"Why are you so resistant to change?"You can't 'correct' prisoners or help them correct themselves by creating cold, impersonal environments which focus, at best, on skills or training rather than on basic human to human interactions. When we put somebody back out on the street, we have to hope he or she is a more caring human being.
"You can't train or 'educate' a sense of caring. It has to be shown in the environment itself, and in the way you do everything you do. The vast majority of prison inmates would love the opportunity to turn their lives around for the better. It is time, you, the system, opened your heart to that yearning instead of treating your programs and program specialists like nuisances or token legal requirements.
"Change is inevitable because the system doesn't work. Why be dragged into this change kicking and screaming, instead of being at the forefront of it?
"There is no conflict between running a secure environment [which sets appropriate limits] and a caring one. [What incarcerated people need] is in an environment where they can experience kindness, which [many] have not experienced much in their lives; where they can experience hope and opportunity rather than an ordeal in which we punish them like dogs and then let them out and say, 'Now you better not screw up again'"
As director of the Prison-Ashram Project for the past thirty years, Lozoff has offered talks and workshops in over 600 federal, state, and county correctional facilities across the nation. Although very much aligned in spirit with the restorative justice approach, the Prison-Ashram Project focuses to a greater degree on the "inner dimensions" of human life.
Lozoff states that the purpose of this project is to inspire and encourage prisoners and prison staff "to recognize their depth as human beings, and to behave accordingly." Prisoners have the opportunity to dedicate themselves to this inward journey without the distractions and luxuries which occupy many people in the "free world."
Lozoff believes that optimal health for both the individual and society can be found via a balance between "communion," which is an entirely inward, transcendent experience, and "community," which includes everything else - our daily behavior toward others, personal goals, our treatment of the planet and its resources, etc.
The work of Lozoff's nonprofit Human Kindness Foundation is now in demand by psychologists, chaplains, and a noteworthy number of prison administrators as well. The foundation has more than 30,000 individuals on his mailing list, and many other inmates seek out his newsletters and books, which publish their letters with permission.
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