Honor Pod Inmate, Incarcerated At 16, Has Been Denied Parole 12 Times

Mr. Fitchett, now 54, is the second man from the left

"Life sentences are a hidden death penalty."

- Pope Francis

In 1979 Robert Davis Fitchett, Jr.,  at 16, was indicted with a homicide charge and two counts of malicious wounding. Only 15 when he committed the crime, he was was tried as an adult and received two life sentences plus 21 years. At the tme he was told he would eventually regain his freedom if he maintained a record of good behavior while behind bars. This was before Virginia passed its "truth in sentencing" laws in 1995 and abolished parole for future inmates.

Rob is deeply remoreseful for the crime he committed and the unimaginable pain he inflicted on the loved ones of his victim, and has been a model prisoner throughout his incarceration. Over the past decade he has been housed in Buckingham Correctional Center's 'Honor Pod' and has worked hard for the Virginia Correctional Enterprise for over 10 years. Under the "old law" he remains eligible for parole.

Mr. Fitchett just received his seventh three-year deferral from the current Virginia Parole Board, which has one of the lowest parole grant rates in the Commonwealth's history. This is equal to adding 21 years to his sentence.

The average cost to Virginia taxpayers for a year of incarceration is around $25,000 a year, increasing with age and greater health care costs for older inmates. Over a lifetime the total cost can be well over $1 million.

The following are Mr. Fitchett's own words:

When you have a victim impact statement protesting your release, you no longer have an unbiased parole board. The Board's job is to take in all information and make the best decision for the offender, society and the victim's family with an unbiased opinion. 

There have been some recent parole grants for violent crimes, whether singular or as a combination of offenses. But if someone writes against your release, the board no longer investigates or attempts to think of giving you a second chance such as they have given others. No matter if you have a better institutional records with decades of being infraction free, have strong family ties or were an immature 16-year old when the crime occurred. Even the U.S. Supreme Court knows children are constitutionally different from adults, where these differences result from children's diminished culpability and greater prospects for reform (U.S. Supreme Court decision 1/25/16).

The board clearly has a biased outlook, and seems only concerned with the reaction of the victim's family. I feel I should have the same rights as those fortunate enough not to have anyone speaking out against their release. 

I just want to be treated fairly and the same as others, which it appears I'm not. The board will spend weeks/months deciding on "normal" cases while I got only 5 days, and two of those were on a Saturday and Sunday.

The Virginia Parole Board should have an oversight committee so they can be held accountable and be required to have a clear rationale on record when it comes to their decision making.

Robert Fitchett, Jr.

Here's a link to contact the governor about criminal justice and public safely concerns:  https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office

The following link is for other posts on parole reform: http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/search?q=parole+reform

Following Jesus Through The Mud

Our friends Luke and Carmen Schrock-Hurst's daughter Grace was recently honored as Eastern Mennonite University's 2016 "Young Alumnus of the Year". She and her husband and two young sons live in the middle of a slum area where most of their neighbors earn a living salvaging items from the huge city dump adjacent to their home.

I am beyond inspired by the way they are taking their call to follow Jesus--in the tradition of saints like St. Francis and Mother Teresa.

The following reflections by Graceanna were read by her mother at the October 16, 2016, EMU Homecoming Worship Service:

"Follow Me," Jesus said to his first disciples 2,000 years ago. "Follow me and I will make you fishers for humans!" 

What a strange invitation to those original disciples!

Jesus spoke similar words to me, but through the mouth of a fourteen-year-old Manila street girl as I visited her slum in 2009 while taking part in the Global Urban Trek. "Follow me," she said, as we trudged through mud to visit her slum. But her words were not just her own--they were Jesus' invitation to me.

"Follow me into the slums!" Jesus said to me. "Follow me into the muddy, garbage-ridden streets of urban mega-cities! Meet me here among the poor. Follow me into the slums because I have so much to teach you here!"

And so I did. For the past six years I have been following Jesus in the slums of Indonesia.

Jesus gives each of us the same invitation. The logistics look a bit different for each follower, but we are all called to follow--humbly.

We follow humbly because we know that our following is like a baby learning to walk. We are not good at this following game. We fall down. We get back up again. We laugh as we learn. Sometimes we cry.

I think of my children learning to walk. First holding both my hands, then one hand, and finally learning to balance forward on their own--but always with me close by in case they fall. We are only babies learning to walk, following Jesus. At the most toddlers. 

My two-year- old son Jeremi is an expert walker and runner now. He even has mastered riding a balance bike. And now part of my job of following God is to teach my son how to follow too. We walk over trash heaps together "Hold my hand mommy," he says. "Is there a lot of smoke today?" he asks. 

And the irony is that often my children teach me about

humility, about how to love others, and about God. Jeremi is not afraid to get dirty, run through puddles, and play with mud for hours. He forms friendships that cross religious, economic, and social barriers, without even realizing it.

Jesus gives each of us the same invitation today: "Follow me." Our Lord, Jesus, went to the cross. We cannot expect anything easier. We can trust that He will be with us through every step of the journey--but we know the journey will not be easy. 

My journey of following Jesus into the slums has been very muddy--literally. No paved roads means that rainy season

produces a muddy mess to trudge through. Rain boots are a necessary accessory. 

And the journey has been hard in other ways--fire in my first slum, followed by eviction. Sickness and physical suffering for me and my friends. Wrestling with questions of wealth, poverty, evil, and faith… Life is one big muddy mess sometimes.

But that's where Jesus calls us to follow Him.

If Jesus Were On The Ballot--A Voters' Guide

Major Candidates

A. A Thrice-Married Billionaire Playboy Under Investigation For Ethics Violations

B. A Very Wealthy Professional Politician Under Investigation For Ethics Violations

C. A Heaven-Sent Messiah Under Mandate To Bring Healing and Deliverance To Humanity

Major Faith-Based Positions

___ Great blessings belong to those who are poor now.

       God’s kingdom belongs to them.

___ Great blessings belong to those who are hungry now.

       They will be filled.

___ Great blessings belong to those who mourn now.

       They will be happy and laughing.

___ But how bad it will be for the rich,

       because they have had their easy life.

___ How bad it will be for those who are full now,

       because they will be hungry.

___ How bad it will be for those who are laughing now,

       because they will mourn and cry.

___ How bad it will be for those who are praised now.

       (Just look at the false prophets. 

       People always said good things about them!)

- paraphrase of Jesus' teachings in Luke's gospel

Personal note: Sadly, it doesn't like things are trending in Jesus' direction.

Where Mennonites Stand On Abortion

To me, all of the amazing 31 stages of prenatal life are precious

Most evangelicals in the US today are known as strongly anti-abortion. For better or for worse, this hasn’t always been the case. 

Fifty years ago it was mostly Roman Catholics who were militantly opposed to ending a pregnancy, appealing to church tradition going all the way back to the Didache, a first century document which states, "You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child. (Didache 2:1-2, CA 70 AD)

But prior to the right wing political push that followed the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973, most conservative Protestants in the US either had little to say on the subject or actually defended the right of a woman to choose. 

The November 8, 1968, edition of the evangelical magazine Christianity Today addressed the issue, but in the first of its two lead articles Dallas Seminary professor Bruce Waltke makes the case that scripture is largely silent on abortion, and that “the Bible does not equate the fetus with a living person," but adds that "it places value on it” (CT, Vol. XIII, No. 3).

In 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention actually passed what could be considered a pro-choice resolution, committing themselves “to work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.”
http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/13/resolution-on-abortion

Soon after Roe v. Wade, the highly respected fundamentalist pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas,  W. A. Criswell, made this astonishing statement, “I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person and it has always, therefore, seemed to me that what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed.”
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godlessindixie/2016/10/23/what-does-the-bible-say-about-abortion/

My denomination, Mennonite Church USA, however, is committed to a consistently pro-life or “whole-life” stance, opposing war and other forms of violence such as the death penalty, torture and euthanasia. And in 2007 it affirmed the following position on abortion:

• Human life is a gift from God to be valued and protected. We oppose abortion because it runs counter to biblical principles.

• The fetus in its earliest stages (and even if imperfect by human standards) shares humanity with those who conceived it.

• There are times when deeply held values, such as saving the life of the mother and saving the life of the fetus, come in conflict with each other.

• The faith community should be a place for discernment about difficult issues like abortion.

• Abortion should not be used to interrupt unwanted pregnancies.

• Christians must provide viable alternatives to abortion that provide care and support for mothers and infants.

• The church should witness to society regarding the value of all human life.

• Professionals whose ministry involves dealing with the moral dilemmas of abortion and reproductive technologies need our support.

http://www.liquisearch.com/mennonite_church_usa/faith_and_practice/life_issues

Many of us find it heartening that evangelicals have become more "pro-life" over the past decades. But it is also true that conservative movements in the ’70’s appear to have used the issue for political purposes, as a way of persuading Christians to oppose candidates like Jimmy Carter in favor of Ronald Reagan, for example. This in spite of Reagan having supported some of the most liberal abortion policies in the nation as governor of California.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133#.U4d_e_ldW2E

I fully support a “whole-life” position, including human life in the womb, and even more so since seeing the ultrasounds of grandchildren in the making, and since becoming more aware of how distasteful the process of a surgically induced miscarriage really is. 
http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2015/04/all-life-is-precious-conversation-with.html

And I also agree with Catholic Sister Joan Chittister, who writes, "I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”

http://www.thechristianreview.com/a-pro-life-evangelicals-surprising-reaction-to-a-catholic-nun/

Thankfully, there has been a steady decline in the number of legal abortions in the US since the Roe v. Wade ruling, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. I hope that trend will continue, not necessarily through our criminalizing it and driving it underground, but by discouraging it and making it less acceptable, much as we have in the case of smoking, and by providing alternatives such as better health services and expanded options for people wanting to adopt children. 

Here's a link to another post on this topic: 
http://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2015/04/all-life-is-precious-conversation-with.html

Moderating Comments on Harvspot

For some reason, the Comment setting for my Blogspot program isn't showing, so I'm unable to moderate and publish your comments right now. Trying to get this fixed using my pre-tech-age brain is a challenge. Meanwhile, you can send me any comments, questions or suggestions for how to fix this to the email address on my profile.

We Need Less Jail, More Treatment

When Commonwealth Attorney Marsha Garst met with the Valley Justice Coalition last week, she stated that having some kind of detox and mental health facility should be a first priority toward reducing the rate of incarceration in our community. The current $26,000 cost per per inmate could go a long way toward funding this.

As further evidence of this need, I recently received the following letter from someone at our local jail, an abbreviated version of which follows, with his permission (slightly edited):

Mr. Yoder,

I have suffered with depression and anxiety my whole life and I just started back on medications through the Community Services Board. I also suffer from PTSD from a shooting I witnessed as a teen.

I committed some check fraud in 1999 and I am still on probation from those charges after spending almost ten years behind bars for the original charges as well as for some violations for dirty urines. They now want to give me four more years in prison for a dirty urine when their own records show that incarceration has not helped me.

My depression and anxiety get so bad when stressful life situations arise that I fall back into my addictions (self-medicate) so I can go numb and not feel.

For example, I recently learned that my 13-year old daughter was raped, and that my partner had a miscarriage. Our car also broke down and is not fixable, and I had to put my service dog down due to a cancer. Then when I thought things couldn't get any worse, my grandmother died.

I knew I was in trouble and went to my probation officer and admitted I had slipped and had been getting high, and begged her to help me get to Boxwood Treatment Center rather than going back to jail. I was refused.

I want to be a father my kids can be proud of. I just got back into their lives and I really want to change for them, my family and for myself. I have never received the help I needed to achieve that change because all they seem to want to do is to "lock him up".

I recently completed a drug class here at the jail and continue attending even after I "graduated". I just want to get help with my mental health issues. The time in prison does me no good, and if anything actually harms me and hurts my kids and my family.

This jail is full, with 85% of the inmates here from District 39 not because they committed any new crimes but because of failed urine screens while on probation. People like them and myself need treatment, not harmfully long incarceration.

I pray that this community becomes aware of what is going on with our local system and that things change so we can all get help instead of just being thrown aside to fill our jails and prisons.

Thank you,

(Signed)

Presidential Candidates Are The Offspring Of US

ABC News photo

In all my years I've never heard so much dismay and disgust expressed over the leading candidates in this year's presidential campaign.

Most see Mr. Trump and Secretary Clinton as simply not representing the US, as individuals who are alien to everything the rest of its good people stand for.

But might they in fact be an entirely accurate expression of the kind of culture we have become?

For example, did Donald Trump's narcissism, his ego-centeredness, his denigration of people of other faiths and ethnicities, his tendency to see women as objects readily available for male gratification just come out of nowhere, or from some alien planet?

Likewise, is Hillary Clinton's drive for accessing wealth and power for personal and political gain something she and her husband just came up with in isolation from the rest of us? Is her sometimes "extreme carelessness" with the truth for the sake of furthering her political ambitions something unheard of in the nation's history? Is her defensiveness and reluctance to own her mistakes unique to her personality?

And is the aggressive tone of each regarding avenging and killing enemies, as though the nation's motto was "In Guns we Trust", something new in a country which has for decades had a military budget exceeding that of the next highest ten nations combined?

No, No and No.

Unfortunately, our candidates' negative traits are those of our national culture writ large. Clinton and Trump are not so much exceptions to the values of many Americans as they are imitators of the darker side of all too many of us who are its citizens.

What made us think we could flaunt sexual promiscuity and promote endless self-gratification through constant media and other messages and not reap the results of what we have sown? Why should we be surprised when the selfish, shallow and sensual culture of Wall Street, Madison Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard seeks residence at Pennsylvania Avenue?

This isn't to say that everything about the Babylon-like nation we live in is pure evil, or that everyone who seeks political office is irredeemably corrupt, but we have all been tainted by Babylon's moral decline and negatively affected by expressions of its decay.

Yes, our candidates are the children of our own creation. We, with them, are a part of one large bell-shaped curve, with psychopaths at one end and some saints at the other, but the majority of us define ourselves as essentially good and unlike the "deplorable other".

As followers of Jesus we need to get in step with the beat of an entirely different drummer, live by the values of an entirely other, heaven-headquartered Sovereign who loves and longs to redeem all humanity everywhere. While those of us who pledge allegiance to Jesus as Lord remain residents in our predominantly godless society, we should find ourselves increasingly alienated from it, and moving in a counter direction, in conformity with the worldwide "God-movement" Jesus announced millennia ago.

That upside-down "Kingdom" will endure long after this election is over, and forever after the earth-focused, self-centered kingdoms of this world collapse under their own weight.

Yet lest we become too self-righteous in all this, let's take seriously the following story Jesus once told, as found in one of today's lectionary texts:

"Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

"But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

- Luke 18:10-14 (NIV)