Naked As A Jailbird Review

By Jennifer Graham


The world views priests as the mouthpiece of God on earth. They are supposed to be close and take care of the poor and less privileged. Naked as a Jailbird is an attempt by Richard Shaw to demonstrate how the church, its leaders and the society should view persons in jail. In this narrative, he shares his expectations and experiences as a chaplain in jail.

The message is clearly captured in the title. This title is an imagery of what happens in jail. Immediately one gets to prison, his clothes are taken away, leaving him naked. He has no title and his dignity is also gone. He does not enjoy even mere privacy. This is the nakedness referred to in the title. It refers to lack or the emptiness that comes with imprisonment.

There is an element of nakedness that comes with being in prison, whether you are a prisoner or officer. This takes away the human element in the people because they are restricted to following a routine that does not grant them any freedom. For Shaw, the experience was a lesson he never thought of since learning appears to be confined to childhood. Despite being referred to as Father, he had a lot to learn from his role as a chaplain.

The handling of wealth is a concern for Shaw as entered in his book. Richard Shaw contends that churches and persons within the institution should focus less on accumulating wealth and more on getting it to the hands of the needy. In his words, churches and church men should not hold more than 85cents in their accounts. By doing so, they will be stopping the resources from getting to the people who need it the most.

Priests and the church are supposed to take the vow of poverty. The minute they begin to amass wealth, they cease to resonate with the ordinary man who requires their attention. They will also lose focus on God and his requirements for his people. This book humanizes the priest to make him easy to relate with. He is seen as the link between those deprived of life and their salvation.

People rarely think about prisoners unless they have friends or relatives who have been incarcerated. Shaw presents the best narration of the experiences these people go through. In the presentation, you understand the setting and life behind bars. This makes it easier to understand what goes on behind bars. You will stop viewing those incarcerated as criminals but as people with feelings and human desires.

Jail is not made of just the prisoners. There are workers of different classes who are affected by the conditions behind bars. How does this environment affect their human side and interactions with other people? All this information is captured in this narrative by Shaw. You have a chance to read into their thoughts and experiences. You will develop a different idea of prison life.

The book narrates about the intersection between prison and religious life. It is difficult to put the book down once you begin to read it. It is a demonstration of the passion with which Shaw has held his priestly vocation and how he is using it to transform the life of people he comes into contact with. The author calls on readers to recognize the contributions of different people in alleviating the lives of down trodden persons in the society.




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