March 7, 2011
MISSOURI--This week, "Art on the Inside," an exhibit from the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project (APAEP), is opening at Saint Louis University. The program provides quality educational opportunities in the arts and humanities to incarcerated persons in Alabama. The exhibit features the work of students from inside Alabama state prisons and includes work from 2004 to 2010. At face value, this exhibit may not appear to have any ties to religion. However, those within the prison system are often forgotten about, their humanity disregarded and degraded. As religious persons, we are called to respond to all with compassion and respect for their human dignity - including incarcerated persons. Indeed, as Christians we reminded in Matthew's gospel of the importance of this:
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you? And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' (Matt 25:35-40).Programs like APAEP recognize the dignity of these individuals and lift them up. However, APAEP is not alone in this mission. Two programs through SLU also cherish these individuals' dignity and seek to provide them with the means to enhance their intellectual and personal growth. The Saint Louis University College-In-Prison Program offers college courses and associates degrees to incarcerated persons and staff at the Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne, Terre, Mo. and the Inside Out Speaker Series brings speakers from SLU's campus to the Bonne Terre campus. [link]
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