MIDDLESEX COUNTY PRISON COORDINATING COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER
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Mary Ann Donaldson, Tom Crowther, Marjorie
Moerschner, Elizabeth Woodbridge, and Craig Korowski met in West Newton on Sept. 9,
2009. Mary Ann introduced Craig, an
attorney who is interested |
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in knowing more about the MA prison system and what is being done for those incarcerated. |
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done |
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Mary Ann then welcomed our guest speaker, Nancy Shippen, Executive Director of Our Prison Neighbors.
Nancy, a Quaker, became involved some years ago in volunteer work in prisons through the Alternatives to Violence Project(AVP). Alternatives to Violence was started by Quakers in New York state some years ago and the AVP is now an international organization. More than 23 countries Have ongoing programs (the International Coordinating Committee has just been set up and there is no official membership), 10 of them in Africa. Several years ago Nancy trained prison officers in Kenya in AVP principles. She attended the 2006 AVP international conference in South Africa and coordinated the 2008 conference in Kenya.
Nancy is involved with AVP programs at Concord, Shirley
and the Shirley Medium and Minimum prisons. Daniel Goleman's book Social Intelligence provides new research which
helps explain why AVP is so effective.
She also facilitates Advanced AVP weekend workshops for inmates which can deal with emotional topics such as racial bias and diversity. The workshops- eighteen hours spread over the weekend- have a leader and trained inmate facilitators. They are intense and can be profound.
Nancy's book discussion groups at Concord and Shirley have
about 8 men in each group. She uses Bo Lozoff's books, such as We're All
Doing Time, which the Human Kindness Foundation will send to inmates, as
well as books like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
She
is also involved in Emotional Awareness programs like those at the Billerica
House of Correction led by Carol Peters.
In talking to inmates Nancy realized their need for basic
financial information, and has started teaching courses based on the Smart
Money program from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
She
feels there is a need for art expression in the prisons, and for volunteer art
instructors, not necessarily professionals.
Nancy Shippen accomplishes all this plus recruiting and
mentoring volunteers, developing new programs and working with the DOC to
increase options for prisoners to learn and grow. This was a wonderful meeting
and we were swept away by her spirit, energy and determination!
Second Church in Newton, 60 Highland Street, West Newton