Prison Mindfulness Institution

I went to the religious speaker event, and the event really opened my eyes. Religion impacts the system of incarceration. One form has an impact on that experience, and that is the subjects of poverty and violence. One of the speakers was author Fleet Maul. He was raised in St. Louis by a Catholic family, but he was incarcerated from drug smuggling; however, he is best known for his finding of prison mindfulness institution, as well as national prison hospice association. He became a senior teacher in the Buddhist tradition by going on retreats as well as gets involved in meditative practices. He is part of the growth as the amount of religious and mediation groups in prison has increased by a significant amount over the last 30-35 years. He switched over to how mass incarceration is more of a policy failure than a moral failure, and that there has been some criminal justice reform but clearly not enough. He explained how professionals in the system are progressive in corrections. It’s very interesting to see how prison can have such a drastic positive change in someone’s life. However, I do agree that this does not occur all over America, as there needs to be significant reform in the prison systems. A good idea would be to have daily prayer and religious classes and teachings where people can give over to a higher power to help them better themselves in potentially their next life after prison. Especially with Buddhism, it seems like a very peaceful and pacifist religion where people can be at ease and focus on meditation. I truly hope that most people follow what he has shared about his practices, and how he can impact incarcerated people’s lives who struggle.[embeddoc url=”http://blogs.butler.edu/ghs208spring2020/files/2020/01/IMG_2296-scaled.jpeg” download=”all”]