By Sandy . . . Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 12226 was opened in the fall of 2023. There were roughly 5,000 such posts in the United States at that time, but this was the first—and so far only–one established inside a prison, the Sterling Correctional Facility, a state institution in Sterling, Colorado. At its peak, the post had 28 members, 24 of whom were men serving sentences, some for sexual crimes and for murder; the other four (4) were staff members. The post had been recognized for being very active, especially in the areas of fundraising efforts and providing support for incarcerated veterans.  https://tinyurl.com/2n8wzbjh

Almost exactly a year later, by fall of 2024, Post 12226 was disbanded. Learning of its existence, various veterans and social media commenters campaigned very vocally against it, and they were heard. The VFW changed its bylaws to disallow membership to anyone with a felony conviction, and the membership dropped below ten, the minimum number required for a VFW post.  https://tinyurl.com/2n8wzbjh

(If this sounds familiar, think of a hotel in Grand Rapids being intimidated by loud and angry voices and cancelling NRSOL’S conference.)

What a poor decision the VFW made. What if other organizations followed this ill-chosen example?

What if some of the more prominent religions protested the time and money spent on faith-based prison programs, and they were no longer allowed in penal institutions? This would mean that the incarceration-impacted population of faith would no longer have access to something important for their spiritual needs, something that for at least some arguably makes the difference between their being model prisoners or troublemakers. Many a prisoner has come to faith and repentance behind bars, some due to attendance at prison worship services. They may not all be sincere, but without doubt some are.

What if state boards of education, universities, and the American Library Association decided that their “product” was wasted on “criminals”? How many of the incarceration-impacted who were trapped in a cycle of poverty due to being functionally illiterate no longer had access to the reading classes that would give them better choices when they were released? A countless number would lose the opportunity to earn a GED, while another huge number would be denied learning the skills that would offer them more employment options in the brave, new technical world into which they would be released. Many colleges and universities offer classes in a variety of subjects and even associate and bachelor degree pathways. These programs are traditionally offered through prison libraries, which also offer reading for pleasure and research capabilities for the institutional population as a whole.

What if special projects developed for incarceration-impacted persons, such as visual arts, drama, and writing were deemed to be inappropriate for “sex offenders”? Since these programs have a proven track record of increasing pro-social behavior and reducing recidivism, there is realistically little chance of that happening. However, moving from the hypothetical—and highly improbable–to the literal, what does happen is that some persons, based on their crime of conviction, are deemed inappropriate to participate in the program.

The exclusion of persons with convictions for crimes of a sexual nature is found in a variety of prison programs, including the visual and performing arts. Seldom presented as an outright exclusion, the language describes the allowed participants for many programs as members of the general population. This would not normally include those convicted for sexual offenses, thus cancelling their participation–and them–efficiantly.

This negation of different forms of art created or performed by someone with a historic sexual offense conviction is carried beyond prison walls to life in the real world. Some years back, a  museum in Maine removed a piece of art because it was created by someone on the sex offender registry. Actors in multiple situations have been “let go” because they had sexual crime convictions.

This bias against “sex offenders” is less seen in creative writing projects. To its credit, when faced with protests against inclusion of a poem by someone bearing the “sex offender” label several years ago, Poetry Magazine stood its ground and kept the poem as part of a special prison edition. However, one extremely talented writer was tempted to give up his writing—not due to discrimination but because he felt responsible for precipitating the events that caused VFW Post 12226 to be shut down.

We have come full cycle.

A dismantled VFW post; a canceled conference; hypothetically canceled prison faith-based services, education classes, library, and arts projects; excluded visual and performing art projects—in prison and in life; a disheartened writer.

The answer for them all is short, simple, and the same: “We will not give up; we will not go away.”

Or, in the words of that same temporarily disheartened writer:

Whether marred by the nature of our crimes or simply by the fact of our incarceration, our work means little to many. But we must try to reach those critics with our writing, demanding our voices be heard, no matter the consequences. For that piece, the result wasn’t what I’d intended. Far from it. But the next time, with the next piece, maybe I’ll change a mind or two.

The post A cancelled VFW post and a cancelled population first appeared on NARSOL.