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Individuals and society need to feel safe. Dangerous individuals need to be separated from the masses, but locking the dangers away has not solved our problems. Jails and prisons have become training grounds, a sort of graduate school, for violent and criminal behavior. Programs exist to improve the lives of incarcerated individuals. Still, they are far outweighed by the in-house violent and criminal lessons given by the veteran inmate "teacher."
Do you believe that you have the capacity to learn, to change, and to grow? Do you believe that others can change as well? What about those in our society who have broken laws or committed violent crimes? We can hope that change and growth can occur for inmates in our jails, but does it?
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In a room full of inmates, 90% of them will be repeat offenders. Ki development training ultimately provides inmates with the ability to control their reactions and, more specifically, learn that anger and tension are actually a weak and destabilizing response. Ki training provides inmates of all ages with the physical and mental understanding that calmness is stronger than tension.
Many of us do not see beyond our immediate needs. We react to situations with limited thought about the long-term consequences. Often, we react with little control. We often believe that, at the immediate moment of conflict, our anger is appropriate and effective in responding to others. When sentenced to jail or to do prison time, this behavior is often reinforced, seriously impeding the possibility for behaviors to change when they return to the community.
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A student in our early classes says, "The things I learn about relaxation and concentration in our Ki in Daily Life class, I apply to my life here. It is a remedy that rubs against the rough edges of my mind and body, thus making daily the rough edges smoother and smoother. Daily, these techniques are put into practice for a clearer conscious(ness). My anger is more in control, and my choices are clearer."
Ki in Daily Life training teaches students how to see a larger context for their immediate problem and thereby look at the long-term effects of their reactions. By seeing the larger picture, the inmates change their initial reaction. In Ki training at the jail, students learn to both physically and mentally relax when facing conflict. This connection from theory to practice sticks with the student long after the words have faded.
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These sessions provide participants the opportunity to examine their own understanding of power and strength and reconsider the results of anger and tension. Through participation in Ki exercises, breathing, and meditation, students experience, in a concrete and physical way, a new possibility for responding to and relating to the stress of daily life both inside and outside of institutions.
The Ki Research Institute began a county-funded program at two local jail facilities in 2003. County funds for this program (among many others) were discontinued in 2006. We continued serving these facilities until our own resources for this program ran out. We continue to teach this program on a volunteer basis but can only go once every other month or so. This does not have the same effect as our ongoing classes.
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Empower Change and Growth
We seek funding for a yearlong pilot program, accompanied by a university-led study, to track student progress and assess its impact on recidivism rates. For every $15,000, we can serve one housing unit with rotating members for one year. This could be as many as 200-300 different individuals per year per housing unit. Please give generously, as our client base is ever-growing while resources for programs dealing with incarcerated individuals are shrinking.
There are many ways to support this program, including making a one-time cash donation, signing up for a monthly subscription, donating saleable goods, or spreading the word among your friends and contacts. Learn more about the ways you can help here.
What Participants Say
"When my roommate bothers me, I practice breathing exercises. Ki is enabling me to control my own actions." |
"Ki has enabled me to see, as well as identify certain aspects of life, and deal with them in a more ethical way. Ki has also illuminated my awareness spiritually and my patience; it has helped me mentally and physically." |
"Without breathing the way Sensei told us to, it would have taken me about 2-3 hours to sleep. Now, breathing the way Sensei showed us, I say 30 minutes to an hour, and I am out." |
The Statistics
The United States has the largest prison population in the world and the second-highest per-capita incarceration rate. In 2013, in the U.S., there were 698 people incarcerated per 100,000 population. This is the U.S. incarceration rate for adults or people tried as adults.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 2,220,300 adults were incarcerated in the U.S. federal and state prisons and county jails in 2013 – about 0.91% of adults (1 in 110) in the U.S. resident population. Additionally, 4,751,400 adults in 2013 (1 in 51) were on probation or parole. In total, 6,899,000 adults were under correctional supervision (probation, parole, jail, or prison) in 2013 – about 2.8% of adults (1 in 35) in the U.S. resident population. In addition, 54,148 juveniles were in juvenile detention in 2013.
The Vera Institute of Justice reported in 2015 that jails throughout the United States have become warehouses for the poor, the mentally ill, and those suffering from addiction as such individuals lack the financial means or mental capacity to post bail.
According to a 2014 Human Rights Watch report, "tough-on-crime" laws adopted since the 1980s have filled U.S. prisons with mostly nonviolent offenders. This policy failed to rehabilitate prisoners, and many were worse on release than before incarceration. Rehabilitation programs for offenders can be more cost-effective than prison.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, falling crime rates cannot be ascribed to mass incarceration.