Gestalt Pastoral Care in Prison

Every Tuesday evening, I enter a world of razor wire and guards to teach a class in Gestalt Pastoral Care at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, a medium security men's prison in Staten Island, NY. I have come to treasure my three hours in prison each week. Usually I have worked hard all day and am tired going in, but by the time I leave I am full of energy.

I have been challenged, accepted, moved, and stimulated. I have laughed with the men, and sometimes I have cried. We have prayed together, even though we are Christian, Muslim, Rastafarian, Santaria, Agnostic, and "I don't know what to call myself." The sixteen men in the current Gestalt Pastoral Care class are participants in a unique educational program, which also includes classes in Old and New Testament, church history, ethics, and sociology of religion. This year-long program, formerly sponsored by New York Theological Seminary, and now by Boriqua College, gives each participant approximatey a year of college level education.

My class is a modified version of the basic two-year Gestalt Pastoral Care training program. The men attend lectures, write papers, and learn to work with each other as Gestalt Pastoral Care guides. Later in the course they become guides for inmates not taking the class. The case studies they write are eloquent testimony to the power of God to heal the many physical, emotional and spiritual wounds each inmate harbors.

I am also learning. I have been given a glossary of street slang by two inmates who took the trouble to write it all out. The class has pondered the importance of anger management for those who have committed violent acts versus a chance to discharge anger in a way that hurts no one. One evening I had a lesson on what it feels like to "take a bullet." I have learned how important it is for the men not to show weakness. They explained that they must maintain vigilance for safety's sake, but how they long to let go in a safe space.

Our classroom has become the closest thing they have to that safe space. There are no guards in the classroom, nor do the men have to be searched in order to have contact with the teachers in our program. Our classroom is a sanctuary, a place of hard work, laughter, debate, fun, a place to feel human again. In this environment the men learn to trust each other. Increasingly, they are willing to express fear, grief, shame, and joy. They pray for each other. They learn to let others be without asking questions, giving advice, snatching power, or judging.

The inmate students are enthusiastic about the skills they are acquiring. As one said, "This class is the best thing that ever happened to me. It's just amazing to experience how healing happens just naturally if we don't do anything to mess it up."
-Tilda Norberg, 2007.

To give outsiders a feel for what goes on in the prison class, GPC has reprinted an excellent case study written by one of the inmate students. To receive a copy, send $2 to:

Gestalt Pastoral Care
76 Clinton Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10301