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Sisters of Mercy in Prisons

by Yuri Bessonov 

Any society throughout the history has had to establish a penal system and deal with the problems of treating criminals and maintaining prisons. In general, conditions in jails have fully corresponded to the approach of the society towards prisoners and reflected public concern in the problem. By the beginning of the 20th century such conditions were regarded more or less bearable in some European countries, while they were terrifying in some other countries until the mid 1960s, when, influenced by human rights watching organizations, the situation changed for the better--sanitary standards in prisons were improved and different systems for rehabilitation of prisoners for their possible future civilian life were introduced. However, even in Western Europe it took centuries before the ideas of humanity and philanthropy started having influence on the prisons' management. Evolution of prisons in European countries has mainly been highlighted by the specialists on law and social studies, while participation of nurses in developing the up-to-date system of treating people sentenced by the societies to spend a part of their lives in jails still remains in a shadow. This survey is an attempt to take a brief glimpse of the contribution of sisters of mercy, members of the first European communes of nurses, to creating adequate conditions for prisoners and changing public's attitude towards rehabilitation of criminals and their possible return to normal life in the society.

From ancient times until the demolition of the Bastille in the course of the French Revolution prisoners were kept in extremely harsh conditions, often chained in heavy shackles, doomed to die sooner or later. In fact, any detention in dark wet stuffy cells, often inhabited by rats, meant slow death of emaciation or diseases for the ones who were sentenced to a few years' imprisonment. No healthy man or woman could survive long detention in dark cellars of jails or hard labor at the places for penal servitude. The medieval societies did not consider seriously any possibilities for the convicts to return to normal life. Contacts of the prisoners with the outer world were often confined only to a short visit of a priest for confession, often done at the moment when a prisoner was in death agony. Public concern about prisons started changing after the French Revolution under the pressure of wide publicity of the reports describing terrifying conditions in prisons and European societies came to understanding that prisons cannot exist just as places for isolating criminals and punishing them by means of hard labor, lousy food and harsh conditions, often accompanied by corporal punishment. Later in the 19th century Western European societies changed their approach to their penal systems as a whole, while people came to understanding that crimes had often been caused by social injustice and poverty. Debates on how to treat convicts in prisons and whether it was possible to convert criminals to law obedient citizens started. Humanistic ideas of the 19th century led to the concept of correction and rehabilitation of criminals. At the same time, industrial development and development of medicine changed hygiene standards for any public institutions, including prisons. The approach towards prison maintenance changed as well. It was accepted that prisoners could not be deprived of elementary basic necessities such as fresh air, clean water, regular washing and change of clothes. However the first steps in this long way were done by a handful of early nurses, whose voices were much too weak to be heard by the authorities, but whose feats of compassion demonstrated examples of truly humanistic approach toward convicts.

It has been known since the medieval times that apart from looking after the sick and poor, the early nurses often took care of the criminals kept in prisons. Examples of such remarkable feats may be found in the biographies of famous early nurses, such as St. Elisabeth of Hungary, also known as St. Elisabeth of Thuringia (1207 - 1231), and in the description about the life and works of St. Vincent de Paul (1580 - 1660), founder and inspirer of a number of the Catholic communes of nurses in France. Although the majority of different Christian charity orders were mostly engaged in taking care of the poor and the sick both in hospitals and at homes, some traces may be found about their activity in prisons as well. For example, according to a description of St. Catherine's Hospital in Paris founded in 1328, nurses of that order were commissioned to visit prisons on certain days and bury the criminals died in prisons1. Another example may be found in the description of charitable feats made by Luisa Le Gras (Venerable Louise de Marillac Le Gras), one of Vincent de Paul's ardent supporters and close associates who founded the commune of nurses called Sisters of Charity in Paris in the beginning of 1630s. Nurses of this commune often visited convicts in prisons and took care of the sick prisoners2. Obviously the early nurses mostly provided some elementary care, read the Holy Bible, and said prayers, trying to soothe the soles of prisoners doomed to spend years in jails. However, those simple deeds were also the first attempts to convince the authorities of the medieval societies that human beings were supposed to remain human beings even in prisons and that even prisoners had right for charity and consolation, disregarding the crime they had committed, before they die.

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