It is not my job to judge - says provider of pastoral care for prisoners

Stephan Gasser-Kehl provides pastoral care for prisoners at the Inter-cantonal prison at Bostadel near Menzingen and at the police station cells in (the street called) an der Aa in the city. He has studied philosophy, religious literature and psychology but is not a priest and has been providing pastoral care for prisoners on behalf of both the Catholic and Protestant churches for 13 years now, talking to inmates about their problems and helping then to come to terms with their current situation.

In the police station in the city he has access to all areas, much as a prison warder, whereas in Bostadel he has access to certain areas only, the prisoners being brought to him if they want to talk.

Twice a week Gasser-Kehl heads off to the city cells, knocking at the hatch on the door. “When the prisoner opens it, I tell him who I am; it is he who decides whether he wants to talk or not,” he said, adding how the prisoners often spend up to 20 hours alone in their cells. “The good thing is that the prisoners, mostly men, see me personally. If they agree to a talk, we often go out into the exercise yard, for about 30 minutes or so.”

Gasser-Kehl went on to explain how he was brought up in Solothurn where his mother taught German to inmates at a half-open prison, some of them entertained in the family home on Sundays. “Of course, I am talking about the Seventies and Eighties, which were quite different times,” he explained. It was actually at the University of Bern that he did another course to be able to qualify as a provider of pastoral care to prisoners, learning about the legal side of things, for example. It is only natural that the actual crime committed, and the guilt the prisoner feels, are among the topics discussed, the inmates often wanting a third party to give his view on things. When it comes to the problem of spending so much time alone, Gasser-Kehl advises them to draw, to write letters, to sing, to do breathing exercises or to pray, anything which can help reduce their levels of stress.

As to his tougher challenges, Gasser Kehl mentioned talking with younger offenders. “What is important is giving them the feeling they are being taken seriously. I am not there to judge them. I suppose my role is more a fatherly or brotherly one,” he said. “What is good is that I have rarely ever seen any of them after committing further offences,” he added.

As to a balance to listening to prisoners’ problems, Gasser-Kehl gets involved in sport. And is his work effective?  “What I find very rewarding is when warders tell me how much more relaxed the inmates were after my visit.”