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The Awakening Program: An Inmate Collaboration to Transform Prisions

April 22, 2022

9:00 — 11:00 am PT and 18:00 — 20:00 CET on Zoom

(This Exchange was rescheduled due to a COVID lockdown in Steven's prison).

Intention

Steven and his incarcerated brothers in Maine State Prison have created a mentorship program to support individual transformation and systemic change in prisons. This exchange is a unique dialogue among those affected by mass incarceration: system employees, nonprofit agencies, and incarcerated citizens themselves. We'll learn about the program, hear from those whose lives it changed, and explore questions like what does it mean to become free? What role does service play in awakening? How can personal evolution ignite systemic change and transform our understanding of mass incarceration? 

Key Questions for Exploration

  1. In a prison system where fear and violence are endemic, how do we create the conditions for intimacy and vulnerability between men? 

  2.  What role does service play in our awakening? What does it mean  to be free? 

  3.  How do we - the incarcerated, those working in the system, and society at large - transform our perception of incarcerated human beings?

  4.  How do we connect with and increase humanity in dehumanizing bureaucratic systems?

  5.  How can incarcerated advocates work in partnership with prison employees to extend this program to other facilities?

 Takeaways

Participants will:

  • Gain an understanding of the human potential of incarcerated residents
  • Gain awareness of how to humanize incarcerated residents
  • Gain an understanding of the importance of changing consciousness
  • See what’s involved in creating a program designed and conducted by an individual who lives on the inside