Introduction

What's Going On In US Prisons

A Pledge to Give Back

Guiding Rage Into Power

Using community as a container for transformation, the Guiding Rage into Power Program leads prisoners through their pain toward a sense of belonging and commitment to service.

Taking off the Mask

Rehabilitation Through The Arts

Writing, dance, and theatrical performance become opportunities for self-discovery, social skill building and ultimately rehabilitation through RTA’s innovative inmate programming.

Foundations of Change

Life Skills for At-Risk Youth

The Mind Body Awareness Project brings mindfulness practices to vulnerable youth, helping them develop the empathy, self-awareness, and self-regulation needed for healthy adulthood.

The Art of Trust

Creativity and Healing in Women's Prison

ArtSpring’s creative arts programming uses emotional awareness to transform women’s patterns of isolation and victimization into personal power and community leadership.

Path of Freedom

Prison Mindfulness and Meditation

Bringing social-emotional learning techniques to inmates and prison administrators alike, the Prison Mindfulness Institute helps break both individual and systemic cycles of incarceration.

Breaking New Ground

Gardening on the Inside

Through the basics of tending gardens, the Insight Garden Program teaches inmates to care for themselves within life’s interdependent systems while training them for future work.

Circle of Strength

Restoring Relationship Through Empathy

Authentic communication is the context for empowerment with the Center for Council Program, which uses the profound experience of sharing stories and being heard to support rehabilitation.

Kalliopeia Foundation created Beyond Prison to feature innovative correctional practices that transform suffering and social breakdown into opportunities for healing and change.

The US corrections system is in the spotlight. Calls for reform are coming from all sectors and across all political backgrounds. Systemic prejudice and dysfunction are widespread, and it will take thoughtful action from many corners to make change. New practices and sense of purpose are desperately needed, and are already emerging. We offer these stories to support a new vision of what prison could be: a place of transformation from the inside out.

Programs like those featured on this website begin with the understanding that “hurt people hurt people, and healed people heal people.” They equip motivated prisoners with insight, support, and the social and emotional tools to improve empathy, accountability, and positive decision-making. Since 95% of incarcerated people will return to their families and neighborhoods, often as repeat offenders, the path to public safety is not in warehousing people in dehumanizing environments, but in offering rehabilitative programming that can bring about deep-seated change. Overall, the men, women, and youth participating in these programs are becoming role models within the prison walls and mentors upon release.

As a nation we are socially, culturally, and spiritually connected to those we’ve imprisoned. We believe that the transformative programs featured here in Beyond Prison hold a key to our future and demonstrate what is possible in prison reform.

FEATURED PROGRAMS

ArtSpring
www.artspring.org

Center for Council
www.centerforcouncil.org

Insight Garden Program
www.insightgardenprogram.org

Insight Out
www.insight-out.org

Mind Body Awareness Project
www.mbaproject.org

Prison Mindfulness Institute
www.prisonmindfulness.org

Rehabilitation Through The Arts
www.rta-arts.org

Beyond Prison explores innovative approaches to rehabilitation and offers a new vision of what prison could be.