Dhamma Talks - Meditation Class On C Wing In H M P Brixton :: Buddhapadipa Thai Temple

C Wing is the Drug Treatment wing in Brixton Prison and the aim is that all, or almost all, of the people located on that wing are either doing a drug treatment programme, waiting to do one or have graduated from one. The programmes that we run in Brixton, in common with most offending behaviour programmes in the criminal justice system at the moment, are all based on Cognitive Behavioural Theory.

As it relates to our work, this theory suggests the usefulness of looking at the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Anyone who has attempted to sit and focus the mind on the process of breathing within the body knows something of the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviour. The programme which the greatest number of inmates encounter, Short Duration Programme, also includes some relaxation techniques loosely based on traditional meditation techniques.

The request for a meditation class in Brixton Prison came last year from prisoners themselves and it took a few months to see a way of delivering this. I immediately agreed to the request to lead the class and at least 15 prisoners sit every week, amid the noise and occasional interruption, and focus their minds on the rising and falling of the abdomen while breathing and try to be aware and let go of other phenomena as they arise.

This morning a man I have known for some months told me he had smashed up his television set in his cell over the weekend. He did not complain of the behaviour of a prison officer. He did not mention another prisoner and how they had caused him to do it. He spoke clearly of his own anger and of the suffering he had caused his cell mate as a result of his actions. The development in thinking this represents in the time I have known this man suggests to me that his presence every week in the meditation class is helping him to understand himself and to change.

The class is explicitly based on Buddhist dhamma but is open to all people of all faiths and wisdom traditions and is attended by a complete mix of nationalities, races, ages and followers of all faiths and none. Brixton Prison is most fortunate to have the benefit of the insight and experience of Venerable Sangthong