Impact of Meditation on Prison Inmates: 3 Soul Touching Documentaries
By Goodpal, 30th Jun 2011 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutHealthMind & SpiritMental Health
Three films are described here that depict the effect of Vipassana meditation on prison inmates at three different prisons - one in India and two in the US. The documentaries are very touching and depict the profound effect of meditation practice on the inmates.
- Prison Inmates are also Human Beings
- Three Soul Touching Documentaries
- 1. “Doing Time, Doing Vipassana”
- 2. “Changing from Inside”
- 3. “The Dhamma Brothers”
- Some Quotable Quotes
- How to Get the Documentaries
- Final Comments
- Explore Further
Prison Inmates are also Human Beings
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. – Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1821-1881
Prisons reveal the dark side of the society that leaders don’t want to display or talk about. A prison term is meant to readjust the attitude of offenders to the requirements of life. But do jails provide that opportunity? More often than not the reverse happens – in the company of other criminals the offender end up learning more tricks of the trade of the criminal’s underworld.
While criminologists and penologists have their own ideas of how to go about transforming the behaviors of offenders, a silent movement appears to have taken many by surprise. Can you imagine hundreds of jail inmates meditating together in complete silence for ten day? If you don’t, you must watch the story of how Vipassana meditation camps held inside prisons around the world have the potential to truly transform the inmates in these three documentaries, which are really soul touching and underscore the fact that human beings can always change.
Three Soul Touching Documentaries
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 for 120 and 300 participants held few months ago paved the way for the mega humanitarian-cum-spiritual event. The size and success of the meditation camp sent ripples across the world. Can 1000 prisoners meditate for 10 days in silence inside a jail, was the question everyone was trying grapple with. It certainly was an amusing and amazing feat disbelieved by most who heard or read about it.
1. “Doing Time, Doing Vipassana”
Place: Tihar Jail, New Delhi, India
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 noted 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.
However, the biggest success of the 52 minute Doing Time, Doing Vipassana documentary was to stir a debate among prison officials across the world if meditation is really the ideal tool to transform criminals into normal law obeying civilians. The impact depicted in the film was just too good to be true. However, it was not film makers’ trick of the artwork, but a spontaneous and honest manifestation of true inner change.
2. “Changing from Inside”
Place: North Rehabilitation Facility (N.R.F.), King County Jail, Seattle, Washington, USA
This 42 minute long film narrates 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. This film was produced primarily for authorities such as prison administrators, jail officials, judges, etc. It attempted to address the queries from corrections officials after they saw Doing Time, Doing Vipassana.
Changing from Inside 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 came out significantly transformed, and also 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”
Place: Donaldson Correction Facility, Alabama, USA
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 a 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, 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
How to Get the Documentaries
Final Comments
I am a practitioner of Vipassana Meditation for last two decades and have spent a significant amount of time voluntarily assisting in the organization of meditation courses in several meditation centers. I have seen at close quarters the deep impact of meditation on the psyche of the people who honestly practice it and the sea change it can bring in the personalities. I also know several ex-inmates who are now leading a normal family life. They are full of gratitude towards this meditation and towards the prison staff who encouraged them to join the meditation camp. I truly believe that, given an opportunity and the right atmosphere even the most violent and disturbed mind can change.
Explore Further
Detailed background of meditation camps in jails: Meditation in Prisons -- A Silent Escape to Freedom
For beginners: Vipassana Meditation: Some Frequently Asked Questions
Details of worldwide activities of Vipassana Meditation: Vipassana Meditation Website
Comments
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2nd Jul 2011 (#)
Awesome article, Goodpal. Meditation can indeed change the world.
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3rd Jul 2011 (#)
Exceptional presentation. I might have starred it!
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3rd Jul 2011 (#)
The inner peace one enjoys after meditation is simply unparalleled. It can't be compared with what is called "feeling good" after some material achievement.
I consider myself fortunate to have come in contact with meditation due to some tragic and almost impossible situations in life. It is also truly an amazingly pleasant satisfaction to see people come out their suffering with their own mental efforts in meditation. Perhaps, this is what real compassion is.
Please keep sharing.
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