The Touchstones prison project, which has been operating almost continuously for twelve years, runs approximately six sessions monthly at the Maryland Correctional Facility at Jessup with additional sessions on days when families are invited to the prison for special focus programming (such as “Reading Unites Families” when Touchstones discussion groups are offered for wives and girlfriends of prisoners). In the prison environment, there is a fundamental need for prisoners not only to learn new occupational and personal skills that supplant previously acquired survival skills learned on the street or within the criminal justice system, but there is also a pervasive need for community, for humanity, and for compassion. Touchstones provides a unique environment where all of these crucial needs can be met.

The goals and objectives of the Touchstones program in prison are simple: to offer a safe and secure place where prisoners and volunteers can build community and share an understanding of humanity’s equal and common requisites, regardless of one’s path or past. Through this exchange, the incarcerated regain their dignity, examine their decisions and choices, and consider how their lives behind bars may still have meaning for themselves and their families. For those who participate from outside the prison, particularly parishioners, this program offers a chance to reflect on one’s spiritual journey, assumptions and presuppositions about mankind, the role of providence, and how we create a kinder and gentler world when we accept others for who they are.

The Touchstones method is a discussion-based educational tool that encourages spiritual growth and helps to develop cognitive and behavioral skills like critical reading and thinking, effective communication, respect for others, and personal responsibility. Each of the Touchstones sessions lasts for about an hour and includes approximately twenty prisoners and volunteers from local parishes, including St. Anne’s and St. Margaret’s in Annapolis, and Christ Church and St. Mark’s in Washington, DC. During the sessions, the participants work together to explore the fundamental underpinnings of humanity such as love, forgiveness, compassion, justice, and community. Through guided dialogue by a practiced discussion group leader, the participants—those from outside and inside the prison—share discussion about the decisions they have made and the consequences of thought and action. Generally, other prison ministries focus on assisting inmates during their first days in the community, or while they are on release, or in supporting their relationships with families while they are in prison, but Touchstones is committed to long-term engagement with the inmates themselves and to offering additional programming as possible through family days run by the prison system.

By means of the Touchstones process, physical violence, psychological abuse, and the emotional scarring that characterizes so many inmates is replaced with spiritual reflection, healing, and intellectual development. This transformation arises through the experience of self-efficacy and the ability to humanize the environment through engagement with fellow prisoners and volunteers. The educational component of the Touchstones process means that prisoners and parishioners alike are exposed to fundamental philosophical concepts that form the foundation of civilization, learn to listen actively, begin to think critically about their own opinions and those of their co-participants, ask questions that lead to deeper understandings and clarifications of statements, and synthesize a new understanding of how these crucial issues impact their lives and the lives of others.”