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If it’s Thursday, this must be County Jail
by Gary Koan Janka

Several years ago – I can’t really remember how many, maybe six or seven ¬– a fellow priest asked if I would like to go with him to meet with the Buddhist inmates at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. I did go with him and that visit eventually developed into a regular ministry in the jails and prisons of Los Angeles County and the State of California. Also, beginning with my colleague, Daniel “Nagy” Buckley and his nonprofit organization, the Strawberry Dragon Zendo, we have grown into a working group of eight, including myself. We now call ourselves the Angulimala Prison Circle and operate under the umbrella of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. In this article, I will try to describe some of what we do and how we do it, some of the critical issues we encounter and how we respond to them.

Each Thursday, several of us make the trip downtown to visit the Men’s Central Jail, the Twin Towers facility across the street, and the women’s facility in Lynwood. One of our number lives in Arroyo Grande and works weekly with the Sangha at the California Men’s Colony (CMC) in San Luis Obispo, helping plan and coordinate the activities of the group in collaboration with members of two local Buddhist groups. And, while we go in as Buddhists, we are also aware that we are chaplains for anyone who asks for our assistance.

The Los Angeles County Jail holds, on any given day, between 18,000 and 20,000 men and women in nine separate facilities. In truth, we see only a very small fraction of the men and women there, but we do what we can and make an effort to see any inmate who asks us to visit. On a typical day, we will offer a group meditation class for some areas of the general population inmates and then “walk the rows” in the high security modules, respond to individual requests, and do follow-up visits with individuals and small groups with whom we have a more or less ongoing relationship. The jail population tends to be rather transient, but some people are there for longer times awaiting trial, sometimes as long as six or seven years. We also offer Dharma books and periodicals to any who want them.

While I have never actually served time in jail, I know it to be rather chaotic and noisy. The inmates tell us that it is also stressful, degrading and, at times, a violent place. In some ways, the work in the jails and prisons is easy in the sense that the suffering there is so obvious. The men and women we see speak of the stress they feel as well as the despair and hopelessness that sometimes arises. Yes, many of them have done some very bad things, but our job as chaplains is to address and help them deal with what they are going through.

Our primary effort is to encourage the inmates to learn to meditate. We have found that when they do, there is an observable settling emotionally. They can begin to see their lives and situation more clearly and become much less reactive to events and conditions. We teach primarily zazen but will also teach metta practice and other forms as seems appropriate.

When we first began working in the jail on a regular basis, we encountered strong resistance from some of the more evangelical Christian groups, especially when we wanted to begin group meditations. Didn’t we know that “when you empty your mind, the Devil will rush in?” Fortunately, with the firm support of the Sergeant in charge of the Religious Services Office and the gift of a chapel slot from the Catholic Chaplains, we were able to begin. As a means of reducing the anxiety around our teaching meditation, we reached out to the director of the Los Angeles area chapter of the World Community for Christian Meditation, a wonderful woman in her early eighties who agreed to join us. In this way, the offering became one of shared spirituality, which also eases the concerns of Christian inmates who attend the group class. As an interesting aside, at the time she was to join us, the jail was not accepting any applications from Christian volunteers because the schedule just couldn’t accommodate any more. The only way we could get her in was for her to apply as a Buddhist. It worked and we have a lot of fun kidding her about being a “closet Buddhist.”

In addition to the stress, guilt and the tension that builds from a loss of liberty, anger is a central issue for many of the inmates. As you can easily imagine, it was their anger and reactivity that got them into jail in the first place. Many of them are eager to find ways to free themselves of that particular one of the Three Poisons (Greed, Anger & Ignorance). We have a couple of good books on the subject: Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dealing With Life’s Issues & Dealing with Anger by Thubten Chodron. With these and several other resources, we encourage zazen as the foundation of their practice as well as learning to let go, and to observe the inner dynamics that lead to emotional reaction. We have seen some pretty spectacular “turnarounds” among the men and women with whom we have worked.

An example of one such situation we call the “Legend of the Q-tip.” In a group class at the women’s facility, Nagy gave a short talk and handed out Q-tips. He asked if anyone knew what QTIP stands for. No one did so he explained that it stands for Quit Taking It Personally, and then talked about how to head off some of the angry reactions they had from time to time. One of the women in the class was a very angry person with a hair trigger. A day or two after the class she got into a confrontation with another woman and was just about to punch her when three other women who had been in the class ran up and held out their Q-tip. It stopped her in her tracks. It caused her to reflect for a moment on her behavior and opened up, over time, some wonderful discussions and teachings on how to work with anger. A couple of us visited with her in state prison in December and we saw a calm, cheerful and optimistic person.

In general, we encourage the inmates to use their time of incarceration as one of self-reflection and spiritual exploration and growth. After all, they are in a County or State supported monastery, why not live like a nun or monk? The parallels are not lost on some of them and a few take it very seriously. While they may be working on their cases, they are free of the demands of ordinary life, have no pressing engagements and their meals are delivered to them. The Anchorites used to wall themselves into their cells as a way of removing the distractions of every day life so that they could devote their lives to prayer. The inmates have a similar situation. It is said that “When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade!” Life has handed them a very large lemon and it is up to them to decide what to make of it.

Karma is also a topic of great interest among the inmates. Most seem to have an intuitive grasp of it and know that what they are currently experiencing is a result of their actions. The critical question they ask is, “Can I change my karma or am I forever doomed to live this life of evil doing and punishment?” The answer, of course, is one of good news and bad news. The good news is that, yes, they can change their destiny going forward, but the bad news is that they have to live out their past accumulation of karma. A discussion of karma opens up issues of responsibility, empathy and compassion which leads to much fruitful reflection. Whenever this conversation comes up, some of us feel a great sadness. Why did it take so long and such a terrible event for the person to wake up? Why couldn’t they have been reached sooner? When we see an eighteen or twenty year old going to prison for thirty-five to life or life without possibility of parole, we can’t help but be moved by the tragedy that’s unfolded before us. And, we can offer them the path to liberation and true freedom. That’s wonderful lemonade if they choose to make it.

So far, I’ve been focused on the work in the County Jail and I want to take a moment to describe the work at CMC. The group was started by a small handful of inmates close to fifteen years ago with the sponsorship of a Theravadan monk. Over the years the sponsorship has shifted and the community volunteers have changed, but the group has grown and remained steady in its commitment to the Dharma and learning to live a life of compassion under difficult circumstances. On any given Wednesday evening, there will be between fifty and sixty men gathered for sutra service, meditation and study. They have all-day sittings as often as they are allowed and a number of men have received the lay precepts, some making Bodhisattva Vows as well. I try to attend once a month to offer interviews and general support and the depth of their sincerity and the strength of their commitment to the practice always touches me. Our volunteer there has done a terrific job of working with the prison administration, the members of the group and the other volunteers to bring the group to where it is today.

People sometimes ask me if what we do makes any difference. I liken it to crossing Iowa on a train and every so often throwing a handful of seeds out of the window. There is no way to know which seeds find fertile soil and which do not. We just know that some of them, at some time, will sprout and grow. And, while we do not have any scientifically collected statistics, we do have a considerable amount of anecdotal evidence in the form of observations and first person reports that tell us we do have an impact. We have all seen a number of individuals go from being angry, bitter and reactionary to calm, thoughtful and compassionate people.

It would be easy to launch into a diatribe about the system we (the people of the United States) have created but much has been written about that. I do remember though, my first reaction upon going into the County Jail: “What an incredible waste of human potential!” In Men’s Central Jail alone there are almost 5,000 men. Think about that. How much productivity are we wasting and how much suffering are we creating by incarcerating so many mostly young men and women? It boggles the mind. And, lest I be taken for someone who is oblivious to the suffering and rights of the victims and their families, I have to say that there are some people whom I am happy to see locked up and I hope they never get out. At the same time, our job as chaplains is to address human suffering no matter who suffers.

And, as the Buddha said, only love can eliminate hatred. The Buddha himself ordained a serial killer, Angulimala. Surely we can find a better way to raise, educate and employ people than we do now. In the meantime, we do what we can to offer the Dharma.

With a deep bow of gratitude for the dedication and hard work of my circle colleagues which never fails to inspire me,

Gary Koan Janka
January 26, 2010