Thirty years ago Sue was in prison, serving a 4-year sentence for the supply of drugs. She was a heroin addict. This month she represented prison yoga and meditation at St James’s Palace at the invitation of the King on behalf of The Prison Phoenix Trust.
Along with trustee Shola Arewa, she was invited to celebrate 40 years of the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Trust, which supports The Prison Phoenix Trust’s rehabilitative work in prisons. During the event Sue was passed the microphone and spoke in front of 100 people about her experiences.
She said: “I made contact with The Prison Phoenix Trust in prison. We communicated by letter. They inspired and supported my meditation practice throughout my time in prison, through drug rehabilitation, my first job in drug services. This communication has continued over 30 years. Over the past few years I have been fortunate to give back to The Prison Phoenix Trust in ways I never expected.”
The Prison Phoenix Trust supports nearly 5,000 individual prisoners with meditation and yoga, with a combination of classes, distance-learning resources and peer support and mentoring. More than 15,000 prisoners tune in to classes broadcast three times a week on National Prison Radio. Increasingly prisons are commissioning yoga and meditation as valuable rehabilitative interventions. The support offered by the charity continues through the gate – life long, if required.
Sue told guests at St James’s Palace: “When your sentence is over, the support and inspiration from The Prison Phoenix Trust does not end. The friendship built through letter-writing is an invaluable gift upon release.
“Restarting your life after prison is a great challenge, the shame, applying for courses, DBS checks for jobs. Meditation and Yoga are a mirror that shows you the purity inside yourself. It is never tainted, regardless of your offence, or traumas that have contributed to the offending. The simplicity of following your breath, of holding a yoga pose enables total acceptance of yourself.
“It has helped me be a person who can now give back to society, volunteering in two local charities, one preventing food waste and the other supporting creative arts for adults with poor mental health.
“I felt honoured to represent The Prison Phoenix Trust with trustee Shola Arewa at the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund. The causes that our King supports from ecological projects, preventing food waste, young carers and The Prison Phoenix Trust are the foundations of bringing change in a world that can appear harsh and cruel. What an honour, to go from prison to St James’s Palace..”
The King welcome 100 charity volunteers to St James’s Palace
