wunjo42
01-20-2005, 03:55 PM
Chaplain decries hold on services at prison
Article Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - 8:03:00 PM PST
By MASON STOCKSTILL, Staff WriterCHINO -- In the weeks leading up to the killing of corrections Officer Manuel Gonzalez, religious services in part of the California Institution for Men were curtailed, which a prison chaplain says may have contributed to the officer's death. Michael Nichols, who has ministered to prisoners for 35 years and is chairman of the state employees union's chaplain occupation committee, said he warned prison officials that cutting back religious programs could lead to violence, especially during the holiday season.
"Tensions run high, and I think they turned up the heat on the tension valve,' Nichols said. "Instead of having a proper release, it exploded, and the explosion was the killing of an officer.'
Gonzalez, who was buried Tuesday, was stabbed to death Jan. 10 in the prison's central reception center. Authorities suspect inmate Jon Christopher Blaylock in the killing.
For Nichols, Gonzalez's death is the tragic result of a decision by CIM administrators to cut back worship services in the central reception center, where many high-security prisoners are held.
Nichols said he was told religious and other programs were reduced for part of December because of a large fight earlier in the month. But that decision meant inmates who were already under stress about being imprisoned during the holidays were pushed to the breaking point, he said.
"It wasn't just one day. We're talking the whole religious holy days were shut down,' Nichols said. "You want to create tension, take away people's religious rights.'
Corrections Capt. Kevin Peters, a spokesman for the prison, said it's not unusual for some programs to be put on hold at times. For example, if part of prison goes on lockdown, religious services as well as visitation rights can be suspended.
"When there are disruptive issues within a prison, there are controls that are put in place,' Peters said. "There may have been modifications to the program, but not elimination of the program.'
Nichols and other religious leaders say their prison work is treated as a low priority by administrators. Requests to allow new volunteers at CIM have been backlogged for 13 months, Nichols said.
But the ministry is essential, said Robert Frias, a pastor at Living Waters Church in Chino.
He said hundreds of inmates attend the services he holds at prisons throughout the state and that for many of them, programs like job training and drug counseling don't often help as much as religion does.
"They help up to a point,' Frias said, "but as far as God and him actually forgiving you and restoring you, a program can't restore you.'
Nichols is working to craft a procedure that would allow him to minister to inmates while they are in their cells on lockdown, which he said is allowed in some parts of CIM.
He's hopeful that this and other steps will alleviate what he sees as serious problems at the prison.
"We've got an oppressive situation going on in there,' he said. "If you beat a dog enough times, he's gonna bite you. And that's what we've got going on.'
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413...2662958,00.html (http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208%7E12588%7E2662958,00.html)
Article Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - 8:03:00 PM PST
By MASON STOCKSTILL, Staff WriterCHINO -- In the weeks leading up to the killing of corrections Officer Manuel Gonzalez, religious services in part of the California Institution for Men were curtailed, which a prison chaplain says may have contributed to the officer's death. Michael Nichols, who has ministered to prisoners for 35 years and is chairman of the state employees union's chaplain occupation committee, said he warned prison officials that cutting back religious programs could lead to violence, especially during the holiday season.
"Tensions run high, and I think they turned up the heat on the tension valve,' Nichols said. "Instead of having a proper release, it exploded, and the explosion was the killing of an officer.'
Gonzalez, who was buried Tuesday, was stabbed to death Jan. 10 in the prison's central reception center. Authorities suspect inmate Jon Christopher Blaylock in the killing.
For Nichols, Gonzalez's death is the tragic result of a decision by CIM administrators to cut back worship services in the central reception center, where many high-security prisoners are held.
Nichols said he was told religious and other programs were reduced for part of December because of a large fight earlier in the month. But that decision meant inmates who were already under stress about being imprisoned during the holidays were pushed to the breaking point, he said.
"It wasn't just one day. We're talking the whole religious holy days were shut down,' Nichols said. "You want to create tension, take away people's religious rights.'
Corrections Capt. Kevin Peters, a spokesman for the prison, said it's not unusual for some programs to be put on hold at times. For example, if part of prison goes on lockdown, religious services as well as visitation rights can be suspended.
"When there are disruptive issues within a prison, there are controls that are put in place,' Peters said. "There may have been modifications to the program, but not elimination of the program.'
Nichols and other religious leaders say their prison work is treated as a low priority by administrators. Requests to allow new volunteers at CIM have been backlogged for 13 months, Nichols said.
But the ministry is essential, said Robert Frias, a pastor at Living Waters Church in Chino.
He said hundreds of inmates attend the services he holds at prisons throughout the state and that for many of them, programs like job training and drug counseling don't often help as much as religion does.
"They help up to a point,' Frias said, "but as far as God and him actually forgiving you and restoring you, a program can't restore you.'
Nichols is working to craft a procedure that would allow him to minister to inmates while they are in their cells on lockdown, which he said is allowed in some parts of CIM.
He's hopeful that this and other steps will alleviate what he sees as serious problems at the prison.
"We've got an oppressive situation going on in there,' he said. "If you beat a dog enough times, he's gonna bite you. And that's what we've got going on.'
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413...2662958,00.html (http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208%7E12588%7E2662958,00.html)