffering in our prison system and calls the church to a compassionate response. The CCA created it in consultation with the Commission on Theology.
Synod requested the exhortation in response to a 2014 paper in which the CCA named mass incarceration as a “critical social issue of our time.” The 2014 paper concluded that mass incarceration will have a significant and long-lasting impact on American society, especially communities of color.
Although the U.S. has just 5 percent of the global population, it has 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated people. And prison populations are racially disproportionate; African Americans and Hispanics make up 59.4 percent of the prisoners, even though these groups make up only 25 percent of the general population.
The paper also cites significant stigma facing people released from prison, which makes finding work and housing difficult and often increases the likelihood they will end up back in prison.
It is the hope of the CCA that the exhortation can be an entry point for discussion, action, and healing of the wounds mass incarceration causes. It joins a growing list of resources about mass incarceration available to churches on the RCA website. The page was created at the request of General Synod 2015.
See full synod coverage at www.rca.org/synod.
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