Criminal justice reform is vital, Cardinal Vincent Nichols said today, as he urged employers to 'ban the box' that bars many ex-offenders from finding employment after prison.
Nichols was speaking at a press conference following the Autumn 2016 meeting of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales.
Most job application forms will feature a 'tick box' inviting applicants to indicate whether they have committed any criminal offences. However, ticking this box almost always results in an applicant not being considered further for the post.
Challenging this practice, the Rt Rev Richard Moth, lead bishop for prisons, said in a video message: "We as bishops call for the removal of such tick boxes. Such action would not make work places unsafe. It would, however, make possible a conversation for all job applicants, a conversation that for the ex-offender, could lead to employment, and the road away from a life of potential re-offending."
Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in the UK, said that the Church would integrate the 'ban the box' policy into their own diocesan recruitment practices, as a way of emphasising the need for the rehabilitation of offenders. The Church has increasingly made impassioned calls for criminal justice reform, and outlines proposals for such change in its recent document: The Right Road: A Catholic approach to prison reform.
Nichols spoke of how priests, particularly during this Year of Mercy, have emphasised prison visits, and the Church has made provision for more prayer books for prison chaplains. The Church is also keen to tackle the serious issues of the physical and mental health of prisoners, addressing the crisis of self-harm and suicides that currently pervades Britain's prisons.
Bishop Moth emphasised "the call for our prison system to truly embrace the road of rehabilitation, which in the words of Pope Francis, 'benefits and elevates the morale of the entire community.'"
He added: "Prisons are not isolated institutions, standing disconnected from the outside world, they are an integral part of our communities, and our treatment of prisoners reflects on the whole of society."
On his recent visit to a prison in Philadelphia, Pope Francis told inmates there: "This time in your life can only have one purpose: to give you a hand in getting back on the right road... All of us are part of that effort."
Nichols referred to Pope Francis' comment on incarceration: "There but for the grace of God go I."
Emphasising the Catholic Church's celebration and recognition of the Year of Mercy, which finished last Sunday in the UK and this coming Sunday in the US, Francis had told prisoners: "Please see the door of your cell as a door of mercy."
In The Right Road, Pope Francis is quoted: "Where there is mercy, justice is more just, and it fulfils its true essence. This does not mean that we should throw open the doors of prisons and let those who have committed serious crimes loose. It means that we have to help those who have fallen to get back up."
