After Life by Alice Marie Johnson

Author:Alice Marie Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-04-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

When women arrive at prison, they are frequently broken, guilty, and full of shame, victims in need of the message of forgiveness. So many are in need of healing from the Great Physician. I know I was.

The church plays a very important role in the life of prisoners. It is seen as a place of refuge, a place that fills spiritual needs, a place where you can safely come and try to find a better path than the one that led to incarceration.

We all felt the loss when Chaplain Pryor received a huge promotion and had to leave. However, we were also blessed when his replacement, Robert Danage, became the new supervisor and head chaplain of the religious services.

Chaplain Pryor tried to ease him into his role by explaining the ins and outs of all our activities. “You have to find Alice Johnson,” he told him. “She’ll be able to help with anything.”

Chaplain Danage did seek me out—which wasn’t hard, since I always ended up at the chapel no matter what other jobs I landed. After I told him some of the details about the activities that we did there, he asked me if I had ideas about how to improve them. Of course I did. And we began to make the spiritual lives of the women even better—regardless of their race, culture, ethnicity, social status, or faith orientation. We provided religious programs and activities for all recognized faith groups: Protestant and Catholic, Jewish (Reform and Conservative), Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, Jehovah’s Witness, Seventh Day Adventist, Mormon, Rastafarian, Native American, and many others. If anyone had a problem, regardless of her religious beliefs, I made sure Chaplain Danage was aware of her crisis.

There were also several other chaplains who worked in religious services. One of them was Father Vincent Inametti. He was a charismatic Nigerian Catholic priest who loved to sing and had an infectious smile. But I started noticing some inappropriate contact with women, and I no longer felt comfortable working at the chapel. I found another job.

Any officer in a prison has an inordinate amount of power over the prisoners, and it is illegal for them to use that power for sexual favors. Plus, Father Vincent was supposed to be married to the church, not seeking romantic fulfillment among his charges. I knew a woman named Mercedes who’d told us that she had been a prostitute before prison. One day, she revealed that Father Vincent had been turned on when she confessed details of her former life.

She was laughing about the fact that her confession had caused a physical reaction in the priest. That was her goal. I couldn’t believe my ears.

A couple of days later, I was headed to my regular dance rehearsal when I passed Father Vincent’s office and noticed his new clerk was cooking food for him in the chapel microwave and serving it to him.

When I stepped back, waiting to get music, I noticed her giving him a very familiar look. Their eyes seemed to linger on each other too long, before she came out and handed me the music.

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