Faith & Justice Behind Bars
“Problems of Mass Incarceration & Sentencing in Alabama”
September - November 2025
Over eight weeks this September through November, Saint Andrew's is excited to welcome distinguished guest speakers for a public Christian education series exploring the carceral system in the United States and Alabama. Our presentations will examine the legacies of the new Jim Crow, mass incarceration and sentencing reform, gun violence and capital punishment, race and the prison industrial complex, the history and use of capital punishment in Alabama, and theological perspectives on justice, retribution, and abolition.
This series invites us to follow Christ into places of greatest suffering and need, remembering Jesus' teaching in Matthew 25: "I was in prison and you visited me… Just as you did it to one of the least of these… you did it to me." We ask together how faith can speak courageously to this most pressing moral issue of our time.
We welcome a number of guest presenters, including, among others,
Judge U.W. Clemon - Appointed in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter as Alabama's first Black federal judge, serving for nearly thirty years
Dr. S. Jonathan Bass - Samford University professor and author of "He Calls Me By Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty" (2017)
Ms. Callie Greer - Community Navigator with Alabama Appleseed, with extensive experience working with Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, Alabama Arise, and the Selma Center for Nonviolence
Mr. Brian White - North Alabama attorney with 30 years of experience litigating capital murder and non-capital homicide cases
The Rev'd Cindy Carter - Diocese of Alabama, retired Priest Associate at All Saints' Episcopal Church, Birmingham, who works closely with Greater Birmingham Ministries and their Justice for Toforest Johnson project
Through this series, we seek to support and partner with local organizations including Alabama Appleseed, Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty (PHADP), Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), Selma Center for Nonviolence, and Mothers Against All Violence in Selma (MAAVIS).
Companion Reading:
Along with these Sunday presentations, we will be reading Bryan Stevenson's renowned book "Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption" (2015) together.
All are welcome to join us! Stay tuned for more information!
----
Click on the image below for the link to the book, available through Amazon:
