Opening dialogue through quilting

For six years, Alice Roberts has served as the chaplain at the New Hampshire State Prison for Women. The prison houses people with a sentence of one year or more, but it also serves as a jail for Hillsborough county, so inmates are serving anywhere from 30 days to life. Nearly all the women–97 percent of them–will eventually return to the community. Some of the women are able to leave the prison on work release and community service programs.

Most of the time, there are 110 women in the prison. "It’s a manageable size," says Roberts, who averages one day a week at the facility. "I often end up doing crisis management, dealing with domestic violence issues especially."

Most of the women in the New Hampshire State Prison, like inmates across the country, come from what Roberts describes as "unsettled backgrounds. Their education is low. Many dropped out of school. There is a preponderance of domestic abuse. They have been beaten, abandoned, and raped. Sexual abuse issues are large. When someone is abused, she is full of pain, of course, and often wants to numb herself. Many women take drugs: prescription drugs, street drugs, and alcohol.

"Many are guilty of victimless crimes. They harmed only themselves. This doesn’t go for everyone but most of the women have had a terrible background and managed to survive. Their coping skills are pretty amazing.

"One of the most important things I say to them," explains Roberts, "is that I don’t work for the Department of Corrections. They breathe a huge sigh of relief when they hear that and everything starts pouring out. They see their time with me as a time to vent.

"The Department of Corrections is just a monolith," Roberts says. "People don’t know what is going on behind the walls. The prison can become this empire and all kinds of terrible things can happen. Inmates have no credibility to complain. Officers don’t want to see the problems."

Although she describes the New Hampshire prison as generally safe and clean, "any situation where people have so much power over others is going to create abuses," Roberts says. "Officers have so much power over people who are living in cages."

A former fabric artist, Roberts has joined her work in ministry with her artistic talent to start a quilting group within the prison. She explains, "A bed covering is the only thing inmates can make and keep there. One of the women came to me and asked if I couldn’t get together a quilt that said something about domestic violence.

"So we made a quilt. It has a black and blue color scheme. Twenty-five women each made a square with some kind of statement about domestic violence on it. The women took fabric ink and drew their stories. I’ve been taking it around to churches and groups."

The quilt has opened a dialogue. "People who have seen it have wanted to say something to women who are in prison," Roberts says. She has been keeping a notebook filled with comments from people who have seen the quilt. Some have been abused themselves and thank the women for sharing.

"It is a new experience for these women to think that they have a voice at all," Roberts says.

Roberts travels the state to educate people within the faith community about the prison system. She recently addressed a feminist liberation theology luncheon and asked for an inmate and a guard to go with her to tell their stories. Later this year, she will convene a day-long workshop in the men’s prison in New Hampshire. Representatives from all the parishes in the diocese will attend to learn about prison conditions.

Roberts was recently honored by the Leadership New Hampshire Association. The award not only acknowledges Roberts’ hard work but also, she says, is "a good statement – for New Hampshire to hold up prison ministry as something it is proud of."

– Camille Colatosti