early morning Snohomish road-trip with the team

Part of volunteering for a 12-step program at the local prison is to do a training update once a year. Today was the day for retraining. We met at the club on NE 8th at 7:15 and drove to Snohomish. It was a cold wet drive with snowflakes falling like tracers in the rain. A bit of muffin, some conversation with other volunteers we only see at the training and then it was time for about an hour of federally mandated training to not rape or sexually abuse the prisoners per the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) guidelines.

While it is not likely to be an issue for those that I volunteer with, it does protect the prisoners from abusive guards. On the face of it, the training seems a bit excessive. In reality, it does force the volunteers to check in once a year in a show of interest and understanding of their responsibilities.

Prisons in America have a lot of secondary racial discrimination affects. 40% of our prison population is black. There was not a single ethnic minority at the volunteer retraining. Of the 30 older white volunteers, there were seven women. It is good to have many volunteers. It is tragic how the ethnic minority populations have essentially abandoned their people in a classic example of out of sight, out of mind.

I am grateful for our little team of volunteers, Margie, Leslee and Lisa, that carpool with me to the prison meetings on the second Thursday of each month and retraining. Our relationship, service work and time together is very important to me.