by Bill Huzar
April 2009
Thanks to Marcia Williams, I am a CAMS volunteer. When I arrived at St. John’s in 2003, I was welcomed into an extraordinary group of social activists. In telling my own story, I said that I taught young offenders in a detention centre in Ontario for fifteen years. One of the observations I made there was that the correctional system failed the young men whom I taught. Housed, clothed, fed and educated while in custody, they were let loose back into society with little or no support. They frequently fell back into old habits. It was not surprising that the recidivism (return to crime and jail) rate was high.
Marcia arranged for me to meet Honora Johannesen, a friend who had established the Community Adult Mentoring and Support (CAMS) program for the Victoria Parole Office. In 2000, Bob Brown, then Area Director of the Vancouver Island Parole Office, approached Honora with the idea of developing a community integration project. The idea developed from an existing support program called Circles of Support and Accountability.
In January 2001, Correctional Services Canada contracted Honora to recruit, screen and train volunteers under the supervision of the Victoria Parole Office to mentor parolees released into Greater Victoria. CAMS is a collaborative, consultative process involving community and institutional connections. It involved inmates and the community at large.
The Church of St. John the Divine was approached to provide community support for the nascent CAMS program. A group of parishioners established a steering committee and meeting space. While the steering committee provided oversight in the early stages of the program, St. John’s continues eight years later to provide training space for the program and the parish hall for the annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet.
In May 2001, the first group of volunteers met in the lounge at St. John’s to begin their training. Among that group were three St. John’s parishioners: Marcia Williams, Scott Sudbeck and Elsa Shoop. As of April 2009, 60 mentors have been trained with 185 “matches.” The mentors are culturally and linguistically diverse (English, Cantonese, Japanese, Punjabi, Jamaican Patois, French, Greek, Danish, Nigerian, and Korean.) They also represent individuals from 21 to over 80 years of age. Some are beginning careers in corrections and others come from the community at large. Fifty percent have at least one university degree. Several of the younger mentors moved into related careers in law and social work. Three have become parole officers (two of them in Victoria). Another is a corrections officer in an institution.
The benefit to the community is immeasurable. The mentors guide the parolees towards their safe and secure integration into Victoria on their return to civil society. Many of the matches have spent decades in institutions and without CAMS would have serious problems “on the outside.”
Many of the parolees served out their sentences to warrant expiry in the CAMS program. The first to reach warrant expiry was mentored by St. John’s parishioner Elsa Shoop.
The screening process for mentors is rigorous. It is far more than a simple police check. All trainees have to achieve enhanced security clearance before being placed with a match. In addition, Honora interviews and counsels each potential volunteer to assure aptitude and suitability as a mentor. Not all are accepted.
The training is thirty hours over ten weeks at St. John’s. The training sessions deal with a variety of topics presented by professionals in the fields of correctional services, dispute resolution, social work, mental health, and addiction. Successful completion of the program is a requirement for participation in CAMS.
I have experienced three matches. The first was a man sentenced to life in prison (a lifer). He was paroled after serving 25 years “inside.” My job was to help him adjust to life “outside” in Victoria. John lived in a half-way house. While he was at William Head Institute, he made close connections to the community, especially with the church he attended. He attended the church with a couple who volunteered weekly to escort him there while he was at William Head. He and I met regularly for coffee or walks along the Gorge. As a mentor, my only responsibility to the parole office was to report any instance where I believed John or the community was at risk or he had violated the terms of his parole. Otherwise, we acted like friends. John got a job and established himself well enough that within a short time we both felt he no longer need me as a mentor and our relationship came to an end.
My second match, Ted, was a different story. He moved into Victoria reluctantly. He was imprisoned for a definite sentence for crimes related to drugs and drug addiction. Within a few weeks he was drawn back into his former ways by the free access to drugs on the streets of Victoria. He breeched the terms of his parole and returned to prison for the balance of his sentence.
My most recent match is a remarkable experience. George is another lifer having served 26 years before being paroled. He is a remarkable individual: intelligent, a self starter, and independent with a generous disposition and fine sense of humour. Within a week he found day labour work and within two months he was recognized for his real worth. George became the office manager for the contractor. He held this job for more than two years posing no threat to the community or to himself. George was very forgiving of my frequent absences from Victoria, but, like old friends, we picked up the relationship meeting for coffee, walks or movies. I became George’s “vent” for the frustrations that he felt being a “free” man in Victoria constrained by the parole system.
After three years as a full-time employee, a contributing member of society, and an active member of his faith community, George reached a frustration level which was deemed by the parole office to be a deteriorating attitude. He was returned to William Head. Both he and I were disappointed, but we hope that this is not the end our CAMS relationship, just an interruption. I look forward to his release.
The success of CAMS with over 180 matches, many reaching warrant expiry, will continue thanks to the support of St. John the Divine and the remarkable ability of the program leader, Honora Johannesen.