Zen Incarcerated: A Personal Essay

Abstract

In this chapter, Jeffrey Schneider Roshi of San Francisco Zen Center describes and reflects upon his efforts as a Zen priest involved in work with prisoners. According to Schneider Roshi, San Francisco Zen Center has three outreach service programs for prisoners. The first program is running meditation groups in the women’s jail, the men’s jail, and the psychiatric unit of the men’s jail as I’ve described above. The second service to prisoners is the correspondence program where the members of Zen Center receive letters from prisons and jails all over the USA, and each letter is answered individually. The third service they offer is a pen pal program that assists incarcerated practitioners in connecting with volunteer correspondents in the free world. The third service has been offered for years as many prisoners are without local support for their practice, having a “good spiritual friend” on the outside can be a real lifeline. Finally, Schneider Roshi shares his personal experience as a Zen priest working tirelessly in this context.

I’m in a single cell 24 h a day 7 days a week. Every few days they will take me outside for a 30 to 45 min stroll by myself. I will be confined to this cell by myself with no interactions with any other inmates for the next year. This would drive most people crazy. I want to take advantage of this isolation.

From a letter from Joseph S., dated April 29, 2015

Alabama State Prison at Bessemer

“I constantly have to remind myself and find refuge in my dharma while in this cell. It is so depressing. It’s almost like a cell of horrors…This building isn’t a regular block how they have on the yard. There’s no window to outside whatsoever. The one window they do have is at the front of the cell door and the only vie you have is a white wall 6 feet away. You can’t see nothing down the hallway. And the cell is so small you can lay on the bed and touch the toilet. It feels closed in like a tomb. And it’s all concrete. You know what happens when you leave batteries sitting on concrete right? The concrete drains all the batteries’ energy. Well, that’s what this cell is doin’ to me.

From a letter from Mario R., dated April 29, 2015

California State Prison, Sacramento