Care of Prisoners (2) – Care Outside the Prison
Care Outside the Prison [1]
This includes two points: the care of the prisoner’s family while he is in prison, and also the care of the prisoner after his release.
Care for the Prisoner’s Family:
This includes spiritual, material, social, and psychological care.
1. Spiritual Care:
This is the responsibility of the church to which the family belongs. The role of the prison ministry is limited to contacting this church so that it may undertake this care, if the prisoner’s family is outside the scope of the priest responsible for the prison ministry.
2. Material Care (when the prisoner’s family is in need):
- Allocating a fixed monthly amount from the diocese for every family whose breadwinner is imprisoned in any prison of the republic.
- Providing financial assistance during feasts and at the beginning of the school and university year.
- Material help for the family to visit their relative in prison.
Social and Psychological Care:
- Working to relieve the psychological suffering of the prisoner’s family by integrating them into the spiritual and recreational life of the Church: through trips, the church club, and other church activities, so that they are not negatively affected by the condition of their imprisoned relative.
- Making use of financial aid and regulated assistance provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Mubarak Social Solidarity Project.
- Training the wives of prisoners in suitable crafts or professions to earn a living, especially when the prisoner is sentenced for a long period.
Care for the Prisoner After His Release:
Spiritual Care for the Released Prisoner:
- Ensuring his connection with the Church by contacting the priest responsible for his area through any suitable means of communication, to confirm his spiritual follow-up.
- It is preferable that the prison priest make some effort during the early stages after release to ensure the seriousness of the released prisoner’s attachment to the Church.
Material Care:
- Working to provide a suitable job opportunity for the released prisoner and making sure that the income from this new job is sufficient. Also assisting him with family expenses until his income stabilizes. He may also be helped in paying debts incurred because of his imprisonment.
- Studying the possibility of establishing a small project suitable for him, after ensuring his attachment to the Church and that he will not squander the project’s funds.
- Studying the idea of establishing a rehabilitation center similar to the one set up by the Bishopric of Services for treating addicts—this would be for released prisoners who cannot return to their families.
Psychological and Social Care:
- Ensuring that the released prisoner does not return to the sin that caused his imprisonment or to any other sins he may have acquired while in prison.
- Working—if possible—to place released prisoners or some of the repentant among them in specialized church institutions such as homes for the elderly or addiction treatment centers.
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