Post by earl on Dec 7, 2007 14:40:21 GMT
Terrorist-turned-missionary Hugh Brown has made it his life's work to reach out to incarcerated men, turning their minds away from recrimination and toward forgiveness and rehabilitation.
Brown, 50, a British missionary at the Nishiharima Christian Church in Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture, is also concerned about a recent increase of juvenile crimes in Japan in which teens and preteens become easily angered and snap, even killing others.
He visits the Kobe Prison in Akashi in the prefecture almost every week to speak in Japanese with new inmates about life in prison and after prison. He also speaks at other prisons, juvenile reformatories and schools around the country.
In the prison, Brown speaks frankly and honestly, warning inmates that after their release, they will face more hurdles than just the obvious difficulties of limited job opportunities and the stigma of a criminal record. But he also tells them there is no one who can't start over, no matter what misdeeds lie in their past.
"I tell them what I experienced [in Northern Ireland], making use of my time in prison, and also the problems I overcame in adjusting back to society," Brown said.
Brown's lectures are part of the orientation program for new prisoners, of which Kobe Prison receives about 1,200 each year. He also grants requests for personal interviews with them, and sometimes holds Christian meetings.
Masaharu Ozawa, the head of the prison's education department, says Brown's message is very effective in reaching prisoners.
"He usually emphasizes that everybody has a chance to redeem themselves," Ozawa said.
"They may not accept the message from someone [who doesn't know their situation], since most prisoners here are repeat offenders. But they listen to Brown, because what he says is based on his own experience."
When lecturing at schools, Brown advises parents not to solely rely on schools to teach their children ethics and morality and also urges increased communication, saying its absence leads to first-time juvenile offenses.
"The issues are not problems typical of juvenile delinquents, but children or young people [without police records]," he said. "I know of no other country where young people from good homes and environments who had never broken the law and studied normally in school suddenly explode and kill someone."
===
Trouble comes to town
Brown was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1957. At the time, the city was best known as the place where the Titanic was built. He spent his early childhood peacefully, dreaming of becoming a professional soccer player.
The dream was destroyed by the chaos brought to his hometown in 1969, as the conflict between Irish and British extremist groups in Northern Ireland, which came to be referred to as "The Troubles," became increasingly violent.
Actions by the independence movement started by Catholic Irish in the Ulster region, which had been left under British rule after Ireland's independence in 1921, were met with equally fierce British resistance. A bitter sectarian division between the two groups led to an escalating cycle of hostility and mistrust.
British residents were targeted and killed in terrorist acts committed by the Irish Republican Army. In retaliation, Irish civilians were killed by opposing pro-British rule organizations such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
In western Belfast, a long wall was constructed in an attempt to divide the two communities. As part of the segregation, Irish residents were forced to move out of the city-run housing complex where Brown's family lived.
The housing complex became occupied exclusively by British residents, including Brown's family. Some turned out to be members of extremist groups.
In 1971, one of Brown's friends from the same complex was found dead on a street in the neighborhood after being missing for two weeks.
According to Brown, the friend, a young Briton aged about 20, was lured by an Irish acquaintance to a bar located halfway between the complex and a nearby IRA base. On entering the bar, he was abducted by IRA conspirators. Although his friend did not belong to any organization opposing the IRA, his body showed that he had been tortured before being shot in the head.
"The bar was a place rival organization members didn't visit. But my friend went there without caution," Brown said. It was his first in a series of shocking personal brushes with the conflict.
Later in the same year, Brown's parents witnessed a lunchtime restaurant bombing that killed a number of patrons and injured dozens of people outside.
His father had wanted to go to the restaurant just before the explosion, but his mother refused because the restaurant sold alcohol. Instead, they chose to dine at the nearby restaurant.
Soon after Brown's parents sat down at their table, the windows shattered from the explosion. His parents were not injured, but his mother suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.
Investigators later suggested the bomb had exploded accidentally when a female IRA agent carried it into the restaurant in her bag.
The following year, Brown joined the UVF, recruited by a senior colleague at the textile machinery company where he worked. Brown was just 15 years old.
UVF members were regarded as heroes who protected the British community, and so he felt no hesitation about joining, Brown said.
"I was even proud of being recruited," he said. "I believed I could save the lives of innocent people only by [killing] opponents."
Brown was engaged in extremist activities for about two years before he experienced a major threat to his own life.
On a night in late March 1974, about 10 men stormed into the Browns' home. The intruders were members of the Ulster Defense Association, another British extremist organization opposing the IRA. Several hours earlier, Brown's UVF group had attacked a UDA member.
Asleep at the time, Brown had no chance to resist. He was abducted in his underwear, and with his brother was bundled into waiting cars and driven to a UDA hideout located behind a social club.
The torture began in a pitch-black room. A gun was held to Brown's head. Their abductors repeatedly told the brothers they would be executed. Brown was hit in the face and head with the gun's butt. Cigarettes were extinguished on his brother's body. The absolute darkness of the room heightened their fear.
After two hours, the twins were dragged to the street. Brown was shot in both knees, an act which Brown now incredibly says brought him relief--shooting a person in the knee was how the UDA issued a final warning. He knew then he would not be killed.
When his brother was also shot in the knee, Brown caught a glimpse of the gang members' faces. He pretended as if he was dazed.
"If they realized I saw their faces, I would've been killed," Brown explained.
Despite this close call, Brown continued his UVF activities and went on to become a leader of a UVF youth group of about 60 members between the ages of 15 and 25.
He was arrested in October 1975 on suspicion of bank robbery and sentenced to six years in prison. At the age of 18, Hugh Brown was a prisoner.
===
Freedom in captivity
In May 1978, Brown attended a screening of the film "Ben-Hur" in the prison's recreation room. The film's climax, a scene where the title character witnesses Jesus Christ being crucified by vengeful soldiers, completely changed his life philosophy.
"I felt I was standing by the scene of the public execution, but I was on the side of executioners," Brown said. "Then I became painfully aware of how I had acted for selfish ends, turning my back on God... It was like a revelation from God."
After the film, he resolved to break his ties with the UVF.
He knew it would not be easy.
The organizational leader of the UVF happened to be serving time in the same prison, along with hundreds of other UVF members. The boss summoned Brown several times, so as to change his mind before his scheduled release in six months. He was threatened in front of other UVF members, but he never lost his determination to free himself of his past.
Finally, in November 1978, on the eve of Brown's release on probation, the boss allowed him to leave the organization, even giving him his blessing.
At age 21, Brown returned to the world having found freedom in captivity.
Coming to Japan as a missionary had been Brown's ambition ever since attending a rally in another city in Northern Ireland in the spring of 1980, where he heard sermons from a Japanese pastor and the director of a Kobe-based evangelical group. After studying at Bible colleges in Edinburgh and Liverpool following his release from prison, in January 1985 he arrived in Kobe as a Christian missionary.
Through his experiences in Northern Ireland, in and out of prison, Brown has realized animosity and retaliation against those who have harmed you--even extreme cases where loved ones have been killed--causes nothing but a chain reaction of retaliation. More than any other, this is the message he hopes to convey.
"A victim who can't forgive will remain a victim forever, and the person's whole life will be controlled by hatred and desire for revenge," Brown said. "You must first learn to forgive the people around you."
He recalls a letter he received from a man with whom he once discussed these same lessons in prison who is now living prosperously in society. "There's no greater joy than to hear that his life has changed," Brown said.
Living in Japan for more than 20 years, Brown also has been concerned about juvenile crime here. But he says, "Children [who committed the offenses] are victims of a society where many adults care much more about their jobs than their families," adding, "Behind the recent juvenile cases in Japan is a breakdown of the family."
www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071206TDY13001.htm
Brown, 50, a British missionary at the Nishiharima Christian Church in Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture, is also concerned about a recent increase of juvenile crimes in Japan in which teens and preteens become easily angered and snap, even killing others.
He visits the Kobe Prison in Akashi in the prefecture almost every week to speak in Japanese with new inmates about life in prison and after prison. He also speaks at other prisons, juvenile reformatories and schools around the country.
In the prison, Brown speaks frankly and honestly, warning inmates that after their release, they will face more hurdles than just the obvious difficulties of limited job opportunities and the stigma of a criminal record. But he also tells them there is no one who can't start over, no matter what misdeeds lie in their past.
"I tell them what I experienced [in Northern Ireland], making use of my time in prison, and also the problems I overcame in adjusting back to society," Brown said.
Brown's lectures are part of the orientation program for new prisoners, of which Kobe Prison receives about 1,200 each year. He also grants requests for personal interviews with them, and sometimes holds Christian meetings.
Masaharu Ozawa, the head of the prison's education department, says Brown's message is very effective in reaching prisoners.
"He usually emphasizes that everybody has a chance to redeem themselves," Ozawa said.
"They may not accept the message from someone [who doesn't know their situation], since most prisoners here are repeat offenders. But they listen to Brown, because what he says is based on his own experience."
When lecturing at schools, Brown advises parents not to solely rely on schools to teach their children ethics and morality and also urges increased communication, saying its absence leads to first-time juvenile offenses.
"The issues are not problems typical of juvenile delinquents, but children or young people [without police records]," he said. "I know of no other country where young people from good homes and environments who had never broken the law and studied normally in school suddenly explode and kill someone."
===
Trouble comes to town
Brown was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1957. At the time, the city was best known as the place where the Titanic was built. He spent his early childhood peacefully, dreaming of becoming a professional soccer player.
The dream was destroyed by the chaos brought to his hometown in 1969, as the conflict between Irish and British extremist groups in Northern Ireland, which came to be referred to as "The Troubles," became increasingly violent.
Actions by the independence movement started by Catholic Irish in the Ulster region, which had been left under British rule after Ireland's independence in 1921, were met with equally fierce British resistance. A bitter sectarian division between the two groups led to an escalating cycle of hostility and mistrust.
British residents were targeted and killed in terrorist acts committed by the Irish Republican Army. In retaliation, Irish civilians were killed by opposing pro-British rule organizations such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
In western Belfast, a long wall was constructed in an attempt to divide the two communities. As part of the segregation, Irish residents were forced to move out of the city-run housing complex where Brown's family lived.
The housing complex became occupied exclusively by British residents, including Brown's family. Some turned out to be members of extremist groups.
In 1971, one of Brown's friends from the same complex was found dead on a street in the neighborhood after being missing for two weeks.
According to Brown, the friend, a young Briton aged about 20, was lured by an Irish acquaintance to a bar located halfway between the complex and a nearby IRA base. On entering the bar, he was abducted by IRA conspirators. Although his friend did not belong to any organization opposing the IRA, his body showed that he had been tortured before being shot in the head.
"The bar was a place rival organization members didn't visit. But my friend went there without caution," Brown said. It was his first in a series of shocking personal brushes with the conflict.
Later in the same year, Brown's parents witnessed a lunchtime restaurant bombing that killed a number of patrons and injured dozens of people outside.
His father had wanted to go to the restaurant just before the explosion, but his mother refused because the restaurant sold alcohol. Instead, they chose to dine at the nearby restaurant.
Soon after Brown's parents sat down at their table, the windows shattered from the explosion. His parents were not injured, but his mother suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.
Investigators later suggested the bomb had exploded accidentally when a female IRA agent carried it into the restaurant in her bag.
The following year, Brown joined the UVF, recruited by a senior colleague at the textile machinery company where he worked. Brown was just 15 years old.
UVF members were regarded as heroes who protected the British community, and so he felt no hesitation about joining, Brown said.
"I was even proud of being recruited," he said. "I believed I could save the lives of innocent people only by [killing] opponents."
Brown was engaged in extremist activities for about two years before he experienced a major threat to his own life.
On a night in late March 1974, about 10 men stormed into the Browns' home. The intruders were members of the Ulster Defense Association, another British extremist organization opposing the IRA. Several hours earlier, Brown's UVF group had attacked a UDA member.
Asleep at the time, Brown had no chance to resist. He was abducted in his underwear, and with his brother was bundled into waiting cars and driven to a UDA hideout located behind a social club.
The torture began in a pitch-black room. A gun was held to Brown's head. Their abductors repeatedly told the brothers they would be executed. Brown was hit in the face and head with the gun's butt. Cigarettes were extinguished on his brother's body. The absolute darkness of the room heightened their fear.
After two hours, the twins were dragged to the street. Brown was shot in both knees, an act which Brown now incredibly says brought him relief--shooting a person in the knee was how the UDA issued a final warning. He knew then he would not be killed.
When his brother was also shot in the knee, Brown caught a glimpse of the gang members' faces. He pretended as if he was dazed.
"If they realized I saw their faces, I would've been killed," Brown explained.
Despite this close call, Brown continued his UVF activities and went on to become a leader of a UVF youth group of about 60 members between the ages of 15 and 25.
He was arrested in October 1975 on suspicion of bank robbery and sentenced to six years in prison. At the age of 18, Hugh Brown was a prisoner.
===
Freedom in captivity
In May 1978, Brown attended a screening of the film "Ben-Hur" in the prison's recreation room. The film's climax, a scene where the title character witnesses Jesus Christ being crucified by vengeful soldiers, completely changed his life philosophy.
"I felt I was standing by the scene of the public execution, but I was on the side of executioners," Brown said. "Then I became painfully aware of how I had acted for selfish ends, turning my back on God... It was like a revelation from God."
After the film, he resolved to break his ties with the UVF.
He knew it would not be easy.
The organizational leader of the UVF happened to be serving time in the same prison, along with hundreds of other UVF members. The boss summoned Brown several times, so as to change his mind before his scheduled release in six months. He was threatened in front of other UVF members, but he never lost his determination to free himself of his past.
Finally, in November 1978, on the eve of Brown's release on probation, the boss allowed him to leave the organization, even giving him his blessing.
At age 21, Brown returned to the world having found freedom in captivity.
Coming to Japan as a missionary had been Brown's ambition ever since attending a rally in another city in Northern Ireland in the spring of 1980, where he heard sermons from a Japanese pastor and the director of a Kobe-based evangelical group. After studying at Bible colleges in Edinburgh and Liverpool following his release from prison, in January 1985 he arrived in Kobe as a Christian missionary.
Through his experiences in Northern Ireland, in and out of prison, Brown has realized animosity and retaliation against those who have harmed you--even extreme cases where loved ones have been killed--causes nothing but a chain reaction of retaliation. More than any other, this is the message he hopes to convey.
"A victim who can't forgive will remain a victim forever, and the person's whole life will be controlled by hatred and desire for revenge," Brown said. "You must first learn to forgive the people around you."
He recalls a letter he received from a man with whom he once discussed these same lessons in prison who is now living prosperously in society. "There's no greater joy than to hear that his life has changed," Brown said.
Living in Japan for more than 20 years, Brown also has been concerned about juvenile crime here. But he says, "Children [who committed the offenses] are victims of a society where many adults care much more about their jobs than their families," adding, "Behind the recent juvenile cases in Japan is a breakdown of the family."
www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071206TDY13001.htm