from National Catholic Reporter My prison cell view of the COVID-19 pandemic March 16 by Patrick O’Neill Lisbon, Ohio — While the difficulties associated with COVID-19 are omnipresent, the hardships are even greater for those of us in prison. Matthew’s Gospel notes the work of mercy: “I was in prison and you visited me.” The […]
Archive for the 'Inside Line' Category
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March 4, 2021 Albert Woodfox, in his book, Solitary, published in 2019, documents how the state of Louisiana was especially brutal in the treatment of prisoners at the infamous Angola prison. Mr. Woodfox and two companions were particularly targeted in their struggle for justice, carrying out the values and principles of the Black Panther Party. […]
February 17, 2021 Ash Wednesday Women’s Federal Prison Camp Father Iwaji came to the camp this morning for Mass. The crucifix, chalice, and candlesticks were a sight for sore eyes. Seeing the white altar cloth and purple vestments after weeks of institutional grey and beige, along with unpainted concrete and razor wire, was a rich […]
January 30, 2021 Today is Gandhi’s death day and I dipped into Robert Ellsberg’s All Saints, of which there are two copies in the Chapel library here. Gandhi brought nonviolence as political struggle to the modern world–just in case we missed the message as presented to us by Jesus! Clearly Christianity has not brought […]
Martha Hennessy – Prison Reflection February 11, 2021 Robert Ellsberg inspired me today with his writing of A. J. Muste in All Saints and “Blessed Among Us” in Give Us This Day. “Nonconformity, Holy Disobedience, becomes a virtue…to go along is used as an instrument to subject men to totalitarian rule and involved them in […]
February 5th, 2021 Is it true that the wind Streaming especially in fall Through the pines Is saying nothing, nothing at all, Or is it just that I don’t yet know the language? Mary Oliver – “Wind in the Pines” There is a row of thirteen white pines that look to be perhaps 40 years […]
The Citadel of Calamity by Martha Hennessy January 13, 2021 I write to you, my dear readers, from Danbury FCI, sitting atop the most lovely hill on the western border of Connecticut. I don’t know who the first people were who walked this place before white displacement but I’m sure it was sacred, now desecrated […]
January 27, 2021 Today’s parable in Mark 4:1-20 is “a sower went out to sow.” The mystery of the Kingdom of God is granted to us. I’m still trying to understand any and all of the parables. This prison seems to have both barren and rich soil. And plenty of thorns and thistles to navigate […]
January 2021 I am in the “Satellite Camp” of the Otisville prison. I never asked for the camp and I was very surprised that I was assigned there. The camp is a very low security prison, and it has some benefits (this is the prison camp that Michael Cohen spent his limited time in). I […]
Danbury Federal Prison Camp January 21, 2021 Tomorrow, January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons becomes a legally binding document. President Biden, in his inaugural speech yesterday, January 20th, spoke of the challenges our country is facing: massive unemployment, divisiveness, lack of truth telling and clear factual information, pollution, climate collapse. […]