Finding Peace In Prison

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee’s short documentary “Path of Freedom,” above, shows us how inmates at the John J. Moran Prison in Rhode Island have embraced meditation. Producer Dorothée Royal-Hedinger wrote about what she saw while filming behind bars:

The hour-long meditation class was a place many prisoners felt they could be themselves. Their mindfulness practice, they stressed, was not an escape, but rather a tool that helped them come to terms with the reality of their situation. One prisoner explained, “Once you come to prison, your life keeps tumbling and tumbling and it’s like a never-ending wall that won’t stop building…unless you find a way to get over that wall, or at least in front of it.”

The meditation course gives the prisoners the space to confront their guilt, remorse, grief, and anger; it also opens up the possibilities of making positive choices, no matter how small. As one prisoner expressed, “Someone has given us an opportunity to meditate and connect ourselves. That’s golden.”

(Hat tip: Paul Rosenfeld)