Ministry to Prisoners

As the founding ministry of our Australian mission, our ministry to prisoners holds a special place. From January 1839, within weeks of their arrival in Sydney, until the present time, the Sisters of Charity have maintained an apostolate of ministry to prisoners.

In this, sisters have followed the example of Mary Aikenhead who first began this work in Dublin in 1821. Like her, the pioneer sisters were accustomed to seeing suffering in their visitation of the poor, the sick and prisoners. In Sydney however, they went on their mission of love in a very different environment in midsummer. In the heat of January they set out for Parramatta and the legendary horrors of the Female Factory (or Penitentiary). Their inspiration is expressed in words echoed by grateful prisoners: "I was in prison and you visited me" (Matt 25:36).

Though there was growing public demand in Britain for an end to convict transportation, and a Committee of the House of Commons in 1837-38 had reported that it had been ineffective in deterring crime but remarkably effective in still further corrupting those who underwent the punishment, the practice was not officially abolished in New South Wales until 1840. The first task of the Sisters was to bring Christian love into one of the worst remnants of an evil system - a gaol in which up to eight hundred women lived in degradation and misery. Despite their difficulties in obtaining adequate accommodation in Parramatta, the work of the Sisters seemed to bring instant acceptance and improvement. In a letter to Archbishop Murray in Ireland on March 5, 1839, Dr Polding said that within only three weeks an almost miraculous change had taken place in a gaol that had seemed full of hopeless misery, resentment and despair.

Meanwhile, the sisters were also visiting the gaol at Darlinghurst, and, when the three remaining pioneers moved to Hobart, they continued this valuable work there. In 1920, the Darlinghurst prison was replaced by Long Bay Gaol where the sisters have ministered ever since. An article in The Catholic Weekly in 1967 offered a moving testimony to the work of the sisters at Long Bay:

The Sisters of Charity do a mighty work at Long Bay. There are men who have returned to their families and found acceptable places in society as a result of their work. Indeed for many of us the only friends we had were the Sisters.

In 1967, as Sister of Charity was appointed to the staff of the Gaol Chaplaincy and, in 1987, a Sister of Charity became Assistant Director of Nursing at the Long Bay Gaol Hospital. In 1985, Sister Germanus, worthy descendent of the pioneer sisters praised by the early Governors of NSW, was presented with a citation by the Minister for Corrective Services in recognition of her outstanding work for prisoners over a period of thirty years.

The Sisters of Charity have continued their ministry to those in prison. During this period we have been able to adapt to the changing administration of prisons and the consequent change in the needs of prisoners and their families. We have played a significant role in the formation of both the State and National Catholic Prison Ministry and have been very much involved in advocacy and prison reform.

In order to assist in meeting the needs of an expanding and more professional Chaplaincy Service in New South Wales a Sister of Charity was appointed as its first Administrator in January 1988. The Administrator provides a wide range of administrative, secretarial and pastoral services, and liaises with the Department of Corrective Services and the Chaplaincy Coordinator at many levels. She is able to minister to staff, prisoners and families in the absence of Chaplains or in emergencies.

The present Sister Administrator was very much involved in establishing Catholic Prison Ministry in 1990 and continues in the role of secretary for this group. She is also the appointee of the NSW Bishops Conference on the Civil Chaplaincies Advisory Committee. This Committee has a negotiating role with Government Departments for Chaplaincy needs of the Churches and is the official channel through which recommendations for the appointment of Chaplains are made.

The growing importance of this has not blinded us to the continuing need for face-to-face ministry. During this period we have provided Chaplaincy at Emu Plains and Parramatta, at both the Mullawa Women's Prison and the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater.

The Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre (MRRC) is a 900 bed facility situated in Silverwater a suburb in Sydney (next door to the Olympic site). A Sister commenced in February 1998. Her ministry is to provide Spiritual guidance and support to all inmates regardless of their faith or nationality. The Remand Centre is a busy place with over 4,000 movements each month as inmates attend court and inter-gaol transfers take place.

In Victoria, ministry to those in prison has not had quite the long tradition of New South Wales and Tasmania. However, during this period we provided a chaplain at Pentridge for prisoners with psychiatric illness or who had an intellectual disability. With the growth of Catholic Prison Ministry there was a dedicated group of people who would come to the prison each weekend to be part of the official Liturgy for mainstream prisoners and the Service provided by this Sister of Charity for those in G Division. The Service was well attended by men of many or no religious affiliation. At Christmas, a group of young people would come to sing carols and special permission was given for a family celebration.

We reached out to meet the educational needs of prisoners, particularly young men, Aboriginal prisoners and those with intellectual disability and where possible, kept contact with some of the more vulnerable prisoners when they were released.

The Sisters were active in preparing submissions and educating the community about prisons, prisoners and the justice system. We ran seminars, spoke to adult groups and Secondary classes and published Justice Resource Kits for adults and schools.

As in New South Wales, Sisters in Tasmania have been visiting prisoners from the very early days. A Sister took over this role in 1969 and with various companions had been a Prison Visitor at Risdon until during a visit there in 1997 she had the stroke, which signalled the beginning of the end of her life. She was ninety years of age!

Our ministry in Prisons has also continued through our Health Services. In 1979 St Augustines Ward in St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne was opened through the initiation of the then Sister Administrator. The Ward afforded a degree of human dignity to the patients who had in the past been accommodated, sometimes handcuffed and with two Prison Officers, in the general wards.

In 1999 St Vincent's at Port Phillip Prison was opened. This was the first time we were involved in administrating and managing a hospital within a prison. Some of the Sisters from St Vincent's Hospital would visit the hospital, particularly in the areas of mission education of staff and critical risk management. At the same time St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne also commenced the management of the Health Service in the Darwin prison. This work concluded in 2001.