In 1999 research was undertaken in Limerick City to access unmet needs. As a result Bedford Row Family Project was established as a Mercy/Franciscan joint initiative to respond to the needs of families affected by imprisonment.
The project set up a hospitality centre in Limerick Prison which offers support and refreshments to families as they visit their loved one. This centre has become the humanising aspect of an institution that has as its focus security and containment. A city centre based premises has grown and developed offering a skilled response to those affected by imprisonment be it family members, the person who has served a sentence or to the family member currently serving the sentence. Details of our work is contained on our website www.bedfordrow.ie
In Bedford Row we feel that our work has the potential to have far reaching consequences. Criminality and imprisonment affects the lives of so many people and disturbs the social fabric of our society. The media sensationalises criminality and the general thinking towards people who engage in it and are imprisoned is to ‘lock them up and throw away the key’.
In Bedford Row Project we believe in a world beyond imprisonment where people live responsibly and respectful of themselves and their fellow human beings. We need to understand the motivation that leads one to a life of crime. We need to understand the trauma and the effect this has on their loved ones and in particular on their children.
In our work we are encountering three generations affected by imprisonment and addiction – children, parents and grandparents. This cycle needs to be broken and children deserve to be exposed to a world that is free from such influences. This is a challenging undertaking on our part as we encounter parents and grandparents who desire a different experience for their children and grandchildren. In 2010 in our Spring children’s group an eight year old said:
“When I grow up I want to be a mechanic, I want to have a nice house and a happy family”
Surely such a desire is reachable and attainable in this day and age? However for this young boy with two generations of imprisonment and addiction his dream faces many obstacles…
This young boy along with the others we work with, through their experience and connection with imprisonment, makes them a group that society feels justified in ignoring or fearing. Yet it is very evident in the Gospels that these were the group Jesus sought out, welcomed and dined with. When we struggle to make visible the experience of imprisonment I take heart in Jesus’ response to the crowds that protested at his request to sit at Zacchaeus’ table “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Lk. 19:10)
Catherine McAuley purchased Baggot Street, with the purpose of making visible the plight of the excluded and hidden poor of the Dublin of her time. As a Mercy Sister, I feel very much at home as a social worker in Bedford Row Project working alongside those affected by imprisonment, learning from them, being enriched by them and knowing the ‘Gospel on the streets’ as a daily reality. As the Sisters of Mercy in Limerick mark their 175th anniversary, I think of the rich story of the intervening years; I think of myself in this place and T.S Elliot’s words come to mind:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
(T.S. Eliot Four Quartets)
Bernie O’Grady rsm
South Central Province
