THE PROBLEM: The Incarceration NationWith only 5% of the world’s population, the UnitedStates has 25% of its prisoners. 7.3 million people – 1in 31 U.S. adults – are either incarcerated, on parole,on probation, or under jurisdictional oversight. Themajority are male and people of color. Women com-prise the fastest-growing segment of the prison popu-lation, now amounting to 8% of adult prisoners.

About 20% of adult prisoners have a serious mental ill-ness; 30 – 60% have substance abuse problems. Whenincluding broad-based mental illnesses, 50% of menand 75% of women in state prisons will experience amental health problem requiring services in any givenyear. As one expert put it “our jails and prisons have be-come America’s major mental health facilities, a purposefor which they were never intended.”

Very little effort is made by prisons to help offendersgain insight into their behavior and take personal ac-countability for harm caused. Prisoners leave custodywith few social or life skills and scant understanding ofthe fundamental issues that first got them into trouble.Not only are America’s prisons dysfunctional and inhu-mane, they are wastefully expensive, costing U.S. tax-payers $80 billion a year. And when states can’t affordthe prisons they’ve legislated, they turn to the multi-

billion dollar private prison industry who demandnear-capacity occupancy and have no incentive to re-habilitate.

Aside from economic and humanitarian reasons, whyshould we care? Because 94% of all prisoners are even-tually released - into their communities, hardened andwithout the means to succeed, putting their commu-nities, their families, and themselves at risk. More than60% will re-offend within three years.

THE SOLUTION: The Prison Yoga ProjectMost prisoners suffer from Complex Trauma: chronicinterpersonal trauma experienced early in life as aban-donment, poverty, hunger, homelessness, bullying,discrimination, domestic violence, physical or sexualabuse, abduction and trafficking, exposure to drug andalcohol abuse, and crime – including murder. These ex-periences, imprinted by the terrifying emotions thataccompany them, are deeply held in the mind and,perhaps more importantly, in the body. This unre-solved trauma follows them into adulthood, oftenmanifesting as impulsive/reactive behavior, tenden-cies toward drug and alcohol addiction and violence,ultimately landing them in prison where they experi-ence even more emotional and psychological up-heaval.

OUR MISSION: To bring Yoga and Mindfulness into every American Prison

Prison Yoga Project was founded by James Foxat San Quentin State Prison, where he hasbeen teaching yoga and mindfulness practices

to prisoners since 2002. James’s pioneering trauma-in-formed approach for applyingthe practice of yoga to behav-ioral rehabilitation has pro-vided demonstrable benefitsfor thousands of prisoners. Fif-teen years of experience hasresulted in an evidence-basedmethodology that has earnedPrison Yoga Project international acclaim in the yogacommunity and rapidly growing adoption by Americanprisons.

While cognitive behavioral therapy has traditionallybeen the approach to help people process unresolvedtrauma, psychiatrists, psychologists, and clinical socialworkers – many working with U.S. military veterans –have more recently acknowledged that embodimentpractices such as yoga, enriched with mindfulness, canhave a greater impact in alleviating the symptoms thatlead to reactive behaviors and stress-related disease.The Prison Yoga Project has pioneered these practiceswith prisoners. We’ve developed a low-cost model thatenhances a prisoner’s mental and physical well-beingand behavioral rehabilitation. Overwhelming evidenceis mounting that supports its effectiveness and uptake.

“What most people don’t realize is that trauma is notthe story of something awful that happened in thepast, but the residue of imprints left behind in people’ssensory and hormonal systems” ~Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.

“Symptoms of trauma are most severe in prisoners in-carcerated for longer than one year who have little ac-cess to education, vocational training, orrehabilitation.”~Terrence Gorski, Author, Post-incarceration Syndromeand Relapse

James continues to teach weekly classes at SanQuentin, guest-teaches at other state prisons and U.S.penitentiaries, and is a graduate-school lecturer atLoyola Marymount University. He advocates nation-wide for restorative justice practices and prison reformand travels extensively to introduce his innovativemethods in the global community. James was the re-cipient of a Good Karma Award from Yoga JournalMagazine in 2015.

Restorative or Retributive Justice?Our current system of retributive justice is relentlesslypunitive. Prisoners are commonly humiliated andtreated with hostility and callous indifference whichthwarts self-exploration and any desire to change be-havioral patterns. Under this system inmates often re-enter society in an aggravated mental and emotionalcondition and are far more likely to end up back inprison.

Restorative justice, whose principles and practices em-phasize taking personal responsibility for harm caused,relies on the development of self-understanding andemotional literacy to enable behavioral change. Prac-tical, humane, and ultimately cost-saving. The likeli-hood of re-offense declines while the prospect forsuccessful re-integration to society thrives.

Our years of experience and thousands of engagedteacher-hours bear witness that prisoners who aretreated with respect usually respond in kind. As pris-oners struggle with the residue of chronic trauma, be-havioral change emerges from teacher-studentrelationships based on patience, understanding, em-pathy, and compassion.

Research conducted by the National Councilon Crime & Delinquency (NCCD) found thatprisoners who participated in PYP’s weekly

yoga class at San Quentin experienced emotionalcontrol, calmer temperament, improved rationaldecision-making, and a reduction of stress, anxiety,and chronic physical pain. The study concludedthat programs like PYP’s represent promising reha-bilitative tools for prisoners that may lead to a re-duction of recidivism. A University of San Franciscostudy on a PYP program for women prisoners inSouth Carolina found that participants showed re-duced levels of depression, anxiety, and stress andan improvement in self-awareness.

PYP Changes LivesSince establishing itself as a non-profit in 2010 underthe fiscal sponsorship of the Give Back Yoga Founda-tion, PYP has trained more than 1800 teachers in itstrauma-informed methodology and replicated its pro-gram to more than 200 jails, prisons, youth facilities,and military brigs throughout the U.S. (25 states). PYPhas trained an additional 260 teachers in Canada, Mex-ico, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and The Netherlands.There are 10 active domestic and 3 active internationalPYP chapters providing services to local correctional fa-cilities and 13 affiliated providers using PYP-influencedmethodology. Our extended mission is to train teachers;advocate with prison administrators and communityleaders; bring yoga into underserved communities; pro-vide instructional materials, class curriculum, yogamats; and train newleaders.

Donors and Volunteers Move this MissionEverything we’ve done – every accomplishment, everylife reclaimed – has been made possible by volunteersand donors. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplishedbut we’re also acutely aware that suffering and indiffer-ence are still crushing the many thousands we haven’tyet reached. More jails and prisons are contacting usregularly creating a demand that we’re hard-pressed toaccommodate. We need resources and greater capacityto serve. This pent up demand is predictive of a greatfuture…only reached through increased financial sup-port. If you believe in the transformative power of yogaand are seeking impact from your philanthropy, pleasecontact us immediately.

Academic references:“We found that the group that did the yoga courseshowed an improvement in positive mood, a decreasein stress, and greater accuracy in a computer test of im-pulsivity and attention.”—Dr. Amy Bilderbeck and Dr. Miguel Farias, “The Effectsof Yoga and Meditation in a Prison Population,” Univer-sity of Oxford, 2012

“Our systematic review finds emerging scientific evi-dence to support a role for yoga in treating depression,sleep complaints, and having adjunctive value in schiz-ophrenia and ADHD.”—“Yoga on Our Minds: A Systemic Review of Yoga forNeuropsychiatric Disorders,” Duke Institute for BrainSciences, 2013