June 2015 Philadelphia Chapter of Pax Christi U.S.A.
Echoes in Purgatory IV, SCI Huntington
Echoes in Purgatory is a collection of writings by women/men who are serving a Life Sentence Without Parole. Read their words, then listen quietly and you will hear their cry for their God given “Right to Redemption.”
… Life without the possibility of parole is the other death sentence …
In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful – life imprisonment and the effect it has on my life. There are two sides to every story, and to be honest, there’s not enough paper here to describe this imprisonment horror story. But just to elaborate on the other side, “THE WISDOM” I experienced, I learned that the right education and applying it plays an important part in life because it gives us the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Also, a strong foundation (RELIGION) provides us with ethics, values, virtue and trust in “GOD.” So as a Climacteric Righteous Person, we all in one way or another seek protection from our LORD, against our shortcomings and moral weaknesses, as which generally find their way into our lives. So if we seek forgiveness from our Lord, then we, too, must be forgiving.
What Having Life in Prison Means to Me … it means never having a chance or opportunity to see my three children through their childhood. I will never have the chance to give them the time, attention, and advice I’m obligated to give as a father. I can’t teach my two daughters not to be followers, and I can’t instill the characteristics of a leader into my son. Not being able to tell my mother I love her, and not being able to do the same with my grandmother. Life means that I, myself, will one day die inside of these prison walls, without warning to the people who care the most. Life without the possibility of parole should be called DEATH; it kills my changes of productivity. … Life means being stripped of everything save for my mind, my voice, and my religion. And sometimes, behind these walls they are in jeopardy.
To comment or respond to a reflection, the envelope needs to include:
the man’s name, number, SCI Huntington, 1100 Pike Street, Huntington, PA 16654-1112
In CPF’s August/September issue Echoes in Purgatory will feature the reflections of the women who are serving life sentences at Muncy. The State Correctional Institution at Muncy is a medium/maximum security facility for adult female offenders.
“… I’ve been incarcerated for over forty-two years now with a life sentence – the other death penalty …” M. Scott
Echoes in Purgatory In January 2013 Wayne Battle, (the President of the Lifers at Graterford Prison in 2013), created The Echoes in Purgatory project which is a collection of writings by men/women who are serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The CPF newsletter began publishing these reflections in the April 2013 issue. “Read their words, then listen quietly and you will hear their cry for their God given ‘Right to Redemption’. … Listen closely and you will get the rare opportunity to hear in their own words what it feels like serving a life sentence … without the possibility of parole.”
Catholic Peace Fellowship June 2015
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