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Public service: A link to inmates behind bars

Published on November 16th, 2009

By ALEX DEMARBAN

The Rev. Anna Frank was the first Native American woman to become an Episcopal priest.

That was more than a quarter century ago.

Next, she became archdeacon of the Interior for Alaska's Episcopal Diocese.

But she hasn't stopped there.

Five years ago, in her mid-60s, Frank launched a prison ministry run on donations.

But it's not just any prison ministry.

Alaska houses about 800 prisoners in an Arizona facility because there isn't enough prison space in Alaska. Many of those inmates are disproportionately Alaska Native.

So each October, Frank's ministry flies family members from Alaska to Red Rock Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz.

The reunions are dramatic, Frank said.

Mothers see their sons for the first time in years. Children meet fathers they've never known.

Even elders go. They need helping finding grandchildren who are all grown up.

Last month, the Alaska Federation of Natives gave Frank its Public Service Award.

"I took a grandma down," Frank told the AFN audience after accepting the award. "She was walking in the prison, there were guys all over."

"I asked her, 'Do you see your grandson?'"

No, the grandmother replied.

Then, to their right, they heard a voice filled with shock and wonder.

"Grandma?" the young man almost whispered.

"We turned and looked, and she called his name and walked over and hugged him," Frank said.

"I will never, ever forget that voice," she said.

It was an extra special moment because it might be the last time the woman ever sees her grandson, Frank said.

When the ministry travels down each October - that's when the inmates are allowed to host an annual potlatch - Frank acts as chaperone and tour guide.

Last year, the ministry had the money to fly about 10 family members to Arizona, she said. Others tagged along because they were intimidated by driving in Arizona, and felt safer traveling with Frank, she said. The entire group was about 20 strong.

In the group was a 15-year-old girl who had never met her father.

She didn't know what he looked like, Frank said.

"I said walk with me, I will introduce you to your father," Frank said. "And as we went in I introduced her to her father for the very first time. That was an emotional moment."

During Frank's speech, audience members wiped away tears. One woman shouted out, "Bring our people home!"

Frank is Athabascan Native and was born in Old Minto in 1938. She worked as a health aide and a drug and alcohol counselor before becoming a priest.

She's married to Richard Frank, a white-haired World War II veteran who was stationed in the South Pacific.

The prison ministry began about five years ago when the bishop of the Alaska diocese asked Anna Frank if she'd like to travel to Arizona, she said.

She said the meal at the prison was a terrible macaroni and meat dish, reminding her of the goulash she ate growing up when the village store had no groceries.

During prayer services, prisoners said they ached to see wives, children and others they hadn't talked to in years.

Frank returned, scheduling the annual trip around the prison potlatch because that's the only time of the year the prisoners can eat as much as they want, she said.

The families bring moose, salmon, halibut and other Native foods the inmates don't otherwise get to eat.

Only prisoners with visitors are allowed to attend, she said.

It's heartbreaking to watch other Alaska prisoners looking from behind a tall chain-link fence, trying to recognize someone they know from home.

She'll walk to the fence and talk to those inmates.

"Everyone tells us please tell them to bring us back to Alaska," she said.

The potlatch this fall coincided with the AFN event, so Frank didn't go to Arizona.

But the work of the ministry continued, with a colleague leading the group.

The ministry will continue each year in part because of what one prisoner said, she said.

"Some of our families, we never heard from them, but we are still human beings," he said.

Frank told the AFN crowd that if people want to help with the ministry, send checks or money to:

Episcopal Diocese of Alaska
1205 Denali Way
Fairbanks, AK 99701

Please address checks to "Jail Ministry," she said.

She'd like to similar ministries in other regions of the state, not just the Interior, because the inmates come from all over Alaska.