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More than 50 prisons across the UK and Ireland took part in yoga and meditation activities as part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2024. Staff used yoga sequence handouts, DVDs and CDs from The Prison Phoenix Trust to guide the people in their care through yoga and meditation exercises to support good mental health.

Launched for Mental Health Awareness Week 13-19 May, people in prison were invited to take part in 30 days of yoga and meditation with The PPT’s Yoga 30 Challenge. The PPT’s regular yoga classes were available in 14 of the prisons taking part. In these, and others, people also took part in their prison cells.

A man in HMP Rochester committed “to start doing yoga first thing every day”. A man in HMP Chelmsford alternated between one day yoga, and one day meditation. Someone in HMP Winchester, who was new to yoga, added different positions at intervals throughout the 30-day challenge. Continue Reading

The Prison Phoenix Trust is looking for the support of MPs in the new parliament for yoga and meditation in prisons. We are asking our supporters to use this template letter to write or email their local MP inviting them to join the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Yoga in Society. 

By joining, MPs will not only get access to all the latest research and developments on the impact of yoga for healthcare and rehabilitation in prisons and elsewhere in society – they will be invited to free lunchtime yoga sessions in the Houses of Parliament! 

Under previous parliaments the APPG enabled MPs and Peers to keep informed of successful initiatives to address trauma and behaviour in the prison population, the teen mental health crisis in schools, the roll-out of NHS patient and staff protocols to improve wellbeing and self-care skills, and how yoga supports community sport.

There are now over 800 published research papers on yoga, and nearly 50 peer-reviewed meta-analyses on its efficacy for mental health conditions and a range of common medical conditions. See a summary of the latest evidence on the impact of yoga and meditation in prisons.

How do I contact my MP?

You can: Continue Reading

Meet Josie Dear, who will be running the New Forest Marathon on 8 September to raise money for The Prison Phoenix Trust. We caught up with her after a training session.

Please support Josie here

Why The Prison Phoenix Trust?

It’s cool. You’re bringing grounding to people in prison so that they’ve something positive from the experience to go back into society. One of my friends’ parents gave straight away when they saw what I was supporting with my marathon.

How long have you been running for?

On and off since university, maybe 10 years; I did a half marathon last year for the RNLI and after that I didn’t do much running, but has got me back into it, I’m hoping to maintain that more now. This is my first marathon.

I like the feeling of being on a race day, an event, and fundraising makes it all worthwhile. Continue Reading

 

Find out more in our full Annual Report and Accounts for 2023

Suzy Dymond-White, who has been vice-chair of the board of The Prison Phoenix Trust, this month starts a 3-year tenure as chair, taking over from Jo Child who remains a member of the board. Richard Dunkerley is joining the board of trustees as treasurer.

Suzy has 37 years operational experience in a number of prisons. She has governed 3 prisons and held a number of head quarters roles. Her particular interests have always been female offenders and health and wellbeing. He is currently Strategic Project Lead for the Women’s Group. Her life long interest in yoga started at very young age when taught by her aunt in the 1970s. Her other interests include natural horsemanship and adventure travel.

Richard qualified as a certified accountant and worked for several companies including EMI and Reuters. He has been co-director of the Alternatives events programme at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London for 24 years. He is also Treasurer of the Cowley St John parish in East Oxford.

The PPT’s director Selina Sasse says: “Huge thanks to Jo Childs, who has been an outstanding chair of trustees, enabling flexibility of service post-pandemic. And a very warm welcome to Suzy and Richard in their new roles. The work of The PPT is growing to meet the changing needs of the prison services and those in its care. We draw great strength from our board of trustees.”

Volunteers Week 3-9 June

In nearly 17 years of volunteering, Caroline has written more than 3,000 letters to people who have reached out for help from prison. This month her dedication and service is to be recognised in Oxfordshire’s Volunteer Celebration Awards where she will be highly commended for long service.

As a mentor with The Prison Phoenix Trust, Caroline offers the hand of friendship to people in prison at the lowest time in their lives, helping them see that another way is possible, that there is hope of living a life away from crime.

She is one of 31 volunteers, including 15 mentors, at the charity, which helps people in prison use meditation and yoga to aid rehabilitation and to reintegrate into society when they are released. The volunteers’ contributions are essential to the small organisation, which has just 6 paid staff, most working part-time.

The role of the volunteer mentors is to respond to letters from prisoners who write seeking help to practise meditation or yoga in their prison cells. The mentors draw on their own experience and training from The Prison Phoenix Trust to offer support and encouragement. Continue Reading

Staff and prisoners in 55 prisons across the UK are taking part in The Prison Phoenix Trust’s Yoga 30 Challenge – 30 days of yoga or meditation to make it a healthy habit.

Starting on World Meditation Day, 21st May, participants will set themselves a target of practising yoga or meditation for up to 30 minutes each day. The Prison Phoenix Trust has provided  a tracker calendar to mark progress, along with a selection of yoga and meditation sequences on DVDs, CDs and printed handouts.

In more than 50 prisons, weekly yoga classes will also be taking place.

There is now strong evidence that yoga and meditation help people in prison become more skilful and less reactive in decision making, increasing their chances of leaving jail to lead lives away from crime.

Supporters of The Prison Phoenix Trust are invited to set their own Yoga 30 Challenge  – and help raise funds for the charity. GO to our JustGiving page to make a donation or set up a fundraiser. In 2023, the challenge raised more than £2,000 to support yoga and meditation in prisons.

Cambridge University’s forum Contemplation: Theory / Practice heard last week evidence of the effectiveness of yoga and meditation in prison from The Prison Phoenix Trust Director Selina Sasse.

The forum, which is a network of the university’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, brings together the ideas, history and application of contemplative traditions from around the globe, exploring a rich diversity of theories and practices united around a particular set of characteristics. 

In her talk, Selina highlighted the theory, evidence and experience of the value of meditation and yoga for vulnerable people in prisons.  This included how yoga improves physical and mental health, emotional resilience, self-esteem and a profound sense of connection and how neuroscience validates the experiential evidence from those The PPT supports.  Continue Reading

Latest impact data from The Prison Phoenix Trust finds 82% of women who took part in Mindful Yoga courses in prison experienced an improvement in mental wellbeing considered ‘meaningful’ by psychologists.

Women arriving for their first Mindfulness session at a prison in the South of England were unsure what to expect. “I want to keep my mind and body fit,” said one. “I want to be able to relax,” said another.

With age ranges from 20s to 60s, they brought with them a variety of aches and injuries, and also life experiences. A high proportion of imprisoned women have histories of trauma and abuse.

Mindfulness and Yoga are being offered as an accessible way for people in prison to learn practical ways to manage stress and anxiety, build emotional resilience and to strengthen overall physical and mental wellbeing, essential for rehabilitation and reducing reoffending.

The Prison Phoenix Trust has run 5 Mindfulness courses in 2 prisons over the last 7 months and used the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental WellBeing Scale (WEMWBS) to measure changes in participants’ mental wellbeing at the start and end of their courses. Continue Reading

 

It is with great sadness The Prison Phoenix Trust has learnt of the death of its long-time patron Erwin James. He was a wise, compassionate and intelligent man, who overcame great challenges in childhood to become an inspirational writer and advocate for people in prison.

Director of The Prison Phoenix Trust Selina Sasse said:

“Like many PPT friends, I was deeply moved to hear Erwin talk, particularly how tragic his childhood was and how his young adult life had unravelled. He did so much in his life to help others and we were fortunate that he chose to include our work. His death was very sudden and out of the blue. We are deeply saddened and shocked.” 

Erwin told his extraordinary life story in 3 memoirs, A Life Inside, The Home Stretch, and Redeemable. Born in Somerset in 1957, he lost his mother at the age of seven and his father turned to alcohol and violence. By the age of 10, Erwin was sleeping rough and committing crimes to survive. 

He went to prison in 1984 with a life sentence. While he could read, he wasn’t educated, but he quickly began making the most of his time and took all the courses he could to develop himself. While in HMP Nottingham, he attended his first yoga class. He later told us: Continue Reading