Let's Talk

Visiting Mentally Ill Offenders

The Healing Power of Friendship

Helmut Isaac (left) is the coordinator of Person to Person, a multi-faith prison visitation program and Eric Olfert has been volunteering with Person to Person for nearly 10 years.

"I was in prison and you visited me." These simple words from the Book of Matthew in the New Testament lie behind Helmut Isaac's commitment to befriend those whom society has turned its back on.

While farming in northern Saskatchewan in the 1980s, Isaac began visiting inmates at the Prince Albert Penitentiary. Following a disabling farm accident, he and his wife moved to Saskatoon, where he became coordinator of Person to Person, a multi-faith prison visitation program that largely serves mentally ill male offenders at CSC's Regional Psychiatric Centre (RPC) in the Prairie Region.

"We're not coming in there to fix anything," he emphasizes. "We're there to offer friendship. Many of these guys have come through the foster care system and have no family to connect with anymore. Others have been abandoned by their family because of their offences. We provide visits for those who would not otherwise get one."

The team of 35 Person to Person volunteers offers companionship — talking, listening, maybe playing cards, maybe just sitting together, but most of all communicating caring, respect and acceptance to lonely and isolated men.

As coordinator, Isaac matches volunteers up with inmates who have applied to be in the program, but only after RPC staff has put them through a risk assessment. "They don't let guys who are having an acute episode of mental illness come to the visitors' area," he says. "If they're not stable on their meds, or if they're causing problems on the units, they're not allowed to participate."

Benefits Both Ways

Volunteers are expected to form long-term relationships with the men and help lay the groundwork for the offenders' eventual return to society. It works, he says, because of the depth of relationship and trust that builds up over the years.

Eric Olfert has been volunteering with Person to Person for nearly 10 years. One of the biggest benefits of the program, he says, is that "it helps the men to begin restoring their sense of self-worth, and gives them a head start on what it all means when they are out on the street again."

"There are safety benefits as well," he adds. "One of the guys I visit said to me: 'I trust you. I value your visits and I'm finding it more and more important that I learn not to re-offend when I come out because that would jeopardize our friendship.'"

For Olfert, the personal reward is that "I get to meet some really interesting people. I find it a fascinating and powerful experience to spend time with these folks. Sometimes we can have wide-ranging conversations. Sometimes they can only talk about what happened that day and it takes careful work to get them to think in a bit more depth. But we get a lot of feedback from the people we visit, that just being treated like a human being who has some worth is a huge boost for them."

In his contacts with sex offenders, Olfert's non-judgmental approach can lead to barriers coming down. He recalls an inmate he'd been visiting for about three months. "Then, all of a sudden I got a note which said 'I imagine you wonder what I'm in for? Well, I abused small children. If you never want to see me again that's OK.'" Olfert wrote back to the offender, assuring him that he wanted to continue with the visits. "From that point on, our conversations were at a whole different level of honesty and openness."

Helmut Isaac also finds that the RPC benefits from the volunteers' presence. "Sometimes you're like a sponge. I remember one of the chaplains saying the volunteers don't realize how much tension they take out of the institution. The patients don't often get a chance to talk to anybody who isn't part of the system."

Safety Concerns

Not being part of the correctional system doesn't mean there are no boundaries. Volunteers soon learn how to recognize when offenders are trying to manipulate them or overstep the limits. This becomes easier as the relationship deepens and mutual trust develops. Potential volunteers are also required to attend training provided by the RPC, as well as Person to Person's orientation before they begin visiting.

Although conversations are kept confidential, offenders are told, up-front, that any threats of self-harm, or harm to others, or escape plans will be promptly reported.

When Eric Olfert first started doing prison visits, "it was a new experience to have the big doors clang behind you and to know that you were 'inside.' But the sense that there was any real danger was very small. When you start following patients out and relating to them on the street, then it becomes a bit more real." One of the men he's befriended is now in the community. "We trust each other," he says, "but he does have a mental illness and I always keep an eye on how things are for him."

Return to the Community

Although Person to Person began as a prison visitation program, the community component came about in response to the realization that patients were leaving the RPC with no friends, family or community supports.

Both Olfert and Isaac participate in the local Circles of Support and Accountability group, helping released sex offenders stay on their medication, find their place in the community and avoid re-offending. To ensure continuity, Helmut Isaac tries to have the volunteer who's been visiting with the offender on the inside be part of the circle as well.

Volunteers also get involved in driving the men to mental health appointments or accompanying them to support group meetings, such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, and helping to connect them with community resources.

Person to Person is all about creating a sense of community for offenders who never had one to start with, providing a group of people who care about them, regardless of their mental illness or what they have done, and helping them make a fresh start.

For more information about volunteer programs within CSC please visit http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/portals/volunteers/index-eng.shtml.♦