en
español
NEWS
RELEASES
~
Program
Descriptions
Classic Program
Senior Focus
Crossing Borders
Volume 8, Number 2 - Spring 2010
On the
Bookshelf
by Stephanie Hanzel Cohen
Grace Goes to Prison: An Inspiring Story of Hope and Humanity, by Melanie G. Synder. Brethern Press, 2009.
As a Christmas gift from my father, I received Snyder’s biography of Marie Grace Hamilton, who spent thirty years as a Pennsylvania prison volunteer (1975-2005). He selected the book because of my work as a People & Stories coordinator with prison and re-entry populations.
As a volunteer, Hamilton initiated programs that challenged prison life by transforming the approach to inmates from punishment and assimilation to treatment and rehabilitation. Although she often bumped against the societal belief that prison was not meant for treatment, her energy for restorative justice, creative non-violent conflict resolution and victim/ offender mediation was boundless.
Hamilton and her volunteers began programs with an intention to heal brokenness between staff and inmates, between victims and offenders and within inmates themselves. The classes she conducted on creative non-violent conflict resolution split open inmates’ patterns of defensiveness, violence and anger.
Eventually, Hamilton’s prison programs were incorporated under the name “CentrePeace, Inc.,” which referred to its mission of “centering peace in people’s lives by replacing walls built by fear and vengeance with understanding and reconciliation.” CentrePeace continues to offer restorative justice programming with Marie Hamilton serving on the Honorary Board of Directors as its founder.
Through Snyder’s book, readers will likely find inspiration in Marie Hamilton’s resolve to elevate justice for those who are easily forgotten.