Meditation in Prisons

Introduction of Vipassana meditation in various prisons across the world has sparked a debate everywhere about adopting this technique as a universal tool for prison reforms. Three documentaries described here depict the hidden potentials of this popular meditation technique as a potential tool for correction center reform.

In April 1994, an astounding feat was accomplished in the Indian capital of Delhi’s Tihar Jail when over 1000 inmates and prison staff completed a 10-day residential Vipassana meditation camp. It was not the first camp in the jail though - two smaller such camps, one in November 1993 (120 participants) and another in January 1994 (300 participants) paved the way for the gala humanitarian event. However, the size and success of the April camp sent ripples across the world. Can 1000 prisoners meditate for 10 days in silence inside a jail? It certainly was an amusing and amazing feat disbelieved by most who heard or read about it.

1. Doing Time, Doing Vipassana

Just months later, the news brought a team of filmmakers from Israel to India. They researched the background leading to the mega spiritual feat, spent time in Indian prisons talking to course participants and their memoirs, and came up an profound documentary titled Doing Time, Doing Vipassana. The film graphically depicted the undeniable impact of Vipassana meditation on the minds of the inmates. Who could imagine a prisoner crying like a baby in the arms of the jailor? This award winning creation of Karuna Films depicted "reality" that went beyond the wildest imaginations (on the positive side!) of Hollywood and Bollywood scriptwriters.

Click here to watch this documentary online.

2. Changing from Inside

This film attempted to address the queries from corrections officials after they saw Doing Time, Doing Vipassana. Written and produced primarily for an audience of prison administrators, jail officials, judges, etc. the 42 minute long film tells the story of how the Vipassana meditation courses got introduced into the North Rehabilitation Facility (N.R.F.) of the King County jail in Seattle, Washington, USA.

It narrates the story of seven women inmates who underwent 10 days of intensive meditation practice in total silence. Meditating 10 hours a day, they delved deeper into themselves to understand the realities of their behavior and compulsive tendencies, and come out with tools to maintain that transformation.

It also chronicles the personal and professional accomplishment of the determined facility director, Lucia Meijer, as she convinced her staff to undertake and implement this new and unconventional program.

3. The Dhamma Brothers

Yet another film, that has the power to dismantle stereotypes about men behind prison bars. Released in 2007, The Dhamma Brothers tells a dramatic tale of human potential and transformation, provided they get an opportunity to explore their long forgotten human core.

The background of the 76-minute film is the Donaldson Correction Facility in Alabama – an overcrowded and violent maximum-security prison, which becomes the first highest security prison in North America to hold an 10 day residential Vipassana retreat. Both the film and its companion book, Letters From the Dhamma Brothers, reveal the possibility that prisons can become places for effective rehabilitation, ensuring safer prisons and safer streets.

Some Quotable Quotes

"In silence, the mind naturally turns within to observe its own nature." - Rick Smith, Dhamma Brother

"For the first time, I could observe my pain and grief. I felt a tear fall. Then something broke, and I couldn’t stop sobbing. I found myself in a terrain where I had always wanted to be, but never had a map. I found myself in the inner landscape, and now I had some direction." - Omar Rahman, Dhamma Brother

"Vipassana is what all the other treatment programs are hoping for. It actually works, and has a demonstrable effect on the inmates and a positive effect on the staff." - Dr. Ron Cavanaugh (Director of Treatment for the Alabama Department of Corrections)

"A wonderful, powerful, and unsentimental film about incarcerated men getting below the surface of things. The freedom and community they find sitting on meditation cushions in an Alabama prison is a rare inspiration to all of us." – Richard Gere