“Then I dare to push them”

Hanna Backman meets people who have committed terrible crimes on a daily basis. She works as a chaplain at the Hall prison.

– It is not my job to judge or forgive, it is God’s forgiveness. And God always forgives, she says.

Hanna Backman had two dreams when she was little: To become a journalist and a prison chaplain. She became both. Right now she is a prison chaplain – a profession she enjoys very much.

– I like that it is straight and honest. I myself am forced to take off my masks that you collect. I like to go into the most important things, she explains.

Some people Hanna meets in her job have been convicted of really serious crimes, like murder for example. This is how she sees it:

– They have done terrible things, but they are also ordinary people who can do good things. We are all doubles.

Received an alarm in a violent situation

When Hanna was new to the profession, she often googled the people she would meet. This meant that she sometimes judged in advance – and that she could get a little scared.

– So I stopped it. Because when I meet a person intuitively, then I don’t get scared if there is no reason to be scared.

She means: If there is no reason to be afraid – in that particular situation. Because she has been frightened.

– I have felt fear twice in three years. Once I got a look I didn’t want, then I confronted the person. The other is a violent situation and then I got the alarm.

From hateful to hopeful

Some inmates that Hanna meets are gang criminals – a group that often relapses into crime when they get out of prison.

– Then I dare to pressure them. I think it’s so nice, because I feel like they give me that access, and then I have to take that chance, because I have access to their hearts.

She explains how people can change – during just one conversation:

– The difference can be in the eyes, which are full of hatred. Then you see that hope, that they feel: maybe there is something else for me, another path. It doesn’t necessarily mean they find a faith, but they find a hope.

See the full interview with Hanna Backman here: