The Peace Education Program has benefited thousands of inmates across the world, and it is poised to benefit thousands more after volunteers recently introduced it to leaders at the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA 2019) conference.
The innovative wellbeing workshop series helps inmates and other groups discover their own inner resources so they can make better choices and experience personal peace. The program has won praise from corrections officials for improving inmate behavior and reducing recidivism.
Volunteers from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay presented the Peace Education Program at the ICPA 2019 conference, held October 28 through November 1 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. During a lively panel discussion, they shared how it is changing lives in each of their respective countries.
They received a warm welcome from the conference hosts, the Federal Prison Service of Argentina, as well as other corrections leaders from across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Some were already familiar with the program from positive word of mouth from their colleagues, as well as from coverage they had seen in publications such as the ICPA newsletter.
Others were introduced to the Peace Education Program for the first time, as volunteers met with representatives from Jordan, Fiji, Singapore, Uganda, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Solomon Islands, and Ethiopia, among others.
The name of the ICPA 2019 conference was “Strengthening our Correctional Cornerstones: Rights, Dignity, Safety and Support,” and the volunteers’ presentation fit well with that theme, calling it “Peace Education Program in Prisons in Latin America: Supporting Dignity.”
“Of all I saw here, this presentation was the one that I liked the most and this product is the best,” said Jeshi, a corrections official from Ethiopia. “It is clear that you have to start with the heart of each human being—it is not possible to have results otherwise. I want to implement it in the prisons of Ethiopia.”
The Prem Rawat Foundation makes the non-religious and non-sectarian program available for individuals and organizations throughout the world. Learn how you or your organization can start offering the workshops here.
