Facilitating Confessions
By listening to Jan Sunoo on the art of mediation and facilitation, it got me thinking about how I've developed rapport with individuals I have arrested or transported. Such rapport building was essential in providing a basis for facilitating confessions from those arrested. Getting arrested by the FBI can be a scary experience, though I, along with my former colleagues always did our very best to scale things down so it would not have to be such a disruptive experience. Now please keep in mind we all took our precautions in maintaining our safety as well as the safety of those we arrested. To prepare them for this, we would always let them know that everything would be fine as well as letting them know that they needed to follow our instructions so we could safely transport them to see the magistrate. At this point, the big question in someone's mind who is arrested is, "will I be ok? will my family be ok?" Before going too far in the car, we would always get to know the people we arrested by asking basic biographical information (birthdate, place of birth, special medications, allergies, etc…). This was important not only because we needed their biographical information for our paperwork, but also it was a way for them to start communicating with easy answers that they had known and didn't take too much effort to think about. By seeing how they responded to such basic questions, I could assess how nervous they were or how comfortable they were with me. Either way, I often wanted to reassure them that they, at the end of the day would be fine. I would let them know that they would see some pre-trial services counsellors that would find out their legal, medical, and family needs. I'd also explain to them that they would then see a magistrate who would explain the charges to them. That after their initial appearance with a magistrate, I would then transport them to the detention facility and that they would spend their first night in jail in a safe environment with food to eat. I would often take them to get their last meal before going to jail on the way to see the magistrate, always on my dime. When I sensed their nervousness, I would reassure them that I would be there with them for the entire day, just to make sure they were safe and to help them through this process. I also reassured them to always picture themselves getting through this experience in a positive way and eventually this would lead to new opportunities after they worked through this. I'd tell them that they didn't have to speak with me, that they had the right to remain silent and discuss the matter with an attorney. Nonetheless, they most often chose to speak with me, so I'd have them fill out their ''Advice of Rights" form so I could hear their story.
I've always viewed an arrest as a way of connecting with people in need. I believe those arrested, along with all people, have legitimate needs for security, safety, personal growth and spiritual development. I strongly believe that an arrest is an opportunity for personal growth in that it is an opportunity towards taking responsibility and coming to terms to what those arrested had done. Some people have never told anyone about the crimes they committed. The saying, "the truth will set you free" is not just ironically metaphorical, but it literally is a mechanism for cathartic relief, whereby people can free up a lot of energy that they normally expend hiding the truth. Once they come to terms with what they did, they immediately would experience relief and free of the "monkey on their back" that they've carried with them over the years. This process of confronting the truth is also a great opportunity of spiritual healing and another step in spiritual awareness. That as humans, as much as we categorize ourselves as abstractions separating ourselves from each other, we are all connected. One action done to one person affects the whole group as well as ourselves. Coming to terms with this concept of interconnectedness is not easy for many people. Many people who enter or are in the criminal justice system have been victims themselves of violence, betrayal, and of theft. For many, these experiences of pain become normalized and these same crimes are again perpetrated on others, continuing the pattern of violence that they are trapped in. After an interview/interrogation, many of the people I have arrested have cried and released much of their anxiety and burden of their actions as this was the first time they had shared such information. After speaking with me, many have thanked me for being the one to have arrested them. They feel that they were not judged, but understood. They didn't feel threatened but protected. They felt lighter that the burden of lies was lifted and a glimpse of light entered their lives.
When I recounted this process to a professed enlightened prison preacher I had met at a personal growth seminar in Santa Monica, California, he said he couldn't believe my approach. He thought no one would feel thankful for being arrested. He couldn't believe that an FBI agent was looking out for the best interest of a criminal. He thought that it was a sham just to get a confession. I let him know that my job was to get the best quality information, whether it was to the best quality evidence in a criminal case or to satisfy an intelligence requirement. I told him that I know it must be hard for him to believe, but that it was true and another way of practice. I told him it was not my job to judge, that job was for a judge and jury. I told him that my job was to serve the American public and an arrested individual is also a member of the American public. I told him that I truly believe that those I arrested were looking to attain their next level of human understanding and spiritual development, and until they came clear with what they had done, such inconvenient truths would be an obstacle to their personal growth. I told him that if possible, I facilitated the exploration of truth with those I arrested and in so doing, I could also do a better job for the FBI while bringing closure and acknowledgement to the victims of crime. The prison preacher, who had previously written off this notion of helping others in their confessions, had a moment of new understanding. He suddenly grew quiet and the tension from the perplexity in his expression relaxed. He said that he never had seen an arrest as an opportunity for healing and growth and that he had always viewed those incarcerated as merely victims of the police and society. He went on to say that he was glad to have met me, that I had opened his mind to other possibilities of where healing can be practiced.
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