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Prison Contemplative Programs
Prison contemplative programs are classes or practices (which includes meditation, yoga, contemplative prayer or similar) that are offered at correctional institutions for inmates and prison staff. There are measured or anecdotally reported benefits from studies of these programs such a stress relief for inmates and staff.Bartollas (1985) p.141 These programs are gaining in acceptance in North America and Europe but are not mainstream. These rehabilitation programs may be part of prison religious offerings and ministry or may be wholly secular. Of those sponsored by religious organizations some are presented in non-sectarian or in non-religious formats. They have had increasing interest in North American and European prisons since the early 1970s. Contemplative practices in prison however date back at least to Pennsylvania prison reforms in the late 18th century [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Meditation is practiced in numerous religious traditions. The earliest records of meditation (''dhyana'') are found in the Upanishads, and meditation plays a salient role in the contemplative repertoire of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Since the 19th century, Asian meditative techniques have spread to other cultures where they have also found application in non-spiritual contexts, such as business and health. Meditation may significantly reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain, and enhance peace, perception, self-concept, and well-being. Research is ongoing to better understand the effects of meditation on health (psychology, psychological, neurology, neurological, and cardiovascular) and other areas. Etymol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doing Time, Doing Vipassana
''Doing Time, Doing Vipassana'' is a 1997 Israeli independent documentary film project by two women filmmakers from Israel: Ayelet Menahemi and Eilona Ariel. The film is about the application of the vipassana meditation technique taught by S. N. Goenka to prisoner rehabilitation at Tihar Jail in India (which was reputed to be an exceptionally harsh prison). The film inspired other correctional facilities such as the North Rehabilitation Facility in Seattle to use Vipassana as a means of rehabilitation. Kiran Bedi, former Inspector General of Prisons for New Delhi, appears in the film. Reception ''Doing Time, Doing Vipassana'' received an average score of 64 based on eight critics at Metacritic. It received a 71% rating based on 14 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' wrote of the film winning the Golden Spire Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival when noting its 2005 theatrical release. They praised the film, writing it had "distinct vir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Lorenzo Knapp
Samuel Lorenzo Knapp (19 January 1783 in Newburyport, Massachusetts – 8 July 1838 in Hopkinton, Massachusetts) was an American author and lawyer. Biography He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1804, studied law with Chief Justice Theophilus Parsons, and became an eminent lawyer. During the War of 1812, he commanded a regiment of militia on the coast defences. He was a representative in the Massachusetts legislature from 1812 to 1816. Knapp was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814. In 1816, he was imprisoned for debt, upon his release from prison in 1817, he moved to Boston. He became editor of the ''Boston Gazette'' in 1824, also conducting the ''Boston Monthly Magazine''. In 1826 he established the ''National Republican'', which failed two years later, and he returned to practicing law in New York City. He was given the degree of LL.D. from the Paris College. Works His works, which are chiefly biographical, include: *"Ali Bey," ''Extracts of a Jour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prison Reform
Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are impacted by crimes. In modern times the idea of making living spaces safe and clean has spread from the civilian population to include prisons, on ethical grounds which honor that unsafe and unsanitary prisons violate constitutional (law) prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment. In recent times prison reform ideas include greater access to legal counsel and family, conjugal visits, proactive security against violence, and implementing house arrest with assistive technology. History Prisons have only been used as the primary punishment for criminal acts in the last few centuries. Far more common earlier were various types of corporal punishment, public humiliation, penal bondage, and banishment for more severe offenses, as well as capital puni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bessemer, Alabama
Bessemer is a southwestern suburb of Birmingham in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. The population was 26,019 at the 2020 census. It is within the Birmingham- Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, of which Jefferson County is the center. It developed rapidly as an industrial city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2019, it was named Alabama's "Worst City to Live in" by 24/7 Wall Street. History The town was founded in the postbellum era by the Bessemer Land and Improvement Company, named after Henry Bessemer and owned by coal magnate Henry F. DeBardeleben. He had inherited Daniel Pratt's investments.Alabama Men's Hall of Fame: Henry Fairchild DeBardeleben , Samford University The mayor and councilmen voted to incorporate the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donaldson Correctional Facility
William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility is an Alabama Department of Corrections prison for men located in unincorporated area, unincorporated Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County, Alabama, near Bessemer, Alabama, Bessemer.Donaldson Correctional Facility " Alabama Department of Corrections. Retrieved on October 8, 2010. It came to national prominence after the Casey White Prison Escape, Casey White prison escape. History The prison opened as the West Jefferson Correctional Facility in 1982. On January 12, 1990, corrections officer William E. Donaldson was stabbed and killed by an inmate. The prison was later renamed in honor of officer Donaldson. Originally the prison had a capacity for 700 inmates in dormitory housing and 16 inmates in individual prison cells; ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dhamma Brothers
''The Dhamma Brothers'' is a documentary film released in 2007 about a prison meditation program at Donaldson Correctional Facility near Bessemer, Alabama. The film features four inmates, all convicted of murder, and includes interviews with guards, prison officials, local residents and other inmates, and reenactments of their crimes. The soundtrack includes music by Low, New Order and Sigur Rós. The film was directed by Jenny Phillips, a cultural anthropologist and psychotherapist; Andrew Kukura, a documentary filmmaker; and Anne Marie Stein, a film-school administrator. In 2008 Phillips released ''Letters from the Dhamma Brothers: Meditation Behind Bars'' (), a book based on follow-up letters with the inmates. ''The Dhamma Brothers'' has been compared with another documentary, ''Doing Time, Doing Vipassana'' (1997), which documented a large-scale meditation program at Tihar Jail in India with over a thousand inmates using the same meditation retreat format. Meditation prog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religious Freedom Restoration Act
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 (November 16, 1993), codified at through (also known as RFRA, pronounced "rifra"), is a 1993 United States federal law that "ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected." The bill was introduced by Congressman Chuck Schumer ( D- NY) on March 11, 1993. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Ted Kennedy ( D- MA) the same day. A unanimous U.S. House and a nearly unanimous U.S. Senate—three senators voted against passage—passed the bill, and President Bill Clinton signed it into law. RFRA, as applied to the states, was held unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the ''City of Boerne v. Flores'' decision in 1997, which ruled that the RFRA is not a proper exercise of Congress's enforcement power. However, it continues to be applied to the federal government—for instance, in '' Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal'' (2006) and '' Bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zen Buddhism
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and later developed into various sub-schools and branches. From China, Chán spread south to Vietnam and became Vietnamese Thiền, northeast to Korea to become Seon Buddhism, and east to Japan, becoming Japanese Zen. The term Zen is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the Middle Chinese word 禪 (''chán''), an abbreviation of 禪那 (''chánnà''), which is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word ध्यान ''dhyāna'' ("meditation"). Zen emphasizes rigorous self-restraint, meditation-practice and the subsequent insight into nature of mind (見性, Ch. ''jiànxìng,'' Jp. '' kensho,'' "perceiving the true nature") and nature of things (without arrogance or egotism), and the personal expression of this insight in daily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recidivism
Recidivism (; from ''recidive'' and ''ism'', from Latin ''recidīvus'' "recurring", from ''re-'' "back" and ''cadō'' "I fall") is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of that behavior. It is also used to refer to the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a similar offense.Henslin, James. ''Social Problems: A Down-To-Earth Approach'', 2008. The term is frequently used in conjunction with criminal behavior and substance abuse. Recidivism is a synonym for "relapse", which is more commonly used in medicine and in the disease model of addiction. Norway has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world at 20%. Prisons in Norway and the Norwegian criminal justice system focus on restorative justice and rehabilitating prisoners rather than punishment. United States According to an April 2011 report by the Pew Center on the States, the average national recidivism rate for released prisoner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a state of relaxed awareness, stress relief, and access to higher states of consciousness, as well as physiological benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. Building on the teachings of his master Brahmananda Saraswati (known honorifically as Guru Dev), the Maharishi taught thousands of people during a series of world tours from 1958 to 1965, expressing his teachings in spiritual and religious terms. TM became more popular in the 1960s and 1970s, as the Maharishi shifted to a more technical presentation, and his meditation technique was practiced by celebrities, most prominently members of the Beatles and the Beach Boys. At this time, he began training TM teachers and created specialized organizations t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
