N is for Neighbor

For starters, check out how he defines his job. We on the outside might first think his work is to protect us. If we think at all about those inside, we might think the guards are to keep them in order. But Vin's surprising description of his work is "to keep order for them, so they can do their time safely." I was struck by his focus on them. Plainly, he thinks of himself as their servant, even though they are convicted criminals and he has the badge. If that reminds you of Someone you know, then you can tell Whose Spirit is directing Vin's work. Vin works under orders to love his neighbor, and despite badge, bars and their different uniforms, an inmate is his neighbor. Here is where the "care" part of Vin's vocation has its heart.

But let us not sentimentalize! Vin and his colleagues are not naive. The prisoners are neither victims nor misunderstood. Vin says, "They need to see the damage they've done, to see the victims' lives."

But neither does Vin think it is his job to sharpen their punishment nor in any way to put them down. To the contrary, Vin does not even read their record of offenses, their "sheets," because that would disrupt a key part of his work: "to treat them with dignity. I have to respect them as the men they are." (Such an interesting secular analogy to the Gospel of our justification: for Christ's sake God does not look at our sheets so that he can love us fully.) This is especially important because Vin works in the sex offender unit.