One of the aspects of ministry I have been involved in almost as long as I’ve been a heathen is working with heathen prisoners. People ask me all the time why I do it, what do I get out of it, and maybe more importantly, what do they get out of it?

If not me, who?

That’s the answer to the first question. If not me, who else will? I don’t mean that no one else is actively working with heathen prisoners. Far from it. Many organizations do prison outreach, especially heathen organizations who are trying to interrupt the prison to white nationalism pipeline that we so often see happen.

Young white man goes to prison. Family is embarrassed. Culturally for white families in the USA, there is a stigma attached to having someone in the family in prison that communities that have long been the victims of racism and police injustice already accept. Cut off from family support, in prison for the first time, he needs someone to show him the ropes. Prison is a very racialized space. And so the person who he finds is usually also white.

Now, the vast majority of white men in prison do NOT identify as Heathens. However, the compared to the general US population, the percentages are a lot higher. So there’s a good chance that the man he falls in with is a heathen. That is his introduction to the faith.

That in and of itself is why I do it. To be a voice that counters what they hear. Who can help them find other aspects of being a heathen than the viking-bro die and go to valhalla rhetoric.

I get to know I’m doing my part.

They get an experienced gythia who can help them navigate these waters. The information available to most prisoners is biased, generally victorian era scholarship because it’s free in the public domain. That doesn’t mean it speaks to current eddies in the flow of heathen knowledge.

For those just getting started working with prisoners, I strongly recommend Adopt an Inmate. They do the screening already and match you with a prisoner who is looking for the type of support you are willing to provide. For me, that’s clergy support for pagans. For you, that might be something else.

But the final thought I’ll leave you with is this: if more people would get involved with prisoners, we would have a lot less recidivism. People end up going back to prison because they can’t find an anchor in the community outside, so going back is easier. If you really want to reform prisons in the US, the best way you can make an impact is to adopt an inmate and give them hope.