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The Inside Circle Foundation (ICF) is a not for profit organization (501c3) dedicated to the inner personal growth of men in prison. The goal of the ICF is to create environments in which prisoners can work and explore the issues in their lives that have prevented them from living up to their full potential as human beings. In these environments the ICF primarily utilizes self-help discussion groups and creative writing techniques such as journaling, autobiography, and poetry to achieve the inner development necessary to become healthy contributing members of our society.
The Lionheart Foundation distributes the book Houses of Healing to prisoners and operates the National Literacy Project. The NELP for Prisoners, Lionheart's first major and ongoing project, gives incarcerated men and women throughout the United States powerful rehabilitative resources to help them interrupt life-long patterns of violence and addiction and start building productive lives. Taking a proactive stance in the face of an expanding prison population and a trend toward eliminating rehabilitative programs, Lionheart is committed to playing an integral part in redefining our nation's prisons as places for healing and rehabilitation.
An educationally oriented site that includes a broad spectrum of resources for educators, students, activists and others interested in criminal justice policy and practice. The site offers a comprehensive approach to the problems presented by prisons in our society including a listing of organizations, stories told by prisoners, opportunities for dialogue and a glossary.
Staffed primarily by ex-offenders, The Fortune Society is a not-for-profit community-based organization dedicated to educating the public about prisons, criminal justice issues, and the root causes of crime. We also help ex-offenders and at-risk youth break the cycle of crime and incarceration through a broad range of services.
Prison Fellowship (PF) is a Christian ministry responding to the needs of prisoners, ex-prisoners, victims and those affected by crime. Prison Fellowship International (PFI) is the global association of national Prison Fellowship organizations. The purpose of each national PF organization is to work through the Christian community to mobilize outreach and ministry in response to the needs of prisoners, ex prisoners, victims, and their families as well as to advance the application of restorative justice principles within the criminal justice system.
The Criminal Justice Initiative of the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation is committed to reducing the excessive reliance on punishment and incarceration in the United States, and to promoting fair and equal treatment in all aspects of the U.S. criminal justice system. The goal of the CJI is to promote criminal justice policies and practices that are sensible and fair, and to support the redirection of resources away from spending on prisons toward long-term solutions for safe and vibrant communities, including effective crime prevention and rehabilitation programs.
The Prison Policy Initiative conducts research and advocacy on incarceration policy. Our work starts with the idea that the racial, gender and economic disparities between the prison population and the larger society represent the grounds for a democratic catastrophe. Our conception of prison reform is based not solely in opposing a rising rate of incarceration, but in evolving to a better way of addressing social problems than warehousing our citizens in cages.
The Mankind Project International designs and administers men's initiation weekends around the world. These weekends are a finely coordinated series of activities: group discussions, games, guided imagery visualizations, journaling, and individual work to help each man to touch his truth. The experiences and skills developed on these weekends and in follow-up groups support men in living lives of integrity, accountability, and connection to feeling. MKP assists men in being of service to the community at large, both as individual men with a renewed sense of passion and personal responsibility, and as communities of men working together to build sustainable relationships. Prisons are one setting in which men can benefit from the type of work offered by MKP.
Founded in 1990, the Prison Creative Arts Project is committed to original work in the arts in Michigan correctional facilities and juvenile facilities. Our purpose is to enhance creative opportunities for inmates and to bring the benefits and skills that come with each art. We have worked with prison actors, writers, and performers to create two dance performances, over one hundred and thirty-two original plays, and over fourteen creative writing presentations at seventeen adult facilities, as well as over eighty-five plays and three dance performances at four Michigan juvenile facilities. We have also curated six Exhibitions of Art by Michigan Prisoners and three exhibitions of art by incarcerated youth from four juvenile facililties.
Dr. Robert Roberts founded Project Return under the principle that violence, if preventable, should be a public health issue. Through the intervention of community-building and direct service provision for the needs of former offenders in breaking their repetitive cycles of drugs, criminal behavior, and violence, Project Return's goal was to reduce crime without doing further harm. Concentrating its efforts on those at highest risk for returning to prison, the program seeks to break the cycles of criminal and violent behavior through a process that assists convicted felons in making a successful transition from prison to the community and into employment.
In March 1993, a woman named Kiran Bedi became Inspector General of the Tihar Jail in New Delhi, the largest prison in India holding nearly 10,000 inmates. In her search for a technique of rehabilitation which would not only prepare her inmates for a sucessful return to society but also render the prison environment more peaceful and harmonious, she learned about Vipassana and its prior use in prisons. The first 10 day Vipassana course was taught within the Tihar Jail in 1994. Many other courses followed for both men and women, including a course for over 1,000 inmates, one of the largest courses ever held in modern times. Vipassana courses are currently being held in three U.S. correctional facilities: the W. E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, a level 6 maximum-security state prison in Bessemer, Alabama, near Birmingham; the San Francisco Jail, which was very successful; and the North Rehabilitation Facility (N.R.F.) a minimum-security facility of the King County jail system in Seattle, Washington.
Copyright Jericho Circle Project, Inc. 2003
P.O. Box 398045, Cambridge, MA 02139
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