Prison of Peace

I got involved with Prison of Peace because it was a project I was working on for my networking group. So I started writing letters to mediators, and I got two responses, one from yourself and one from another lady. And the process was a very, very long process, sometimes a very frustrating process, but that's how I got involved with it. It was actually a project that I was working on. I worked so long and hard on this project because it was something that meant It was very important to me. Being a lifer, it's difficult. It's not easy. So, um, This not only was going to benefit me, but it was going to benefit the community.

So when I first heard about Prison of Peace, I thought that maybe this would be a great opportunity to actually have peace within the prison. I mean, we have a lot of programs going on, but not geared specifically towards peace. So it was kind of exciting and new, and I couldn't wait for an opportunity opportunity to be a part of it. I guess I appeared skeptical in the beginning because I am the type of person that I really have to feel it. I work off of feelings, and I really have to know it's for the betterment of the people. I'm really a people person, and I'm really about helping others and assisting others where I can and when I can. And what shifted for me in the whole— in this whole process and Prison of Peace is the way that you guys interacted with us and the way that you guys helped us along the way and were concerned with what the concerns were. And that was a shift that made me realize that, wow, you know, okay, maybe these guys, you know, they're okay.

When I heard about the Prison of Peace program, I was excited because I'm involved in a lot of different things. There's a need for things like this in this community. It's a very negative community, so immediately I knew that I had to be a part of it, so I participated and filled out the application. I'm a leader here and I'm a mentor already, and with these skills, I knew that it'd be essential for me to have these skills so I can help others here.

I am the person that usually does not feel, and I have little or no emotion. And that's part of what got me incarcerated was because I have little or no emotion. And to go through these experiences, to actually sit in your emotion and also feel another person's emotion is a new experience for me, and it's very uncomfortable, but I'm learning.

I wanted to be involved with the Prison of Peace because I wanted to do something positive for once. My past, there's so much negative. And I just, I haven't done much in my life and I really regret that. And by being involved with Prison of Peace, I felt that maybe I could help make a change and help others rather than just helping myself.

My name is Anna Humiston and I've been incarcerated for 19 years. I made a poor decision when I was 17 years old to participate I was charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 to life. I actually began my time in the California Youth Authority and then came here when I turned 25. The awakening moment for me with Prison of Peace would be— I did a peace circle in an organization that I started called YUP, and it's called Young United Players, and it's for kids that were 17 and younger when they committed their crimes, such as myself. And I did this peace circle with these girls, and I thought, this is a very rowdy crowd. They're 18, 19 years old. They're not going to understand this, but I'm going to try it anyways because they were very loud and kind of obnoxious at the moment. And I thought, I've got to try to do this talking peace with them and pass this around and let them know what a peace circle is about. And I ended up telling them what a peace circle was and explaining what I'm going to do and what's going to happen with the process. And it went so amazingly well that these girls, that all they want to do is peace circles now. And in almost every group that we have, "Are we going to do a peace circle? Are we going to do a peace circle?" And it's just so cute to see them really, really want to learn this and are really getting something out of it. And for me, that was an awakening experience to realize that it really does work. And even when there was a little bit of doubt in my mind that, "Are peace of heart really going to work? Are people really going to look at them?" That just said it all right there. And seeing how they just changed and the whole situation went so well, it just inspired me to do it more.

When I first arrived in prison, there was nothing but fights, feuds, violence, abuse. The negative flow was unbelievable. And I joined with a lot of other inmates in a small group at the time called The Network. And our plan was to find a way to reduce the violent mentality in this institution and in other institutions when when that time came. So, of course, when this opportunity came up, we all leaped at it, jumping into the fray so we could do something that we've been trying to do since most of us have been here. I've been down for about, well, since 1997. I myself have been a victim of violence. A lot of seniors here are victims of violence. There's domestic violence, there's every form of abuse you can imagine. And something has to be done. And of course, we need to do it ourselves as much as anything else.

I'm Sarah Reynolds. I'm in prison for drunk driving vehicular manslaughter. When I was chosen to participate, I felt honored. I know it was a pilot program that they were just starting off, and I felt really good being picked to be a foundation of that. When I walked in the door, I wasn't sure what to expect, but Doug and Laurel and the team that they brought with them were awesome. They introduced a lot of communication skills and a lot of skills that help us improve who we are as people. The one revelation that I would have about this program is I have a 23-year-old son that I've never really been able to communicate with, and I haven't been there for most of his life, letting him down. And growing up, I really never knew how to communicate, and I always thought it was me that didn't, that didn't understand or didn't have any kind of people skills. And my revelation came when I realized that I do have those skills in me, when we were learning how to actually hear what people were saying. Feel their body language and hear the emotions in their voice. The reflecting part, I think that would have to be where it came in. When somebody's talking to you and you reflect back what they say and summarize it, it really makes you a participant in the conversation rather than just a bystander. I think that would have to be my revelation, realizing that I had it with me all the time, I just didn't know how to use it.

Being in this program, the one thing that really rang true to me and hit me in the heart for this program was, is that so many people talk all day long and don't get heard. And so we got the skill to express ourself, to be heard, and as well to listen. And for me, that was great enlightenment here, and great enlightenment in a world I didn't realize I was missing the skill. And for me, that was just new hope. New hope and new reality that we could learn in our worst and most anger moment to process through and hear each other and whether we come to an agreement or not, make it through the day. And that's what I got out of this, was that I could get through any situation now. I have changed due to this program because because I can put two hostile people together that I don't know and work my way through, um, letting them solve their own issues and making them the strength and the power that's there. So that gives me strength to survive here every day, as well as giving me a new skill upon release of here that I could go do this for as a real job. I just want to thank you guys for allowing us to to be the first to do this program and to hope that it continues a long time.

My hope for the future is that this prison will be a very peaceful prison and that everybody will be affected the same way I've been affected.