"Inmates who don''t have contact with family for two years or more are lost," says Helen McCaig, a former college professor active in local jail ministry for almost 30 years. McCaig helps coordinate a ministry of six volunteers who visit women each week in the Monterey County Jail. This group is affiliated with Friends Outside, a nonprofit advocacy group begun 40 years ago in San Jose with chapters throughout California.

In the ''70s, McCaig brought in a local program of education, where correctional workers could learn more of how crime and punishment affect women. McCaig''s jail ministry offers crafts, games, nail polish, books and magazines. For those about to be paroled, Friends Outside has a home where they can prepare for their new lives and reacquaint with family. There''s also a job-training program.

Many female prisoners are mothers--76 percent, according to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. California law as of 1979 allows for residential-based sentencing, where a woman convicted of a non-violent crime can serve time while living with her small child in a supervised home. A class-action lawsuit in ''85 brought the number participating up to 94. The Community Prison-Mother Program--administered by Friends Outside--operates the Helen McCaig House in Salinas, serving 15 prison-mothers and 15 children. But McCaig and other experts say resources for this are slim, and slipping.

"There''s a fantastic amount of need out there," says Sister Helen Walsh. Walsh, who joined the jail ministry four years ago, says her interest in this work was piqued back in the ''50s visiting juvenile offenders, and later as prison chaplain at a women''s prison in Michigan. While not blind to the misery that crime and criminals inflict, Walsh sees the need to maintain human contact and hope for those serving time.

"Not many feel they are called to this kind of thing; they think it''s scary," says Walsh. But equally bracing, she says, is the fact that "more than 90 percent of the current imprisoned population is coming out, back into the community. Why aren''t we getting ready?" --Mary Andrews

Friends Outside visits the Monterey County Jail every Tuesday afternoon. To volunteer, or donate materials such as used greeting cards, art supplies, magazines and books, contact Helen McCaig at 375-6961 or Sr. Helen Walsh at 373-5308.

>