Abstract
International research provides support for yoga as a wellbeing intervention in prison. Until recently, no systematic research had been undertaken in Australia to assess the effectiveness of a yoga program, or consider the challenges of implementation. In 2017, the authors, in partnership with Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Corrective Services and the Yoga Foundation, introduced a pilot yoga program at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in the ACT. This paper draws on comments from the prisoners who participated in the program and the yoga teacher, as well as the perspectives of a prison psychologist and the lead author, both of whom also participated in the program. The paper reflects on the lessons learnt from developing and delivering a prison yoga program and advocates for the expansion of such programs in Australian prisons.
Highlights
Readers are invited to imagine that it is a hot afternoon in Canberra, Australia in mid-January 2017
The yoga teacher (ME), firstauthor (AH) and a prison psychologist working at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) (LM), who have arrived to deliver and participate in the program respectively, are greeted with easy smiles and the slightly nervous laughter of those risking ridicule
The laughter subsides as participants sit, close their eyes and begin to focus on their breath. These men have come to participate in an eight-week yoga program,1 a first for the AMC and the first yoga prison program in Australia to be the subject of evaluation
Summary
Readers are invited to imagine that it is a hot afternoon in Canberra, Australia in mid-January 2017. Ten male prisoners have gathered in the newly opened gymnasium at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC), which houses all adult prisoners in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Many of these prisoners (commonly referred to as detainees in the ACT and generally referred to as participants in this paper) are heavily muscled and covered in tattoos. The laughter subsides as participants sit, close their eyes and begin to focus on their breath. These men have come to participate in an eight-week yoga program, a first for the AMC and the first yoga prison program in Australia to be the subject of evaluation
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