Friday, September 30, 2005
Men's Support Groups
As I begin preparation for our start up on October 12 of the Circle of Life inside C Yard, New Folsom, I have been exploring the Inside Circle web site. Our program will be 2nd and 4th Wednesday evenings. On the 1st and 3rd some of those participating are a part of the Men’s Support Group. These groups are run by the Inside Circle (see link to the left). The men on C yard have written their own guidelines and told their stories in this downloadable or html document. Many voices are represented in this collection of letters, essays, and poems. All of them add something to the flavor of the Folsom Prison men’s support group experience.
msg_webversion.2.pdf
For the wonderful work of the Inside Circle, please go to
http://insidecircle.org
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Thursday, September 29, 2005
Yoga in Pittsburg Jails
More and more prisons realizing the benefits of body based therapy. Here is a Yoga story from Pittsburg my daughter sent me.
Click here to access the story:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05272/579551.stm
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Friday, September 23, 2005
10 months and she's in
Sister Antonia was finally able to begin her personal prison ministry, here is her report:
Good News! I finally got in Somerset County Jail August 29 and Labor Day. Two more 1 1/2 hr visits are planned. We were given a space that can hold one long table and stack chairs with one wall lined with books, their "library". Four women attended first class, three the second... those three walked into the room with smiles ear to ear. It is a small start, but the emphasis is on start.
Rev. Kathleen Roney and I began discussing the possibility of TCC in Jail back in November, last year.... 10 months isn't too bad, especially since I began to talk about it in two State prisons about 7 years ago.
Stay tuned!
Blessings,
Antonia
Sister Antonia is the Guide for the Tai Chi Chih community and visited Folsom prisons last February (see web blog for Feb 14 or http://chifully.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/02/14/feb_10_2005_sr_antonia_s_visit.html)
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Thursday, September 15, 2005
Prison reform efforts
Friends Committee on Legislation Education Fund
FCL Research Page
Reform Our Systems of Justice, End Violence and Terrorism
California needs to put much more effort into bridge-building in distressed and immigrant communities, repairing the harm done to crime victims, restoring the neighborhood's sense of safety after a crime occurs, and in most cases, re-uniting the offender with family, work, and a supportive community. We also need to invest intelligently in programs that steer young people who are at risk for involvement in gangs toward good jobs, athletics, and community service.
This page provides access to Research pages on
- After-school Youth Programs
- Reducing Terrorism and Political Violence
- Alternatives to Imprisonment
- Treat Mental Illness, Don't Imprison
- Violence Prevention Program Inventory
- Restorative and Transformative Justice
- Juvenile Boot Camps -- Why Do They Have Such Poor Outcomes?
- Treat Drug Users, Don't Imprison
- Prison and Jail Reform
- Punsihment and Accountability
http://www.fclca.org/edufund/rpr-penal-ref.html
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Friday, August 26, 2005
Alternatives to Violence
Prayer request:
Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) was once very active and successful at Folsom Prison. The men inside would appreciate your prayer support as they are seeking all avenues to get this life changing program reinstated.
May our prayers empower their efforts.
Here's a good article about AVP's prison efforts:
fcl-mar04.pdf
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Tuesday, August 23, 2005
"The Work"
The Work (see link on right side bar) is a healing process that has been a small part of my life since I attended the New Directions in Corrections conference back in 1999. I just got their newsletter and thought my readers might like to know about their efforts. Congratulations on their award!
For more details: http://www.thework.com/> .
The Work in Prisons and Hospitals
The Insight Prison Project (of which The Work of Byron Katie group is a part, along with twelve steps, yoga, and non-violent communication) was recently selected from 285 nominations to receive the 2005 Community Leadership Award from the San Francisco Foundation. The award is made for organizational initiatives in response to a significant contemporary problem; it comes with $20,000 for in-prison rehabilitation programs and creates much public awareness of these wonderful programs. IPP received the award for ?pioneering effective in-prison rehabilitation programs and for being a model for catalyzing statewide prison reform.? Thank you Jacques, Adam, Kathy, Sara, and everyone who is making real rehabilitation possible in prisons everywhere.
Here is a recent letter from Kathy and Sara:
The Work class at San Quentin started its new quarter last Monday. Twenty men signed up. Ten old-timers are back who have taken the twelve-week class already once or more. In the dyads the old guys worked with the new ones. At one point the men were chanting ?Judge your neighbor, write it down, ask four questions, turn it around??it was great! We introduced the turnarounds and as the men worked in dyads with each other many men had real insights, shifts and felt relief. Such simple elegant powerful work. They are learning the process quickly and it is beautiful to see them doing The Work together.
One newcomer whose written work was about wasting his life in prison shared, after doing The Work, that he got to see he?s saving his life?with the tools he?s getting in the class, whereas out on the street he might be dead by now. At the end of the class one new guy said, ?I thought I was signing up for a meditation class. This is meditation and so much more.? Another guy said that in the class he gets to be real with others, dropping the macho stance that goes on in the yard and dorm. Another new guy said, ?I?m excited about taking this class?it?s helping me with my anger. I?m seeing it?s about my thinking!?
The old timers share how they?re using it in there lives in prison, in relationship to the guards, to the inmates, and with their families. Tobacco has just been banned, so we did The Work on their anger at the prison for taking away smoking. One beautiful man who?s been in prison 23 years of his life was afraid he wouldn?t be okay without smoking. We had him experience his breath, his butt on the chair, and from down in his body answer ?Is it true in this moment, right now, that you?re not okay?? He got it, and with a smile said, ?Yeah, I?m okay.? At the end of the class he said he was going away with gratitude knowing that he can find his way with the addiction.
Thank you, Katie, for gifting the keys to freedom for so many!
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Sunday, June 26, 2005
From my Buddhist friends serving at Folsom Prison
Today a beautiful new sangha began to take shape, at B yard chapel of New Folsom prison: about 12 men came together for the first time, almost all of Vietnamese or Laotian backgrounds, seeking to learn about Buddhism and meditation. Several of them said their families had some kind of practice, but now they want to begin to investigate for themselves. The Muslim chapel clerk has offered us the mats and rugs which The Nation uses; one inmate asked if he could bring a picture of the Buddha from his cell so that we have a centerpiece (no altar, no bell, we just sit in a circle); and all are very keen to know that they can come back each week. They say there's at least 100 more men interested.
In the C yard chapel at New Folsom, BPF volunteers are making possible another wonderful new sangha, which brings together a diverse group of experienced practitioners and men expressing a deep desire to learn inner peace and truth. At Old Folsom prison, chapter members have led the Tuesday evening Buddhist services for over 7 years, blessed by supporters who've donated funds for zafus and materials, including a new quarterly english-spanish newsletter written by inmates and volunteers. How wonderful to experience the seeds of practice blooming in these harsh environments!
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