Prisoners and
guards 'should meditate together', MP says
By Bill Gardner, and agency
10:12PM GMT 10 Dec 2014
Prisoners and their
guards should meditate together to reduce violence and improve
behaviour, an MP has suggested.
Mindfulness is said
to change the way people think about experiences and reduce stress
and anxiety, an approach adopted by around 115 MPs and peers in the
"hothouse" of Parliament.
Using meditation,
devotees are trained to "accept the intentional, accepting and
non-judgmental focus of one's attention on the emotions, thoughts
and sensations occurring in the present moment".
Labour's Chris Ruane
said the "chic" approach would help prisoners to learn "gratitude,
appreciation and balance". Meditating would also help inmates
become better citizens when they leave jail, he said.
The Vale of Clwyd MP
added officers and prisoners should learn together while the
approach should also be extended to police officers and the
military.
Google, Apple and
other top international companies advocate the technique, Mr Ruane
said.
He added US marines
had also successfully adopted it, telling the Commons: "If it works
with big beefy marines, I think it could work with British prison
officers."
Justice Minister
Andrew Selous acknowledged the Ministry of Justice is to launch
mindfulness projects in the new year, although did not specify
further details.
Speaking during an
adjournment debate, Mr Ruane noted issues had been caused by a
decrease in prison staff at a time when the number of inmates had
increased.
The Labour
backbencher told the Commons: "I think it's how you pitch
mindfulness as an intervention, that is accepted - in fact it's
quite chic for some people.
"Arianna Huffington
of the Huffington Post, she practices it and preaches it, it's done
by Apple, Google, all the top international companies are having
it.
"And I think if it's
good enough for the captains of industry, it's also good enough for
ordinary workers like prison officers, like police officers and
indeed their clients as well - prisoners and prison officers
together in tandem and this is when mindfulness works best when
it's the teacher and the pupil, when it's the GP and the patient,
where compassion is increased.
"So I believe if we
were to introduce mindfulness in prisons then we would help on a
whole range of issues.
"We've literally got
a captive audience there with prisoners. They're in there 24 hours
a day, what did they do within those 24 hours?
"Do they learn the
skills that mindfulness brings? The skills of gratitude,
appreciation, of balance - personal balance and equanimity - which
will help them be better prisoners, help them be less violent
towards prison guards and help them to be better citizens when they
move out into society."
Mr Ruane said the
approach had worked with the US marines being taught mindfulness
before heading to Afghanistan and Iraq for combat
operations.
He said: "It was
such a success that it is now being rolled out to the US
Army.
"If it works with
big beefy marines, I think it could work with British prison
officers."
He said the
five-year pilot project had also helped the soldiers upon their
return to civilian life.
Replying for the
Government, Mr Selous said: "I can tell (Mr Ruane) that the NHS has
five ways towards wellbeing.
"The fifth of those is mindfulness and within the Ministry of
Justice we have already started on this work and will launch
projects on mindfulness in the new year."