Committee Minutes - October 21, 2006
Baltimore, Homewood (Interim Meeting)

In attendance: Edith Ballard (Homewood), Charlette Boynton (from Nominating Committee) (meeting?), Elizabeth DuVerlie (Stony Run), Jack Fogarty (Sandy Spring), Peggy Fogarty (Sandy Spring), Dave Greene (Homewood), Bette Hoover (Sandy Spring), Jean Jones (Alexandria), Kit Mason (Clerk) (Takoma Paek), Carol Phelps (Friends Meeting Washington) and Michael Prior (Homewood). Regrets from: Stacia Roesler (Alexandria/Woodlawn)

1. The Committee began at 10:10 a.m. with a centering silence.
2. Members and attenders introduced themselves. Two prospective members were considered: Linda Wilk (Hopewell) and Peter Folger.
3. The agenda was approved.
4. Minutes of March 25 and August 2 were approved.
5. Two topics for new workshops at Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) annual sessions were considered: Bette Hoover (on the Program Committee) definitely would do one related to anti-bullying, but related to restorative justice; Kit Mason would do one on research of laws and legislation.
6. Reports were given:
7. a) Bette Hoover passed out a 6 page written report of Maryland's First Annual Restorative Justice Conference to be held on November 16 & 17 at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. Dr. Gordon Bazemore is the keynote speaker; 18 workshops of great interest were listed for the conference.
8. b) Jack Fogarty passed out copies of the Sandy Spring Prison Journal, a compilation of art & wriyings by prisoners. Jack also distributed notices to solicit manuscripts for the journal. The committee was asked to publicize these notices.
9. c) Kit Mason passed out a 7 page legislative up-date. There has been no action on two bills: Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005 and Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act. Of considerable concern is the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA). The full text is available on line at http://Thomas.loc.gov by searching for "Military Commissions Act" or "S 3930 ENR". The up-date contains a powerful summary of MCA. Discussion following noted that dissent and objection to government policy (even by Friends) might lead to arrest without the legal protections available in the past. "World Can't Wait" held many rallies against the law; it was a day of mourning. Yellow crime scene tape was unrolled to encircle the White House; bull horns announced charges against President Bush; the crowd responded "Guilty!"
10. d) The Prison Visitation & Support report led to a discussion about letter writing. Good and bad experiences were expressed. Perhaps use a Meetinghouse address to receive mail; guidelines for letters might include: no money requests or sexual expressions. Philadelphia's experience might be helpful; they used a post office box; they have had difficulty finding enough writers on the outside. Elizabeth DuVerlie & Edith Ballard will investigate Philadelphia's experience & report at our next meeting.
11. Kit Mason & Jean Jones attended the Taste of Justice Fair at the M.L. King Public Library in D.C. on September 30. Our committee had a table with the display from the BYM annual session. John Worley also had a table where he distributed the Sandy Spring Prison Journal; the exposure was good; on occasion it was found they had to explain that Quakers were not just those pictures on motor oil and oatmeal. A folder was circulated with a great deal of information collected at the fair for the committee.
12. • Our committee budget was discussed: Our budget this year is overdrawn by $7.07. Many of our expenses, such as copying, are not charged to BYM. It was suggested that the annual $225 contribution from our committee to Prison Visitation be paid in the future by a line item in the BYM budget & not by our committee. $225 is almost out committee's full budget. BYM is listed on the Prison Visitation letterhead so BYM should be the entity making the contribution. Bette Hoover drafted a minute requesting such a line item to be presented to the afternoon Interim Meeting session. (Note: the minute was brought to that BYM session. BYM forwarded the minute to the Stewardship & Finance committee.)
    • It was suggested that, when spending money, submit the receipt to BYM for the record & then make a contribution to BYM c/o our committee if so wished. This documentation of the committee's monetary needs is important to substantiate future budget requests.
    • Budgets past and future are 2005 - $200; 2006 - $250, 2007 - $300. We proposed a budget for 2008 of $350 itemized as follows:
      • mailing costs $100
      • conferences $100
      • Membership $ 60
      • Printing $ 70
      • Miscellaneous $ 20
    
    
13. A revision of the BYM handbook's description of our committee was distributed to be considered at our next meeting.
14. Kit Mason will send e-mails to ascertain interest in holding a June committee meeting/workshop.
15. The membership list was reviewed & no changes were made.
16. David Greene announced a forum to be held at 6:00 on Monday, October 23 at the AFSC office in Baltimore, 4806 York Road, to discuss the attitudes of political candidates on criminal justice issues. Candidates & the public are encouraged to attend.
17. The meeting ended with a period of silent worship.

These minutes were recorded by David G.S. Greene & Jack Fogarty.

Survey of BYM Restorative Justice Activities

March 25 Committee Minutes

Date: March 25, 2006
Place: Baltimore, Stony Run

In attendance:

• Joan Anderson (co-clerk)
• Edith Ballard (Homewood)
• Alexander Barnes (Adelphi)
• John Darnell (Frederick)
• Jack Fogarty (co-clerk) (Sandy Spring)
• Peggy Fogarty (Sandy Spring)
• Dave Greene (Homewood)
• Bette Hoover (Sandy Spring)
• Kit Mason (Takoma Paek)
• James Matson (Nottingham)
• Peg McMahon (Bethesda)
• William O. Miles (Stony Run)
• Carol Phelps (Friends Meeting Washington)
• Ruth Flower (Takoma Park)
• Will Ramsey (Takoma Park)
• Stacia Roesler (Alexandria/Woodlawn)
• Josie Shotts (Blacksburg, VA)
• George Sinnott (Sandy Spring)
• John Worley (Sandy Spring)

• 1. The Committee Meeting began at 10:10 a.m. with a centering silence, after which members and attenders introduced themselves.
• 2. An agenda was approved.
• 3. Minutes of October 22, 2005 were approved with no changes.
• 4. Bette Hoover has been collecting information on the involvement of Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM) Monthly Meetings in areas of criminal and restorative justice. George Sinnott will prepare and maintain a page for the BYM website for this information and will include prison visitation activities. An email request will be sent to BYM Monthly Meetings for additional information in these areas.
• 5. Kit Mason presented 21 pages concerning national legislation in several areas:
  a) The Streamlined Procedures Act (HR 3035 and S 1088): opposition is recommended. The bill forbids federal courts from hearing death-penalty and other appeals from state courts. These bills will probably continue to sit in committee.
  b) Changes in habeas corpus appeals resulting from the reauthorized Patriot Act (HR 3199). Indigent death-row prisoners have less time to file petitions and federal judges are limited in what they may consider in states (including DC) which qualify for such "fast-track" review.
  c) Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act (S 122 IS and HR 4923 IH): to abolish the death penalty under federal law for homicide related offenses, murder of important people, genocide, murder of law-enforcement or corrections officer, murder during a kidnapping, and a variety of other offenses. It would not apply for state-level crime.
  d) Alerts on these items will be posted on the C&RJ page of the BYM website.
• 6. The list of C&RJ members and corresponding members was circulated. The following corrections and additions were made:
  a) For David Greene: "David G.S. Greene","DGSG@All-Systems.com".
  b) Remove Julie Rauch
  c) For Stacia Roesler: change P.O. Box 10688 to "5301 Lake Cove Ct", change zip code to "22315", and add phone number "703-313-6765".
  d) For Josie Shotts: change Cataba to "Catawba".
  e) Add: "Carol Phelps Carol8844@webtv.net 2711 Ordway Street, NW #16 Washington, DC 20008-5002".
• 7. Joan Anderson presented a newsletter by Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), cure@curenational.org, www.curenational.org. sata@satasort.org and www.satasort.org also give information on S 1086 with Specter amendment and HR 4472. An especially important discussion concerning sexual offenders (SO's) in our meetings and communities followed. Stacia Roesler will add to this minute her understanding of the tasks this Committee asks her to follow up on. Information is to be gathered from Monthly Meetings on their experience with SO's. Work will progress on a Minute and/or Query to be brought to BYM.
• 8. John Worley reported on the preparation, based on the program of prison visitation, of the "Prisoners' Journal", a collection of poetry, writings, and art which will share what's going on inside with those outside. Information on the progress of this first issue and of future issues will be reported on our web page.
• 9. Bette Hoover brought a BYM workshop proposal "Living in Harmony" which she would lead with the title: "Restorative Dialog: Nonviolent communication that works".
• 10. Bette Hoover announced the first ever annual "Maryland State Restorative Justice Conference to be held at Howard Community College on November 15 to 17, 2006.
• 11. We recommend the drawings in our portfolio be copied and promoted on our web page.
• 12. James Matson reported on the 38th anniversary of Prison Visitation and Support (PVS). 13. Ruth Flower noted that gifts given through one's Meeting sometimes gain added support from employers with matching programs.
• 14. Joan Anderson will be preparing the Committee's annual report. Contact Joan if you have an item. Joan will circulate the report by email. for alerts on these items.
• 15. The C&RJ display is ready for BYM; additions will be welcome.
• 16. Bill Miles visits Native American inmates at Petersburg, Cumberland, and other prisons. He recommends Prison Ministries Network be linked to our web page.
• 17. Equitable telephone charges were discussed. a) Collect calls from prisoners can cost $5. Call forwarding bypasses these charges: a prisoner calls a family member who then forwards the call. collect calls b) Excessive deposits ($30) may be levied for those receiving. c) Prisoners are shipped away and so incur long distance charges. d) Www.etc.com is to be added as a link to our web page.
• 18. Bette Hoover reported that faith communities are soliciting volunteers for re-entry programs. Stacia Roesler will provide 2 links for our web page on reentry programs.
• 19. This meeting ended at 12:55 after a period of silent worship. These minutes were recorded by David G.S. Greene

Addendum:

We initially had thought we might offer the Meetings suggested guidelines for dealing with offenders who wish to attend Meeting.  However, Stacia Roesler, who was tasked with drafting the guidelines, had sent around some preliminary emails for committee discussion.  Since some members had expressed via email a continued discomfort with the presence of offenders at Meeting, Stacia stated that she did not feel we had consensus on our goal and so wished to discuss the issue more with the committee before moving forward.  Also, we are waiting for input from the Yearly Meeting on the topic of background checks (which is tied into the issue of staffing for the summer camp).

Stacia gave a brief overview of pending Sex Offense-related legislation which on the surface seems laudable but has buried in it unfair and overly punitive changes.

John Darnell described the experience of Frederick Meeting with released offenders in their midst, and that this has caused angst for members who are former abuse survivors. 

Kit Mason asked what Stacia would recommend for dealing with sex offenders at Meetings.  Stacia responded that the optimum situation, if the Meeting were willing to invest that much energy, would be to participate in “community supervision”:  assign a “buddy” to the offender as an escort while at Meeting, and have the offender’s parole officer and therapist discuss the offender’s crime and parole conditions with that buddy so there can be no dissembling or manipulation on the part of the ex-offender.

Peg McMahon, a clinical social worker and member of the Bethesda Meeting, spoke to the group in general terms about pedophiles, the most intractable subset of the offender community.  She discussed the lasting trauma and impact that a violation can have on the life of abuse survivors.

It was highlighted that the labels and words we use when speaking are important.  There are different categorizations of sex offenders and the label of “violent” is applied to many different types of offenses.  It is important for the elders to understand exactly what the offender did and the terms of any parole he may be under.  The offender should sign a release statement allowing his buddy to speak to the parole officer in details.

Similarly, many abuse survivors do not like to be termed “victim”.  We discussed the feelings of abuse survivors and agreed that while we must be extraordinarily careful not to trample on the feelings of the victims nor minimize their trauma, our goal should be to reach a place where we are treating the offender with watchful love while still being sensitive to the needs and feelings of abuse survivors.  As Will Ramsey put it:  our challenge is how to help victims think of themselves in new and different ways, letting go of old labels and hurts; and how to help offenders think in new ways, letting go of their old identity and behaviors while reinforcing their new way of life, so that people will begin to trust in them again.

Although the discussion centered on sex offenders, several committee members made the point that we all hurt each other’s feelings and “aggress” each other, knowingly and unknowingly, on a daily basis.  No form of aggression is acceptable:  we wish to remove all forms of aggression.  Several members felt strongly that this must be approached from a basis of love and not one of fear-mongering.

By the end of the discussion we had come to consensus that rather than prepare any recommendations for the Meetings, we should move towards helping guide the Meetings to do their own self-analysis by offering some suggested Queries for their consideration.  One Friend, Will Ramsey, encapsulated our intent with the following comment:  “What activities, procedures, policies and experiences can we identify that help the Meetings and subgroups create an atmosphere of safety (emotional, psychological, spiritual and physical safety), where individuals a) can feel comfortable to be open and honest about their feelings, concerns and fears and b) will have the confidence to have courageous conversations about any specific issue that needs to be addressed. 

Stacia agreed to collect input for Queries from other members, and to make a first draft of Queries that we might provide to the Meetings.   Stacia also agreed to take membership in CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants) and be the committee’s representative for keeping abreast of offender-related developments.  She also agreed to contact all Meetings and to gather information on their experience, if any, with offenders in their midst (this was done by adding this question to the survey that CR&J is sending out).  

Other suggestions we might provide to Meetings included:

•  In response to the challenge of helping a survivor think of themselves in a new and different way so that they can let go of the old identity of victim, perhaps suggesting a support or discussion group for survivors of abuse (ANY form of abuse)
• Recommending, for the protection of adults (against spurious accusations) as well as the protection of children, that there be at least two adults with children at all times if possible (may not be possible in smaller Meetings).
• Offering trained mediators for “Peacemaking Circles” between ex-offenders and    survivors
•  Education of children within monthly meetings:  some members felt that we should not communicate to children any fear-based education, but instead offer education which makes them self-confident in ANY situation, and comfortable questioning any person (adult or other) who asks them to do something with which the child feels uncomfortable.    Will Ramsey offered that we should teach children and adults how to discern when to say NO---to adults, to a peer, a friend, a neighbor, etc.