Rabbi Binyomin Scheiman
“Families are the hidden victims of incarceration.
“Statistics show that children of people who are incarcerated have a higher rate of incarceration later in life. It does affect them …
“Of course if someone does something truly terrible they should be locked up. But you and I both know if you look at the pie chart of the prison system, the serial killers, murderers and pedophiles are a small slice of the pie. Most of the other people are in for monetary crimes, drug problems and mental-health issues …
“Children end up without a father or mother because of incarceration. So instead of enacting some restorative justice or alternative sentencing we end up spending untold amounts on social services for children from broken homes.
“… I’ve been doing prison visitation work since 1980. But after my wife, Hinda, passed away due to breast cancer, [our family made the decision] to name our organization HINDA, which is an acronym for Helping Individuals Ascend. We decided together as a family we’re going to do this [work] for her.”
Rabbi Binyomin Scheiman
Founder, HINDA Institute
Skokie, Illinois
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