Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating For Justice That Restores by Dominique DuBois Gilliard
(Format used for this read: Print–paperback)
In 2017, I watched a documentary that completely changed the way I viewed our prison system as well as our criminal justice system as a whole.
That documentary was “13th” by Ava Duvernay.
When I tell yall that it shook me to the core, I mean it SHOOK ME.
Everything I thought I knew was flipped upside down…history I thought I knew was proven wrong…and I was informed off horrific injustices affecting so many and became aware of the shocking history behind the corrupt systems in place in our country.
It was a wake up call for me.
And it was another thing added to my list of “Things I did not know because of our white supremacist society AND my bubble of white privilege”.
That documentary was just one of the many resources that were recommended to me as I began my racial awakening and actively started doing the work to become an anti-racist.
If you have never watched “13th”, PLEASE go to Netflix NOW and add it to your queue.
Do NOT put off watching it…do it TODAY even.
It is THAT important.
My journey to becoming an anti-racist will NEVER be done….I continue to learn and grow on a daily basis.
If we ever think we are “done” or have “arrived” at a finish….that is a HUGE problem. There is no finish….only a start.
It reminds me of my faith journey.
We should always be striving to learn more and grow more….and as that happens new knowledge will develop, heart change will happen and the way we do life will change.
This book right here is an incredibly important conversation that Jesus followers need to be a part of….and WAY too many of us are not.
Way too many of us have a totally messed up, incorrect and unChristlike view of mass incarceration.
This book informs, educates, convicts, and inspires.
Here is the summary:
“The United States has more people locked up in jails, prisons, and detention centers than any other country in the history of the world.
Mass incarceration has become a lucrative industry, and the criminal justice system is plagued with bias and unjust practices. And the church has unwittingly contributed to the problem.
Dominique Gilliard explores the history and foundation of mass incarceration, examining Christianity’s role in its evolution and expansion. He then shows how Christians can pursue justice that restores and reconciles, offering creative solutions and highlighting innovative interventions. Discover how you can bring authentic rehabilitation, lasting transformation, and healthy reintegration to this broken system.”
Since I started my racial awakening in 2017, I also started the process of decolonizing my faith.
So so so so much of we learn in the American church (ESPECIALLY the white American church) is completely Westernized Christianity.
The more I dismantle of my faith and beliefs, the more I realize how much of what I “know” of Christianity is basically just an Americanized, whitewashed version of it.
From the moment European colonizers stepped foot onto the soil here, the Bible has been twisted, turned, distorted and messed with in a bagillion ways to support oppression, endorse dehumanization, instill fear, and enforce condemnation.
The author spends a lot of time in this book giving history not only how our modern prison system was created but also on how the church has had a huge impact on our prison system…positively AND negatively.
It shocked me to learn how so called “hard core” Jesus following people have been the ones to endorse extreme sentencing, harsher punishments, horrible living enviornments and the death penalty.
How can we say with our mouths that we love our neighbors, all are covered by grace, and redemption and transformation are ALWAYS possible and then support horrendous treatment of other human beings made in the image of God?
I seriously can not make sense of it.
Yall what a HORRIBLE witness to our faith we are if we are so willing to label fellow brothers and sisters as “lost causes” and “not worthy”.
I see so many be SO QUICK to place a vote for someone because they are against abortion….but then will also be just as quick to vote for someone who is adamantly for the death penalty.
Seriously yall….how is it okay to end the life of one “type” of human being and yet not the other?
WTF is what I have to say about that.
Seems quite against the message and life of Jesus to me. 🤷♀️
You can’t say you are “ProLife” and not care about ALL life….from womb to tomb.
If you care about each and every human being, that includes EACH AND EVERY HUMAN BEING…period end of sentence.
The author digs WAY into this premise in the book.
When I do reviews on books like this, I really like to share some of the author’s own words so you can hear THEIR voice more than my own.
Here are some poignant quotes from each chapter just to give you a sample of just a few of the many powerful words Dominique has written in these pages:
PART 1: THE ROOTS AND EVOLUTION OF MASS INCARCERATION
Ch 1: THE WAR ON DRUGS
“Our justice system is fundamentally broken, but so is our vision. We are socialized to see entire ethnic groups as being more prone to criminal activity than others. We are trained by this society to believe certain members of certain communities of color will inevitably end up behind bars….When we dehumanize others, we become less human ourselves.”
Ch 2: HOW DID WE GET HERE?
“The church must reckon with the reality that ever since black people were stolen from Africa and trafficked to this land, they have been dehumanized, abused, criminalized, incarcerated, exploited for profit, and governed in distinctly sinister ways. This oppression has been personal, institutional, systemic, and legislative. It has been authorized and sanctioned by our local, state and federal government. As the church, do we have the wherewithal to confront the austere reality that our national economy has been subsidized by a criminal justice system that is, and has been, predicated on the exploitation of cheap labor extracted from poor, racially profiled people of color?”
Ch 3: BEYOND LAW & ORDER
“As followers of Jesus–himself a victim of the death penalty–one would think Christians would rebuke capital punishment as an antiquated, inhumane method of torture disguised as justice…Rather than affirming the law and it’s “tough on crime” approach, Jesus counteracts it and responds to the violater of the law restoratively…..Historically, as unjust laws have brought death, oppression, and injustice, far too many Christians have acquiesced to a patriotic doctrine of unquestioning allegiance to law and order.”
Ch 4: THREE OVERLOOKED PIPELINES
“Christianity has consistently been misused to legitimate exclusion. Misappropriated faith has been used to create a buffer between us and them, be it between “moral citizens” and “criminals”, the cognitively impaired and those without, or the haves and have nots. The fact that many people link exclusion to the church and our definition of salvation is heartbreaking”
Ch 5: THE SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE
“Systemic racism is one of the most common and tragic expression of racism young people are subjected to. While systemic racism can be overt, it is often expressed covertly; insidiously ingrained within institutional culture. Systemic racism is thereby commonly reinforced by well intentioned people (system employees) in unconscious ways. Implicit bias is a chief expression of institutionalized racism.”
PART 2: THE CHURCH’S WITNESS AND TESTIMONY
Ch 6: PROTESTANT REFORMERS
“All too often we try to ‘bring Jesus to prisons’, but Jesus is already there.”
Ch 7: THE PRISONER’S PASTOR
“In order to faithfully move forward as the church and as a nation, we must learn to hold the good with the bad as opposed to denying the shameful elements of our past. Only then can we lament and turn back to God.”
Ch 8: THE SPIRIT OF PUNISHMENT
“Whenever we thrust ourselves into a role exclusively reserved for God, we sin. God is the lone just judge….Our Creator is the only magistrate and jury who should possess the power to end life. Capital punishment then is antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is predicated on reconciliation, redemption, and restoration.”
Ch 9: ATONING AND SANCTIFYING RETRIBUTION
“Within the biblical framework of shalom, justice is not reduced to distributing punishment. Punishment cannot satisfy the demands of justice. Justice is ultimately satisfied when repentance, restoration and renewal occur….biblical justice is rooted in the rectification of relationships, not in isolation and punishment….Rather than supporting a system that merely punishes, the church must pursue a justice system that builds community, affirms human dignity, and seeks God’s shalom.”
Ch 10: DIVINE JUSTICE IS INHERENTLY RESTORATIVE
“Christianity is predicated on grace, which opposes meritocracy and the rugged individualism we pride ourselves on…it subtly fosters a fear of “the other” by differentiating “us” from “them”…Meritocracy holds that “those” people deserve to be quarantined and caged like animals because their actions prove they are dangerous and immoral…Over time, the church has welcomed a meritocratic ethnic, which forsakes the grace our faith is founded on…It hinders lost sheep trying to find their way back to their Sheperd, and blinds those who believe that they have spiritually arrived.”
Ch 11: HOLY INTERRUPTIONS
“We have to develop the fortitude to have difficult ecclesial conversations about history, racial injustice, and institutional oppression. The truth spoken in these conversations must always be expressed in love; however, the rhetoric of love cannot be strategically deployed by those in power to obscure hard truths.”
I highly recommend this book.
Dominique’s impactful wisdom and extensive research is 100 percent Spirit led and you will learn SO much.
Your heart will break and your frustration will rise as you realize the injustices that continue to happen that the church as a whole has contributed to, but you will also be filled with hope for change and reminded of the amazing love and healing that can come when we TRULY DO follow in Jesus’ footsteps.
If you want to read more about the author, his ministries and activist work, click here to visit his website: