Prison SMART Projects  

IAHV worldwide promotes and supports an extremely effective programme for rehabilitation and stress management in prisons, which the Uk organisation is promoting here as well as in Kosovo.

Over 100,000 people in prisons all over the world, from India to Russia, the US and South Africa, have benefited from the Prison SMART programme.

PrisonSMART stands for Prison Stress Management and Rehabilitation Training. It is based on Art of Living's unique stress management programme and is customized to the needs of the prison inmates and to the individuals and institutions that work to end the cycle of violence.

The programme helps prisoners in rehabilitation, and to reduce violence and drug dependencies. PrisonSMART teaches life skills that enable individuals to accept responsibility for their past actions and to handle future conflict and stressful situations successfully.

Prison SMART's innovative and results-oriented programme serves inmates, residents of halfway houses, those on parole and probation, at-risk youth, victims of crime, law enforcement officers, corrections professionals and individuals that deal with the aftermath of violence such as rape crisis centres, shelters for battered women, and runaway shelters. The programme serves, by offering tools to alleviate the trauma experienced by victims of crime and abuse.

The programme has had great success in helping these communities deal with the stress in a positive and enriching way. Prison administrators have reported that inmates who have participated in the program exhibit less acting out in confrontational situations and increased cooperation with staff.

The cornerstone of the program is the Sudarshan Kriya. This releases the accumulated effects of stress from the nervous system and help participants manage negative emotions in a safe and non-violent manner.

Reported benefits include:

• Improved sleeping patterns
• the ability to accept responsibility for past actions
• ability to handle conflict and stressful situations non-violently
• improved confidence and self-control

Prison SMART in UK

The first courses took place in Guernsey in 2003 and are regularly conducted there. Prison officers have now started to enrol on courses. The following year PrisonSmart started in 2 huge prisons in Doncaster, Yorks . We have since been invited to teach in 3 more UK prisons.

In June 05 we completed a course at HMP Lindholme a category 3 prison with more than 700 inmates. The prison chaplain kindly looks after us and organises the courses in a large, light and airy room in the chaplaincy. The prison governor came to present certificates and after listening to the comments of the prisoners and seeing their animated and enthusiastic faces said to the prison chaplain, our host in the prison… "we could do with a course like this every month!"

Typical comments from prison officers:

• "I've never seen them so quiet"
• "When are we going to have one of these courses for us?"

• "The Course has helped me to relax when I'm tired.
• "The course has helped me to breathe better, stop smoking, Relax, See life from a different perspective, feel better in my self."
• "When I'm bored and stressed it takes my mind off things. And it makes me feel good when I am unhappy….. I just do some exercises and breathing skills which I have learnt at the course."
• "The course help me to relax and to be with my innerself and look at life in a different light and to chill out before making hasty remarks to other people… I can control myself more."
• "don't take Drugs just breath"
• "I'm a lot more together and calmer than if I'd received the news of his accident 8 days ago instead of last night" (his son was in critical condition in hospital as he wrote)
• "I smoke less now and don't have to take as much valium as before the course"
• "For the first time in my life, I believe I have found an inner equanimity and a better understanding"

Prison SMART in Kosovo

IAHV UK has provided the funding to support an extremely successful series of Prison Smart courses to prison staff and inmates in Kosovo. The first phase of this programme ran in February and March 05. The second phase is running between April and June 2005 extending and expanding the work.

Report of the 1st phase of the Kosovo Prison Programme conducted by Snezjna Nisevic, Prison SMART teacher and Vehbi Rafuni President of Art of Living (AOL) Kosovo.

The first phase of the project has successfully started at Lipljan Prison in Kosovo, within the period between 14th February and 19th March 2005. Lipljan prison organized 10 AOL workshops in 5 weeks for 186 prison staff and prisoners.

Actual comments and experiences of the course participants show the following:

1.   The programme successfully REDUCED CONFLICT and anger in the stressful conditions of the prison.

2.   The Prison SMART Programme has provided the prisoners with the opportunity of GENUINE REHABILITATION and a basis for SELF-EMPOWERMENT and increased self-esteem, ultimately leading to a useful life beyond prison and abuse.

3.   The Prison Smart Programme has given strength to prison staff as well as coping skills needed to best serve and prevent burn-out.

4.   All 10 workshops were MULTI-ETHNIC WORKSHOPS, because Albanian, Serbian and Roma nationals employed in Lipljan prison participated in the training and benefited greatly from the AOL breathing techniques. Their experiences show that the program has helped them to increase focus, life energy and to RE-OPEN CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION and to IMPROVE INTER-ETHNIC DIALOGUE.

At the beginning of each workshop, the Albanian group was sitting on one side of the hall and the Serbs and Roma group on the other side. Every course ended with the sense of belonging and with course participants singing Albanian, Serbian and Roma songs together.

Their relationships improved so much in the warm atmosphere that was created during the course. The Serbs and Roma nationals were always fewer in number, but the Albanians were taking good care of them, and making them feel as part of the group.

5.   REDUCED TENSIONS between so called “UNIFORMED STAFF (correctional officers)” and “ CIVIL STAFF (administration)”. The workshops have brought the two groups together and helped them to drop the barriers caused by lack of understanding and lack of communication.

6.   WOMEN PRISONERS had the greatest interest and focus on the workshop and gratitude for the knowledge. Their sentences are heavy, from 10 to 32 years of prison. They were so relieved after the breathing exercises and group processes. A young girl sentenced to 19 years of prison said that the course was the best thing in her life and she started to cry because it was the last day of the course. We all started to cry and the atmosphere of trust and love created among the women has continued after the course. A mother of 7 children who killed her husband because he was beating and abusing her, has called her parents to tell them how better and stronger she felt after the course.

7.   MENTALY SICK PRISONERS have also participated in special AOL programmes. Correctional officers who have been looking after them, could not believe with their eyes when they saw prisoners sitting patiently and breathing, forgetting about smoking, laughing like children during group processes and feeling lighter and happier.

8.   JUVENILE DELINQUENTS have shown the greatest change in behavior after the AOL course. Those who were the most rebellious at the beginning of the course, turned out to be the most cooperative and with the best experiences. The most depressed faces became the brightest ones. A boy who killed his father (his father used to beat him and torture him), was very depressed at the beginning of the course, but after two days, he became one of the most cheerful boys in the group. Again, the correctional officers who work with them, could not believe it when they saw some of the boys being so happy, enthusiastic and friendly.

The prison management in Lipljan prison and the Department of Justice of Kosovo are so happy with the SUCCESS OF THE PROGRAM that they want us to continue with workshops in Lipljan prison and other prisons as well and to involve all those who are interested in taking the AOL training.

The second phase of the Prison Smart project will include continuation of the Prison SMART programmes in Lipljan prison and also the extension of the programmes to other prisons of Kosovo. The continuation of this project depends on the continuation of the financial support and we will be grateful for any help and support that can be given.

Snjezana Nisevic, Prison SMART teacher and AOL Teacher.
Vehbi Rafuni, President of AOL Kosovo.

For interim report for February (Click here)
For interim report for March (Click here)

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