VISION OF HOPE PRISON MINISTRY

13 Lakeside Estates

Mitchell, IN  47446

Phone: 812-849-2722

E-Mail:  info@visionof-hope-prison-ministry.org

Web Page: http://prisonministry.net/vohpm

Hours of Operation

9a.m. - 6p.m.

These are the hours of normal operation. We are available for emergency contacts 24/7.

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http://www.familybound.org/defense_fund.htm  

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GENERAL NEWS

 

Jack Merf the Serf Merphy shares with inmates of maximum security institution

Prison system of the USA is a country in the country now. Estimated 2 million Americans are behind bars. On average 4 members of the family are directly related to one inmate. On average two friends are related to him or her too. It makes ten million people who are in need our Christian care and share.

US Census Bureau reports — 5 million Americans speak Russian at home. They are old and new immigrants who came from countries of the former Soviet Union.

Lately, due to economy ups and downs, mortgage crisis, unfortunately, Russian is more and more spoken in American prisons too.

This problem did not exist even 5 years ago. Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, others) churches of America have no any experience ministering to Russian inmates. The methodology does not exist. Russian testimonial books are printed in Russia and Ukraine only. It is very expensive to get Russian Christian literature into US prisons, or provide it to American-Russian prison ministries.

International Network of Prison Ministries with cooperation of Pacific Slavic Baptist Union of the USA (President Nikola Bugriev), Mark Maciel, Founder of "Prison Ministry America" (former Chaplain of LA County), Jack "Murf-the-Surf" Murphy, Vice-President of INPM, are about to change it all.

On April 13-14, 2012 Historical First Russian-American Prison Ministry Conference will take place in Sacramento, CA.

Please pray for Outreach to Russian Americans in US prisons. Also, if you are available to participate in a Conference by being a part of it - to tech the seminar, to share you experience in Prison Ministry, or simply to donate testimonial and rehabilitation materials, kindly, contact us ASAP by e-mail: slavic@prisonministry.net

Serge Taran,

Founder International Network of Prison Ministries

www.PrisonMinistry.net

P.S.: "Oh! - someone might say. - Russian Mafia in American prisons?"

No. There is no such a thing as «Russian Mafia» in America. It is nothing, but a media hype… 



Restoring the vote, and a life, for ex-cons

Thursday, January 6, 2011; A20

AS VIRGINIA'S attorney general, Robert F. McDonnell (R) forged a tough-on-crime reputation. Now, as governor, Mr. McDonnell may be surprising some of his supporters by doing more than many of his predecessors - Republicans and Democrats alike - to restore the rights and prospects of ex-convicts. By taking aggressive steps to treat former inmates more humanely, the governor is increasing their chances to rebuild constructive lives, and at the same he's time fighting the scourge of recidivism.

Having promised last spring that the state would prioritize the restoration of voting and other civil rights for ex-convicts, Mr. McDonnell has been as good, and as sensible, as his word. He has granted voting rights to about 86 percent of the 1,269 former felons who have applied for them, including almost 90 percent of nonviolent ex-offenders and almost 80 percent of violent ones. At current trends, Mr. McDonnell is on pace to match or exceed the 4,402 felons whose rights were restored by his predecessor, Timothy M. Kaine (D). That would be a signal achievement.

At least as encouraging are the governor's moves to accelerate and streamline the process. Applications for restored voting rights, which in the past often languished for many months, are now reviewed and ruled on within 60 days. Upon completing their sentences, nonviolent former offenders may apply for restoration of rights after two years, rather than three. On leaving prison, former inmates are given a packet of information that includes an application for restoring their voting rights.

Those are all important steps, and unusual ones for a Republican governor. Virginia's most recent GOP chief executives, James S. Gilmore III and George Allen, granted voting rights to just a few hundred former convicts, contributing to a scandalous status quo in which an estimated 300,000 Virginians remain disenfranchised.

Mr. McDonnell's emphasis on restoring voting rights has been coupled with a push to provide more job training, better counseling and other critical help for ex-convicts. His policies offer the hope that the 13,000 prisoners Virginia releases each year will have a fighting chance to rebuild their lives.

At the same time, the governor's stance raises the question of why ex-convicts are required to apply to reclaim their voting rights at all. Given that nearly 90 percent of these petitions are granted, that former inmates have paid their debt to society and that voting rights are fundamental aspects of citizenship, why shouldn't they be restored automatically, as they are in many states? Even with Mr. McDonnell's reforms, Virginia will continue to disenfranchise 10,000 or more former inmates each year. The governor's own record, laudable as it is, argues for even more far-reaching reform.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/05/AR2011010505408.html

Activists say it's time for America to respond to rights violations

By Eric Ture Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Nov 3, 2010 - 12:15:26 AM

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U.S. defense on human rights record is historic, but how much impact will review have on justice?

Anti-police brutality supporters and members of the New Black Panther Party march along Jamaica avenue in the Queens borough of New York, on Dec. 2, 2006, during a rally against police brutality. Anti-police brutality supporters gathered to protest the recent shooting of Sean Bell, 23, and two other unarmed men who were attending Bells bachelor party at a Queens strip club. The three men were shot an estimated 50 times by police officers just after leaving on early Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006. Bell was killed hours before he was to have married the mother of his two children, Nicole Paultre.

ATLANTA (FinalCall.com) - At The Final Call press time, an American delegation of 33 members—possibly including United States Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice—were en route to Geneva, Switzerland to appear before the United Nations Human Rights Council and for the first time in history to review America's human rights record, her practices and how her human rights practices can be strengthened and brought in line with international standards.

The United States has most often been on the accusatory side of the human rights debates, calling out the shortcomings of others abroad while denying rights violations exist at home.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was created through the UN General Assembly in 2006 by a UN resolution that also established the Human Rights Council.It is a cooperative process which, by 2011, will have reviewed the human rights records of every country.Currently, no other universal mechanism of this kind exists. The UPR is one of the key tools of Human Rights

D'Anore Teeter, left, who helped organize a police brutality rally, and Jack Heyman, right, a longshoreman and member of the ILWU's executive board, speaks during a rally in Oakland, Calif., Oct. 22, about police brutality. Hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area dock workers said they plan to shut down several ports during a rally Saturday in support of the unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, who was killed by a white transit police officer nearly 22 months ago. Photos: AP/Wide World Photos

Council, which reminds countries of their responsibility to fully respect and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.The ultimate aim of the review is to improve human rights in all countries and address rights violations wherever they occur.

A lottery drawing resulted in the U.S. appearance in Geneva and though human rights groups and nations have repeatedly appeared before the world body and have summoned America, this is the first time she has agreed to participate.
“It's really important—especially here in the United States” for government involvement, State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson told The Final Call. “Because we are the United States of America (and) for a number of countries we set the example. We still hold the standard. It is important that we take a look at ourselves, because we can always improve. We have come a very long way in this country, but there is still far to go and there are always areas for improvement,” she said.

The UPR involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years.The review provides the opportunity for each country to declare what actions they have taken to improve human rights and fulfill international obligations to respect rights. The UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights records are assessed.

“For the first time, the entire human rights record of the U.S. will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council on Nov. 5. So, this gives us the opportunity to raise a number of issues within the U.S.—outside the U.S.,” explained executive director Ajamu Baraka of the Atlanta-based U.S. Human Rights Network, in an exclusive interview with The Final Call from Geneva. “We have been raising them for years but we have not been able to generate the kind of attention that these issues require. So, what we have done is galvanize our forces, submitted reports to the UN; brought delegations here to lobby some of our friends in other governments to raise certain questions to the U.S. and now this week educate other organizations and delegations from other countries for what we believe to be the harsh realities of the U.S.,” he said.

Some harsh realities include the “insane” racially disproportionate U.S. prison population, with high incarceratioan rates for Blacks and Latinos as opposed to Whites. There are thousands of U.S. political prisoners America officially refuses to acknowledge, he said. There is also wanton police brutality and “hundreds of thousands of citizens walking the streets at night in America without a place to rest their heads”—as well as communities poisoned by corporate dumping of toxic waste and chemicals, Mr. Baraka continued.

Huge disparities also exist within the U.S. economy, the health care system and immigration policy. “We are raising very important and serious questions this week in hopes of becoming a part of the historic record with the realities that we all face in the country,” Mr. Baraka said.

Some activists feel taking U.S. misdeeds into the international arena may help with the future payment of reparations—others are not quite sure the appearance in Geneva will bring immediate results.

“The United States has been called to the UN Human Rights Council, but I am not so sure that the American government will officially recognize or acknowledge its role in denying civil and human rights around the world and even domestically,” said Chicago-based political analyst Bob Starks.

Mr. Starks told The Final Call the most glaring human rights violation ever was the enslavement of African people and the very foundation of this country was built on slavery. To admit those things would be a direct violation of why they say the country was built, he said.

“Therefore I don't think it will be of any real consequence toward the correction of human rights on the part of the government. I mean, the government has always denied or simply not commented on any complicity to the violation of human rights,” said Mr. Starks.

“This is a country that was literally founded on slavery and genocide,” said activist Carl Dix of the Worker's Communist Party, speaking by telephone from New York. “These are things that have remained in effect since the formation of this country. It is the wealth of this country and they enforce their position brutally.”

It is especially evident, Mr. Dix said, among the young, Black and Brown in inner cities. “The system tries to turn it around and blame it on the people saying, ‘Look at them. They are into violence, they are into drugs.' But what they are trying to hide is the fact that they have sucked the jobs out of the inner cities of this country. They have wrecked the educational system and put our youth in a situation where there is no legitimate way to survive and raise families. So, whatever choice they make it's going to put them in a bad situation.

“Either they are going to starve or they are going to get involved in some hustle. Then they will unleash their cops to beat them, arrest them or kill them,” said Mr. Dix, who has worked extensively on police brutality.

“Most of the country's drug users are White, most of the people arrested for drug use are White, but by far, most of the people that go to jail for drug use are Black, even though Blacks represent a very small minority of the people arrested. Because the criminal justice system diverts Whites out before they are arrested, charged and tried, while, Black people get the book thrown at them,” he said.

The foundations of slavery and genocide will not allow America—even if she wants to come clean and make any meaningful contribution at the hearing, Mr. Dix argued.

Blacks and other human rights activists say the UN process may not be perfect, but it remains a pressure point for the U.S., which remains concerned about its image abroad. For example, China and Iran, in the past, are among countries that have cited American failures when their rights records were attacked.

International law also points to basic standards that countries are responsible for meeting and those remedies may be race-based or clearly targeted at disadvantaged groups, while affirmative in the U.S. has been eviscerated, they note.

It is going to be very difficult for the United States to paint a pretty picture, added Mr. Baraka.

As part of the UPR process, the U.S. government will have to address some elements contained in a 400-plus page report compiled by prominent U.S. civil and human rights organizations that include the NAACP, Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union.

It gives an overview—unlike the report submitted in August by the U.S. government—of the disparities Blacks, Latinos and the Indigenous populations face within the United States, he said.

The U.S. delegates will appear before the UN body and read various parts of their report, then field questions from the human rights panel and member states. At the close of the session the Human Rights Council will offer written recommendations to improve human rights shortcomings and submit their findings to delegates on Nov. 9.

The U.S. will be given an opportunity to respond, but the recommendations will remain.

In the first part of 2011, the Human Rights Council puts the recommendations to a vote, then the U.S. is officially charged with working on meeting the recommendations.

“There are serious concerns in the U.S. I don't think there is any way around that. The government is going to try to spin certain things, while others they might acknowledge certain issues and talk about what they are doing to address those issues, but I think there are certain issues that are so egregious that I don't see how they are going to spin their way out of this. Especially in the light of critical questions we have raised that will be a part of the UPR process,” Mr. Baraka said.

“Doing this kind of objective, in-depth review, we have the opportunity to maybe unearth or take a look at areas we can improve,” conceded Ms. Thompson, of the State Dept.

“Human rights advocates have not only documented substandard human rights practices which have persisted in the U.S. for years, but also those that reflect the precipitous erosion of human rights protections in the U.S. since 9/11,” charged Sarah Paoletti of U.S. Human Rights Network, which only deals with human rights problems in America. Whether its migrant workers, children denied education, or women denied equal pay, “advocates feel compelled to bring their experiences before international human rights mechanisms because the U.S. legal system has fallen short,” she said.

After Four Years Behind Bars, Duke Becomes A Prison Reform Advocate

Posted by: "jamese2002" jamese2002@yahoo.com   jamese2002

Thu Aug 12, 2010 12:49 pm (PDT)

DNA test indicates wrong man convicted of rape

Bill would try to curb wrongful convictions

Freed Prisoner Faces Dizzying New World

Updated: Friday, 30 Jul 2010, 9:26 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 30 Jul 2010, 9:26 PM CDT

• NED HIBBERD
  Reporter

HOUSTON - For Michael Green, exonerated by DNA after serving 27 years for a sexual assault he did not commit, it’s the end of a long ordeal.

But an even more difficult struggle could be just beginning.

For nearly three decades, Green’s life has fit into 40 square feet. He’s been told when to go to bed, when to wake up and when to eat.

But on Friday, all the rules changed.

“It's very seriously a chess game,” said prisoners’ advocate Ray Hill, “and you don't know how to play.”

Since 1980, Hill’s “Prison Show” has aired on KPFT radio, teaching inmates how to play the prison game.

It’s a game Hill knows well, having spent four and a half years behind bars in the early 1970’s.

“I was more afraid to get out than I had been to go in. I mean, literally I was scared to death.”

Now, Michael Green is back in the free world. But it’s not the world he left at age 18.

When Green was first arrested in 1983, President Reagan was serving his first term, M*A*S*H was still airing new episodes, and Ms. Pac-Man was state-of-the-art for video games.

Green has lived 27 years with most things chosen for him. Now, even a trip to the mall presents seemingly unlimited choices.

“It's culture shock,” exclaimed Hill. And it’s compounded by Green’s instincts, which may still be stuck in that 8X10 cell.

“The cultural norm (in prison) is to defend that space,” explained Hill. “And that's a lot of hostility that wouldn't work on an escalator at the Galleria.”

Like many ex-cons, Michael Green may find freedom more constraining than incarceration.

It’s a phenomenon Ray Hill has seen so often, it’s got him reconsidering the kind of help he provides.

“One of the things I do, Ned, is I teach people how to do time,” said Hill. “And I've been thinking for a long time that I need to start a school to teach people how to undo time. Because it's not easy.”

It can’t be easy for Michael Green. He did 27-years that were not his years to do.

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General World and Church News

Update on the situation in Haiti.

Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in Inter-America expressed concerned for the millions of Haitians who have been affected by the earthquake. The Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), the humanitarian arm of the Adventist church, is active monitoring the situation and preparing a response,

"ADRA Haiti is prepared to use cash donations to make a first response immediately ... in terms of food and water to the most needy, utilizing its volunteer base," said Wally Amundson, director for ADRA in Haiti.

Reports say that two of our largest SDA churches near the presidential palace were destroyed—five congregations met in these churches.  One of those churches had a school and there are serious concerns for the children who were attending school at that time.  It is believed that the union president is alive but contact has not been made. The union office is not damaged seriously. One union worker was killed when a wall fell on him. There are two IDEs (missionaries) in Haiti and they are alright but shaken.  Haiti has two high schools, one university and one hospital.  

Let’s keep all of them in our prayers.