Dear Friends: In “Alternatives to Prison” (Western Friend, March/April 2022), Susan Cozzens suggests that “Quakers by and large want to live in that Light and Love that takes away the occasion of all prisons.” Taking away “the occasion of all prisons” would seem to be a prerequisite for their abolition.
However, there may always be those whose deliberate actions require them to be segregated, at least for a time, from the society at large that they have victimized. The challenge that Quakers, and others, continue to address is how to ensure that any such segregation will be maintained in pursuit of reconciliation, rather than revenge.
– John van der Meer, former attender at Albuquerque Monthly Meeting (IMYM)