Welcome, and we are re the satoe wr thoswho mi akertu so that part of quakerism i belong to, we call it a Friends Meeting rather than a Friends Church although there is such a thing as a Friends Church, and we worship in silence. So we sit in silence and wait upon the spirits and then people might speak out of the silence as they are moved by the spirit. So in an hour we might get a few messages. And then we just kind of return to the silence and stay in that space. We dont have ordained clergy, we all take responsibility and we do everything by committee which often happens in churches. And in a quaker community, what would be some of the other activities are ministries that might occur there . Theres always been a close relationship in our tradition between our faith and our actions, particularly work in the world related to social justice, the environment, and so forth. So theres a lot of work, we have committees to do that. We also have a worship and Ministry Committee and a Pastoral CareType Community and thats everything to handle all the business that a pastor would normally handle. Would a visitor be welcome at to the gathering . Always. Always. And like private public many denominations, we are always challenging ourselves to be more welcoming. We are not used to that much silence, are we in our lives . Let alone in a worships setting. Its amazing what can happen. It is a form of christian mysticism. So a lot can happen in that silence, but you have to be able to wait. Giving space for the spirit to speak through people. Right. Also, i think i could say theologically that we are one of the piece churches. There were three original petes churches, the mennonites, the brethren and the quakers. Not going to work, not feeling that we had the right to take a life, and that has carried over, obviously, till present, but also on the issues that i work on which are the criminal punishment system. Yes. And we want to hear about that work because you are doing really important work and it is timely work right now. Do the american Friend Services committee, that was established in 1917, we just celebrated our seller hundreds last year. That is the social Justice Branch of the church . Its an independent friends. On, reliarm, b the official title is the religious society of friends but we would have been called quakers because people were felt to quake when in the throes of the spirit. So this nickname came along. You feel it in your body first. Yeah. Interesting experience. That is good for us to know. Quaker and friends is interchangeable as is the religious society of friends. You participate in the Strawberry CreekFriends Meeting in berkeley. So 1400 friends in this part of the western, california, nevada area. So it is not a lot, but we are mighty. We have an impact, we hope. Absolutely. Well, laura is the Program Director, the healy Justice Program of the american Friend Services committee, and we want to hear the work that you are doing in abolishing the Death Penalty and also your work with solitary confinement and prisoners who are experiencing that. So when we are back we will hear more about that. Welcome back to mosaic. Im elizabeth. Oh. Today our special guest is Laura Magnani. She is the Program Director of the healing Justice Program of the american Friend Services committee. Tell us about the work that you are doing specifically. So we work on a wide variety of prison issues, but the wine i thought we would focus on today orped lifinemeit ia reall new gornor, n ma to give people a reprieve who are currently on death row. Their 737 people on death row. 23 of them are women. And so his decision is a moratorium. It doesnt end the Death Penalty, just as i cant do this. And i was really moved by him taking that stance because it is really very personal and to me, very faith related because when you are the person who actually is responsible for assigning a debt death warrant, its a different thing than any of the rest of us usually say. And so his reasons for saying you know, this is wrong, this is not taking in the direction we need to go, i thought were excellent. And it puts the issue back on the pages to think about becawe havea en the coursays e th arg ong and yot usthe ngth are e they are dying. They are effective in some cases too. And effective. Its amazing to think about who decides what kind of, they call a cocktail to get somebody to come in. The idea that we as a society would spend our time thinking about that is not very good for us. And so anyway, the courts have slowed it way down, but then newsom was able to step in and say they shouldnt be there at all. And one of the really exciting things to me is that right away, legislation was introduced, aca 12 to abolish it in california as soon as he made that decision. And there are 23 coauthors. Ive been working on this issue since the 1970s when the u. S. Supreme court actually said its unconstitutional, and so for a small amount of time we didnt have it in california. So it was weird when people started reinstituting legislation. There were two or three people that may have, the fact that 23 or coau it two thirds legislation, and because the people originally put these laws on the books, and it is a long way from there. But the idea that we are talking about it again and we are taking it seriously and we are asking ourselves, is this really how we want to spend our money, and how we want to treat people, because the message they are sending is that killing people is okay. They will think that thats the message we want to send if you are talking about death qualified census. We want to say no, this is not okay and we are not going to participate and we dont want you to participate in it. Yeah. I know when famihe killeder some of them say and execution of those who perpetrated the crime doesnt bring them any relief for or any closer. It doesnt bring their loved one back. But in your conversations with people who have differing opinions, what are you hearing . We have worked a lot wi who have beenon sidthat issue and a lot of times, families do think its going to bring closure and then after it happens they are stuck with those same feelings. And some of that has come out in the article since the governors decision that it really doesnt bring you closer. If you read dead man walking, she spends a lot of time with family members and perpetrators and came away realizing that it wasnt meeting anybodys needs to take another life. So its an important conversation to be having. But you know, our syst its t about taking care of the vics. Victims are just used in the Legal Process to get a conviction. Their needs are not being met. Certainly not their emotional needs. Sometimes a few of their financial needs, but this is that the way we should be taking care of people. What is your vision for taking care of those victims . Other countries really invest in us and they spend as much money and time figuring out what the victims need in a situation like this and not just focusing on, get the a bad guy. Its much more parity between what you do with the offender and what you do with the victims. Both of those words are problematic because they are all people. And they are coming from different perspective to us. Yeah. For those who are on a death sentence, are all of them in san quentin . The minute are in san quentin, there might be a few others, but the women are in the womens facility. I do visit some, have visited for over 20 years, so just to keep hope alive and see if it is possible to have a life while you are waiting for death. People typically on death row decades for the Legal Process to run its course. So again, to kind of be in relationship and make sure that people are being treated like human beings. And how do you keep hope alive . In this season of easter, the season of hope and new life, why do you he paints wonderful pictures, particularly animals, and so the more he, he watches pbs shows to learn his craft. He didnt have anybody to teach him so he is totally self taught and he has gotten so much better and the time that i have known him. It is really exciting. He painteddaughter, and that is lifegiving. So it sounds like he is living, he is living as if he has a future. Yeah, which i am very moved by because i dont know if i would be up to do that. How challenging that would be. Right. But we could be putting our resources to making sure that happens. Giving people access to programs or education, if we really wanted to treat folks like human beings. Theres more like him i would think. Like you said, theres 737 total. And we dont want them focusing on death either. We want them focusing on mice because my belief as a christian is that people can change, that there is redemption, and that that is where we really need to concentrate our resources. Because if we all want to go forward together, we need to be thinking about what brings life on ts easter h death. Thatappr sses hopem ison welcome back to mosaic. Today with us is Laura Magnani. She is the Program Director of the healing Justice Program of the American Friends Service committee. We are talking about your work with prisoners on death row and abolishment of the Death Penalty. But another area of interest is the issue of psychological, physical, emotional punishment of solitary confinement. Talk to us about that. People dont realize that beginning in the 1980s, we started building institutions for permanent solitary confinement, places which were very, very isolating where people were going to go and stay forever. It has already always been temporary when somebody misbehaves. But these units didnt have to do with that. The had to do with gain management especially in california, and separating people. And so it is that a cell the size of a small bathroom that you dont get out of at all except to shower. There is a case that you would be exercising on a loan. You dont have contact except with guards that can be very hostile. So it is extreme isolation. And it is not good for the human soul and it doesnt make people better. In fact, it does cause Mental Illness which s l ennd issy rst thingocrazy in a ets of information from people in california who had been in the situation for decades and they had made a decision to go on a hunger strike. They worked across all of these different king groups. In july of 2011, it was the first hunger strike, there were three of them, to in 2011 and one in 2013. There were, at that time, by that calculus is, 14,000 people in some form of longterm isolation. Here in california alone. As they started working, they also said we need a Mediation Team to help talk with the department of corrections for us on our behalf, so is privileged, really, to serve on that team and to try to be a communication vehicle between the prisoners on strike and the department and i think it was lifechanging both for the Department People and for us and for the prisoners themselves. And since that time, i think the number is 82 of the prisonersone form of solitary confinement were released to the general population Something Like 60 of the people in administrative segregation. So it has been a huge step forward for these prisoners, and what has been really lifechanging for us in that Prison Abolition Movement is to hear these ideas and leadership from the people inside who are really suffering the most. They werent even asking to abolish solitary confinement although my organization would support that, but they just said, you got to do it in a completely different way. Youve got to give people some opportunity to be with other human beings. You got to give people programming. You cant people to change or get better in the circumstances that they are in. So you are seeing progress. We are seeing progress. Is a very Favorable Court decision that is being monitored now. And the other thing that they did is they issued a call to end hostilities. They said that they are going to put us in here because they think we cant get along with each other, we have to stop that behavior and start really working together and they put out a call to end hostilities to everyone and present and lets try to start working together. It is lifechanging. But it is a work in progress. It is a work in progress. You know, given your focus on this really intense work, what is your vision for the world . Where do you find hope and what is your vision for doing what you are doing . I think the vision is freedom, the vision is doing the things that are life affirming and actually make us better, make us more whole, but the prison system is built on punishment and violence. Restorative justice, what which we do a lot of in my organization, is based on wholeness and healing which we all need. Whatever origins, whatever our histories are. And we dont spend enough time figuring out how to get that and practicing, because it takes practice. It is not something we automatically know how to do. It is certainly easier to punish or lock up, throw away the key, as you hear, this hard worker forgiveness, restoration, making amends. Its not about no accountability. It does involve making amends. But doing it in a way that people actually take responsibility. Yeah. Well, well be back in just a moment. Well talk more about the hope of easter season. Hope even found in prison through the good work that Laura Magnani is doing. We will be back. Welcome back to mosaic in this easter season. Laura magnani has been our special guest from the American Friends Service committee and we were going to talk about forgiveness and how essential that is for the work that you do and the vision for your work. One of the things that is really personified by what the governor did with the Death Penalty is that he used his authority to give people reprieve. To say lets try something different. And that has been in common law from the beginning, from colonial times. Heads of state have already had that power as it is extremely important that somebody have the power to make a choice for mercy. And so i think that is very important. I think the people, again, dont know forgiveness because they may not feel like they are forgivable. If we dont practice that, people arent going to feel it and we are going to get there. What kind of world we want to build . If we just building on violence and meanness and hatred we arent going to go there. As chr believe ind d this easter is ab resurrection and new life, starting over, nougat beginnings, and so your work certainly personifies that, a work of new beginnings. But also this easter season is for them to begin again, whatever that means for you to celebrate easter. The resurrection of jesus christ, we want you to go to a Worship Service on Easter Sunday or throughout the easter season, laura was mentioning that you will experience a very contemplative gathering at a friends service. Right, but people on Easter Sunday may give messages about easter, we just cant control it. It is called an unprogrammed meeting. Very good. Worship at your local congregations. On Easter Sunday, throughout the season of easter, visitors are always welcome and expected, but a practical note. Check the website, because particularly on Easter Sunday there might be a special part is, there might be extra services or music right so you want to make sure that you arrive at the time you want to be there for everything. St. Marks, we have two services at 9 00 and 11 00, we have a lot of types of music. We have a huge pipe organ, special music at 10 30, and wants to hear and listen to along with the wonderful hymns throughout the season of easter and the season of new life. So we think you for showing us where new life is and can be in the prison system. In the state of california. Thank you for your good work and for the work of the american French Society is doing. I want to say a special word of thanks to my cohost, our lead producer, reverend hugh burrows, blessings to you during this easter season, i hope that you will go out and worship. Well see you next time. Have a wonderful day. A group of protesters set fire to a county courthouse in oakland that led to its destruction. Details about employees who have died from the coronavirus. Millions of americans are left in limbo as Unemployment Benefits run out. I feel anxious about it and scared. It is just about 6 am. Good morning. Lets get started this morning with a check of our weather. Sunday is almost an exact repeat of saturday. I will