Through intimate letters, interviews, and stories, this narrative reveals the impact that a life-changing retreat had on a group of inmates at the highest level maximum-security state prison in Alabama. The 38 participants in the first-ever intensive, silent 10-day program inside the walls of a corrections facility--many serving life sentences without parole--detail the range of their experiences, the depth of their understanding of the Buddha's teachings gained by direct experience, and their setbacks and successes. During the Vipassana meditation program, they face the past and their miseries and emerge with a sense of peace and purpose. This compelling story shows the capacity for commitment, self-examination, renewal, and hope within a dismal penal system and a wider culture that demonizes prisoners.

Letters from the Dhamma Brothers, Jenny Phillips, Pariyatti Press, Paperback, 2008, 222 Pages, $15.95

Jenny Phillips is a practicing psychotherapist in Concord, Mass., who also works in state and county prisons teaching courses on emotional literacy skills. She first visited Donaldson prison in 1999 and through her initiative the Vipassana program was established there. The inmate-meditators began writing to her about their lives and quest for inner peace. Their letters and the award-winning documentary film The Dhamma Brothers, produced and directed by Jenny, open hearts and minds to the possibility of genuine transformation.

	Contents: Letters from the Dhamma Brothers
	Forward	ix
	Introduction	xiii
	INSIDE DONALDSON	1
	Graduation	3
	The Journey Inside	5
	Sowing Seeds of Change	10
	Introducing Vipassana	12
	Dhamma Takes Root	14
	Setting Up the Vipassana Retreat	18
	Free Worlders Move Inside	20
	Working Deep Within	25
	THE DHAMMA BROTHERS	33
	Grady Bankhead	34
	Torrence Barton	35
	Michael Carpenter	36
	Willie Carroll	37
	Wayne Finch	38
	James George	40
	Charles Ice	40
	Edward Johnson	42
	John Johnson	47
	Leon Kennedy	49
	Benjamin "OB" Oryang	50
	Omar Rahman	53
	Larry Singletary	56
	Rick Smith	58
	Johnny Mack Young	60
	THE LETTERS	63
	Before and After: The First Two Ten-Day Courses	64
	Interview with Benjamin "OB" Oryang	72
	Interview with Leon Kennedy	76
	Shut Down: Courses and Group Sitting Privileges	79
	Dhamma Brother Transferred	89
	Interview with Edward Johnson	90
	The Addict's Mentality: Not Just Another Fix	94
	Support Letters to Pardon & Parole Board: Request Declined	98
	After One Year, How Does Dhamma Fare Inside?	100
	Wishes to a Dhamma Friend on a Course	111
	Vipassana and Christianity and Islam	115
	Interview with Omar Rahman	118
	Interview with Larry Singletary	123
	Underground: Group Sittings by Any Other Name	126
	Cell Course Rings in the New Year	133
	Ups and Downs of Dhamma: Donaldson and Other Camps	139
	Life and Death: Dhamma Brothers Lose Loved Ones	162
	Legal Again: Vipassana Reinstated; A Three-Day Course	168
	Interview with Wayne Finch	170
	Appreciation to the Wardens; Dhamma Rolls On	180
	Parole Denied	197
	Conclusion	199
	Postscript	205
	Address by S. N. Goenka at Donaldson	208
	More about Vipassana	212
	Glossary	216
	Resources	218
	About the Author	220