Abstract
This article describes the quantitative results of a study conducted at Maui Community Correctional Center in Hawaii. The program, Free Inside, was evaluated to determine its effectiveness as a rehabilitative tool for inmates. Each of the participants engaged in twelve-week cycles of twice weekly, hour-long classes in yoga, meditation, and chi gung practice. The findings reveal an association between inmate participation and increased awareness, self-esteem, sense of hope, and compassion. The authors recommend that similar programming become a part of the inmate experience in an effort to help rehabilitate and better prepare inmates for re-entry.
Highlights
In an attempt to rehabilitate offenders and address their educational, vocational, and psychological needs, prisons offer programs for inmates
Research addressing the physiological benefits of yoga and meditation include the following: relief of headache, migraine, back pain, arthritis, insomnia, nerve or muscle disease, menstrual problems, menopausal disorders, hypertension, heart disease, asthma, ulcers, hemorrhoids, obesity, tuberculosis, diabetes, cancer, substance addiction, and decrease in pain
This study reveals an association between inmate participation in Free Inside program classes and apparently improved state of mind while in prison
Summary
The total mean scores show an increased level of hope among the inmates. Higher total scores suggest greater physical and mental wellness (Figure 4). In writing this scale its author had conceived of two subscales within it, one focused on physical health and balance, and the second upon mental health and balance. A paired sample t-test on these means resulted in a total score t-value of -2.59, which was significant at p = .018; an "physical wellness" score t-value of -2.37, which was significant at p = .028; and a "mental wellness" score t-value of -1.59, which was not significant at p = .129. There was a significant increase in post-test scores overall, and in the "physical wellness" scores
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