The story is told of a prisoner who was so desperate to make a bid for freedom that he arranged for a key to be smuggled into the prison concealed inside a bar of soap. Apparently, he made a clean getaway!
Seriously though, keys are synonymous with prisons. In a physical sense it may be walls and bars and cell doors that keep people in, but at the end of the day, it’s a key that has the potential to make the difference between captivity and liberty. It’s a key that sets free, that releases, that does the unlocking.
But let’s think for a few moments about unlocking at a deeper and more profound level – that is unlocking the potential, the God-given potential that is within each person to be the best that they can be. It is the case that people enter the criminal justice system for many and complex reasons, in many cases rooted back to a childhood that is characterised by negative role models, absent parents, neglect or even abuse. Restoration and rebuilding can be a long process.
If we are to support people in making a new start in life, we must walk alongside them and with them. There are many excellent initiatives providing support in many practical ways – accommodation, training, debt relief, job clubs, help with addiction, foodbanks, drop-ins and so on. But a crucial element in all of this is the establishment of respectful and empowering relationships, through which people can learn to trust again, to respect themselves and others, to gain a new sense of purpose, and begin to look at their lives from a new perspective. Victor Hugo once said, “The word which God has written on the brow of every man is Hope”. We must hold on to that – whatever has gone before, there is always the possibility of restoration, renewal and rebuilding. I am convinced that we all hold the keys to unlocking that potential.
