Harley G. Lappin
Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street, NW
Washington, DC 20534
Dear Mr. Lappin:
The business of incarceration is booming. One in 136 Americans is now in jail or prison at any given time. While it is my belief that our criminal justice system is in need of extensive reform, that is not why I am writing to you.
Once an individual makes the journey into a cell, he or she is cut off from society for better and for worse. While supposedly receiving just punishment and posing no additional threat to society, the prisoner is in a controlled environment where (s)he can receive only the benefits allowed within the system.
I am writing to you to suggest that you employ the services of the Art of Living Foundation. I recently read a news report about their success at a prison in Dubai, where they teach the women prisoners yoga classes and allow them to wear makeup. I believe that these sorts of tactics would benefit the U.S. prison population as well. With such a high percentage of our population in prison, we should be setting the standard for employing reform programs.
You may already have programs for prisoners that I am not aware of, and I would love to learn about them. I understand that at many facilities, inmates are encouraged to work and also to take classes to further their education. Whatever is currently being done, however, is not enough. Too many people are leaving prison only to return again and again.
A judge in Lincoln Nebraska recently sentenced a man who had sexually assaulted a child to probation rather than prison, saying that due to his short stature (five-foot-one), he was unlikely to survive in prison. If the climate in our nation’s prisons is such that judges are concerned for convicts’ very survival, then certainly they are not environments where people can thrive, grow and change.
I encourage you to work toward positive reform of our prison system. Doing so will benefit us all in the long run.
Truly,
Liz Mann
