OCTOBER 1, 2004 - Sister Cynthia Brinkman, a School Sister of Notre Dame from the St. Louis Province, was released today from the Federal Prison Camp in Pekin, Ill., after serving a six-month sentence for crossing the line onto the base of the SOA/WHISC in Fort Benning, Ga.

Sister Cynthia began serving a six-month prison sentence on April 4. A prisoner of conscience, Sister Cynthia followed her convictions in her decision to trespass for the second time in an effort to close the training school and end “the double standard in the war on terrorism.”

In a Sept. 27 letter, Sister Cynthia wrote, "Well, all you Faithful Ones, this is my last letter to you from Pekin Federal Prison Camp. Without your steady prayers, compassionate love, and countless cards and letters, I would have had a very different experience - and much more difficult. We learned together and did this six months together. I have new friends, and by association and prayer support, you do too. Our lives are broadened to include in our circle of care, women and men incarcerated yes, but who have dignity and worth as we have. In a word: we are sisters and brothers."

During her time in prison, Sister Cynthia served as a symbol of hope to those around her by her positive outlook, prayerful spirit and the actions she performed to seek justice. She chronicled her experience in a series of letters which are available through the link on the top of this article.

In an April 11 letter, Sister Cynthia wrote: “As for me, at this moment, I am adjusting to life in a somewhat harsh and punitive environment where one must strongly reaffirm one’s own dignity and act with integrity. What helps me is broadening my reality to consciously include so many sisters and brothers who now, today, are experiencing a living hell because of wars, deprivations and the injustices of all the 'isms' we humans create. I/we can do the next good thing.”

Over the past three months, Sister Cynthia has tried to provide hope for herself and those around her by finding the beauty in nature, starting a letter-writing campaign to congresspersons to encourage the passing of prison reform bills, greeting and praying for the women inmates in her unit, and appreciating the little things.

• Sister Cynthia wrote, “How Nature reminds us of God’s embracing presence!” She notices and appreciates the changing hues of the skies, a robin and its baby, a swarm of bees and a magnificent lightning and thunderstorm.
• Sister Cynthia and others have mailed more than 1,000 letters to congresspersons urging the passing of bills eliminating the unfairness in sentencing and facilitating other needed reforms.
• Sister Cynthia always introduces herself to new inmates. She listens to their stories and prays for them and with them. She participates in a prayer circle nightly; joins another woman in praying the rosary; and applied Reiki, a form of energy healing, for a woman who suffered from a shoulder injury, another from a sciatic pain and a third from a neck strain.
• Sister Cynthia and the inmates in her cellblock provide hope to each other by performing small acts of kindness for each other. She gives away her monthly TV day to one inmate and satisfies a chocolate craving for another. One inmate listens for her to get up after her alarm rings on work days; another inmate showed her a history book that her mother sent to her; and a third inmate suggested Cynthia take water to the track with her on a hot day. They share each other’s joys and sorrows.
• Sister Cynthia appreciates little things, for instance being moved from her first cell to one with a view of the courtyard and sharing a desk with another inmate. She is invigorated by support through letters, prayers and visits.

Sister Cynthia struggled to adapt to the challenging environment in prison. However, she learned to deal with the noise and befriended not only her surroundings but many women prison inmates as well.

"It feels like progress to make peace with God being here and now, not in some ideal setting that is non-existent for me at present,” Sister Cynthia wrote.

Sister Cynthia has relied on the strength of her convictions to find hope. She used her gifts as a pastoral minister to help many women inmates at FPC discover hope in God and His nurturing grace through prayer and contemplation.

"Hopefully, we will continue to do our part to advocate for prison reform," Sister Cynthia wrote in her last letter from prison. "Bills need to be passed and unjust sentences reduced. Above all, we continue to pray in thanksgiving for what is needed as if it were already given. God is faithful and full of mercy. Doesn't Jesus say: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken hearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God, is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.' Lk 4:18,19."

Click here to read Sister Cynthia's letters from prison.

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