By Vidimus Dominum'You are bigger than the crime you have committed'
BANGKOK (UCAN) When people think of "social work" in Thailand, some of the things that come to mind are street children, prostitutes and battered women. However, many foreigners from poor neighboring countries languish in Thai prisons without family or friends to visit them or provide for basic needs.
This led Jesuit Father Olivier Morin to start his prison ministry. The 69-year-old French missioner heads a six-member team that regularly visits more than 1,600 foreign prisoners in eight prisons in and outside Bangkok, including a women's prison. He also visits mostly Thai prisoners at a prison hospital in Bangkok. During the visits, which range from daily to monthly, the team usually brings shampoo, soap, toothpaste, T-shirts, underwear, writing materials and other items the prisoners need. Father Morin mostly divides his time between the prisons and his office, where he replies to the tens of letters he receives daily from prisoners, corresponds with prison authorities and writes prisoners' family overseas. He also goes to wholesale markets to shop for items to bring the prisoners.
Around December, Father Morin and his team hold a Christmas celebration in each prison at which they give each prisoner on their visiting list a gift bag with items worth around 700 baht (US$24). He, meanwhile, receives hundreds of Christmas cards from inmates and former prisoners, many of them hand-made.
Father Morin was born in 1938 in Nantes, western France. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1971 and served in parishes in France for 14 years. He then applied to work with Jesuit Refugee Service and went first to Pulau Bidong, a small island off the eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia, where he served Vietnamese "boat people" for a year. After that he was assigned to camps in Thailand that housed refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
With the closure of the camps in the early 1990s, he started work at the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok, where thousands of foreigners are detained for illegally staying in Thailand. Around that time he also started work with imprisoned foreigners. Since 2003 he has given this prison ministry his full attention.
In June 2006, a car hit a motorcycle on which he was riding. Doctors tried for four months to save his injured left leg it before finally amputating it. Ten days later, Father Morin was back visiting prisons. He maintains his full-time ministry despite needing a prosthetic limb or wheelchair to move around. UCA News spoke with the priest on Dec. 29 in his office at the Jesuits' residence in Bangkok. The interview follows:
UCANEWS: Why did you choose prison ministry?
Father Morin : Prison is a desert. Sometimes [a prisoner] doesn't have any friends. What is important is to show the man that someone can love him. If you are a foreigner, you don't know a lot of people in Thailand. How can you get toothpaste, or soap, or stamps to write to your family? When you are sick and get a prescription, how are you going to buy the medicine? Once in a prison I visited a Chinese man who told me, "I have been in jail for six years and you are my first visitor." He was absolutely amazed because suddenly someone knew his name and called him. What is very important for me is to talk with these people. No one can survive without love. You need to know that someone loves you, and that you are able to love. They are criminals, but I told them many times, "You are bigger, greater than your mistake." We have to take what is good in a man and tell him, "You can start again." Who has never done wrong? This is the sense of Christian forgiveness. Forgiveness is not to forget. It is to give a new chance for one to show his good side.
Can you give an example of prisoners' 'good side'?
Two days ago, I was in Khao Bin prison [in Ratchaburi province, about 50 kilometers west of Bangkok] for a Christmas celebration. They [those on the visit list] told me, "We will share what you bring for us with the poorest in the prison." I didn't ask them to do this. I gave them the [gift] bags, and each one gave some items from his own bag. They told me they wanted to share with those who didn't get something for Christmas. These people are not selfish.
Do you consider your work evangelization?
Yes. The Lord told us, "I was in jail and you visited me." Normally people who visit the prisons come to teach the Bible. I come to care for them. The Lord didn't say, "I was in jail and you taught me the Bible." But if the people speak about spirituality or religion, I am not afraid. To act with compassion, to care for my neighbor, to help people in distress, is to follow the teaching of my Lord. Many times I got this question from Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus: "
How is it that those organizations that help us are mainly from Christian roots?
" What is the most difficult aspect of your prison ministry? I visit people who are condemned to death, people who are sentenced to life. Normally people at first don't realize what is the meaning of 25 years of condemnation. Usually it is after a few months or years that suddenly they realize their life seems hopeless. I have a man, around 35 years old, that I visit. One day he sat down, and we were separated by a barrier, like a normal visit. Without saying one word this man started to cry -- not sobbing -- big tears rolling on his cheeks. He was absolutely the image of the distressed. He was in a state of mind of suddenly realizing his whole life was broken. Both of us were silent. I was touching the extreme pain of someone. Finally he left, saying nothing. When I came back to my office, I sent a note telling him: "I would like to thank you for your confidence. I want you to know I am still with you. And I pray for you." Later this man, an African Muslim, told me how important this letter was for him.
Have prisoners tried to take advantage of you?
Yes, I've had some problems with people who take advantage of our friendship. But the prisoners themselves told them: "You shouldn't do this. With what Father has done for you, how can you behave like that!" I don't have to protest. They protest for me. [He points to a box.] Look at all these Christmas cards they made for me from the prison. Some of them are so artistic. My team and I create a deep relationship [with the prisoners].
Who else is on your team?
We are six -- three male and three female. I have two Thais and three Burmese. One is a Burmese Chinese woman. They work very hard. I told them: "You have to become a friend with the one you visit. You must know his name and his face. Don't call him by his number."
How do you choose whom to visit?
I don't visit the farang [common Thai word for Westerners], because often their embassies care for them or they have some groups of expats who visit them. There are also associations for the Thai prisoners. I give priority to those who truly don't have any visitors or who are very poor. I visit mainly Laotians and Burmese. I also have Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Indians, Nepalese -- 46 nationalities altogether.
What do you do in a regular visit?
This depends on the regulations of each prison. When I go to Khao Bin, for example, I am allowed to go inside the prison. We give them some news. After that I take the Christians for meditation and teaching on the Gospel. I ask a Buddhist team member to do the same with the Buddhists. After that we distribute the things we bring. We sing a lot. For Klong Pai [in Nakhon Ratchasima province, 140 kilometers northeast of Bangkok] and Khao Bin, I go once a month, because they are far away. For Bang Kwang, Lad Yao and Klong Prem prisons [in Bangkok], we can go every day. We see them individually, usually between 10 and 15 minutes each -- and have normal conversation like with friends. Sometimes they ask me to be in contact with their embassies or their families. Sometimes I pray with them.
How do people react to your work?
One day I was visiting the prison hospital and television people were there. They told me: "Why do you waste your time with criminals! You cannot care for street children, or something like that?" I told them you will find several organizations caring for the street children or the prostitutes or the women who are beaten. But for prisoners, you don't have a lot who care for them. I have taken a job that people don't want. Criminals are still children of God.
Where do you get funds for this ministry?
I have to look for the money. It is mainly from the Jesuits around the world, and from friends and associations. I create a network of people who agree to send me some money. But don't believe people give me big amounts! Sometimes I get US$15, or 1,000 baht, or something like that. It is a lot of work. The five people working with me need to have a salary. But I am a very small organization. I use the resources of the Jesuits' house, so the "administrative expenses" are very light.
What were the most memorable moments in your prison ministry?
I will never forget the way they showed me their love when I came back after my accident. These people are wonderful. This is what I want to do -- to show them that they are still great. I keep memories of some wonderful prison officers. Well, we have violence like in all prisons. Some officers are brutes and it's hopeless with them. But we also have men who really try to give the best of themselves to make things better.
Courtesy: Vidimus Dominium
