TurquoiseB wrote: > Why is it then that studies on the effects of > mindfulness meditation, both with "people off > the street" and in *prisons*, ferchrissakes, > report radical changes within a few weeks? > What studies have you read about 'mindfulness meditation' in prisons that indicated 'radical changes' in a few weeks? Apparently there have been only a few published studies on Vipassana, but there are dozens of reported studies of TM in prisons.
Vipassana Meditation In American Prisons: http://www.prison.dhamma.org/ussummary.htm In contrast, the official 'Journal of Offender Rehabilitation' devoted all four issues of its annual publication to a special volume entitled 'Transcendental Meditation in Criminal Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention'. The TM program was shown to significantly reduce recidivism during a period of six months to five years after parole, whereas prison education, vocational training, and psychotherapy did not consistently reduce recidivism. Source: 'Journal of Clinical Psychology' 45 (1989): 957-974 "The TM program was at San Quentin from 1978 until 1988, when funding ran out. McMillan says during that time disciplinary reports stopped for about 90 percent of the inmates who practiced TM, and their behavior changed dramatically..." Read more: 'Transcendental Meditation Can Offer Peaceful Road to Rehabilitation' by Dana M. Murray Corrections Today, December 1991, Vol. 53, No. 7
