I needed a pick-me-up today, like I do most days, a reminder that many things are going well in this world and opportunities are being created for those who most need it. In my quest for such a story, I stumbled upon the documentary film on Netflix, The Quilters. This film, an Oscar-contending short documentary, was directed by independent filmmaker Jenifer McShane. The film gave me everything I needed. If you have the opportunity to watch The Quilters, I hope you will take it.
Inside the Maximum-Security Prison (Level 5) in Licking, Missouri, is an amazing program provided to inmates by the Restorative Justice Organization, managed by Joe Satterfield, who is the Restorative Justice Coordinator for the Department of Corrections in Missouri. This initiative has garnered the title of “the quilting project,” whose mission is to make a birthday quilt for every child in foster care in the surrounding counties. For five days a week from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., volunteers from within the prison population, who have had no violations or write-ups over a specific length of time, may participate. Mr. Satterfield spends no time thinking of what these individuals did to find themselves in prison as he manages the project, but instead treats them with respect and kindness as he would any human being, which is the fundamental philosophy behind restorative justice.
I found the film extremely moving watching these men carefully select the colours of fabric and the designs they wish to create to help a child feel loved and cared for, something that will belong to each child and they will take with them throughout their life. The men take pride in their work. The emotion they displayed at completing their projects and receiving thanks was profoundly moving. All the men working on the project expressed with gentle sincerity their responsibility for where they went wrong in life, their true regret at the actions they could not take back. For several hours each day they feel a purpose, a chance to leave their mistakes behind as they create something for a child in need, something that may positively change the path those children are on, something that speaks to the good which each of us are capable of. None of these men made excuses for the actions that put them in prison, none of them asked for forgiveness but instead said the first step was forgiving themselves. Working on these quilts gave them space to touch the decency that dwells within each of them, within every one of us. Sometimes a man might feel overwhelmed by the deadline of an approaching child’s birthday, fearing the quilt won’t be done in time. When this happens, one of their cohorts steps up and helps them meet that commitment. Sometimes, though not often, that anxiety alters their behaviour and they lose the opportunity to work on the quilts until they have righted their ship. All of them are striving to do better, to be better.
This project has created nearly two thousand quilts for foster children, for charities and for non-profits in the area. The collection of “thank you” cards on their bulletin board is testament to the work they do. They make weighted vests and weighted quilts for autistic children. They receive the wish list from each child, be it for a quilt with stars or butterflies or certain themes, and they do their best to create a match. Everything they use for this quilting project has been donated – thread, scissors, fabric, equipment – and they work on the quilts until they are certain they are perfect, ripping seams if necessary, starting over, choosing alternate colours. They work on the designs on paper in their cells at night, sometimes until the wee hours of the morning, visualizing their own creations and how that might help a child. The quilts are beautiful works of art.
One inmate, Jimmy, who was serving a life sentence, quietly worked on a quilt for a little girl with the same birthday as he. He was emotional as he explained how he wanted to make her something to let her know she mattered, that she had value. The quilt he made was stunning. He has since passed away and I like to think that he had found a way to leave his past behind and truly was rehabilitated and found a sense that he, too, had value.
The write-ups about the film are numerous, but the one that spoke to me was Jenifer McShane describing the men’s reaction to watching the film footage of children receiving their quilts. “They were sobbing,” she explained, watching their work and commitment come full circle, which is exactly what restorative justice means.
wendistewart@live.ca
