Insight Prison Project









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Your donation helps us continue our mission to increase rehabilitation and reduce recidivism in our communities. 



Premiere!

May 3, 2008 - Introducing the premiere of an exciting short documentary film on the larger context of incarceration in which IPP's work functions. This piece was generously produced by James Redford and Ross Schneiderman, who are working on a larger film about IPP's work in San Quentin.

Good Morning America Looks at IPP

April 26, 2008 - ABC's Good Morning America took an inside look at the Insight Prison Project and our programs.  To view the text and videos from this segment, please click below.

San Quentin's Self-Rehab: Healing on the Inside

March 5, 2008 - Read more about our programs and founder in this recent newspaper article in the Christian Science Monitor.

Hearing from the Inside

February 17, 2008 - IPP's Katargeo Re-Entry Program is one of many innovative programs run by IPP that we hope to make available to other prisons. The program in this article features life-sentenced prisoners in San Quentin. It is comprised of a dedicated group of men that for many years have looked deeply inside to transform the pain that led them to commit their crimes. This commitment to healing has increasingly attracted outside guests, many of them victims, to attend our sessions. Click here to read the story of one of the guests that resulted from these encounters.

Victim/Offender Education Group

February 1, 2008 - The Insight Prison Project is offering two four-day intensive trainings in May and October 2008 for those people interested in the initial VOEG training.  The May training is full however we are accepting currently applications for the October training.

Bobbie's Ride – A Great Story…

October 12, 2007 - Philip Jay (PJ) Seiler is a life-sentenced prisoner at San Quentin State Prison.  His passion is to counsel youth and we encouraged him to write the following story down to share with others.

Tony and Willie

October 11, 2007 - This story is rare piece of prison yarn in which two former gang members find themselves by finding each other during a prison riot. Most of all it is a story about true friendship between men, developed in a most unlikely place: prison.

Christopher's Gifts

October 11, 2007 - This story is a beautiful account of a mother who lost her son through murder.  It is a tale of deep grief and profound healing, one that after reading it makes you feel proud to be a human being.  The story continues to ripple in ever widening circles of healing.

Brothers' Keepers in the News

September 4, 2006 - The IPP Brothers' Keepers program received national attention when a news story about their graduation was picked up by the Associated Press Newswire...

LA Times reports on IPP's Victim Offender Dialogues

October 2, 2005 - Restorative justice brings crime victims and perpetrators together to confront the loss. It's helping one grieving widow find forgiveness .  Part I

IPP acknowledged by the San Francisco Foundation

August 17, 2005 - The Insight Prison Project was picked from 285 nominations to receive the 2005 Community Leadership Award from the San Francisco Foundation.

Welcome to the Insight Prison Project!

Since 1997, the Insight Prison Project has been dedicated to reducing recidivism rates and improving public safety by conducting highly effective in-prison rehabilitation programs that provide prisoners with the tools and life skills necessary to create enduring change. Working in partnership with San Quentin State Prison, IPP conducts 20 weekly classes involving some 300 prisoners that focus on preparing the men to become  responsible and productive members of the community upon leaving prison.

 

IPP programs foster a transformational re-education process that combines victim impact accountability, emotional competency and intelligence, rational restructuring, and embodied integration to shift ingrained patterns of destructive behavior into conscious, life enhancing choices.


IPP's diverse and professional teaching staff includes former prisoners. Uniting us

is a commitment to service within the prison environment to bring about enduring behavioral change. 


Although IPP concentrates on in-prison rehabilitation, we actively collaborate with organizations that provide post-release services and programs.

THE MATH.

Each week, we hold 20 two-hour classes reaching 300 prisoners. In 2007, we  delivered over 26,000 instructional hours, an incredible return on every dollar donated to us – under nine dollars for each individual class hour.

Ø  For a donation of $216 - one gang member can study violence prevention for a full three month course.

Ø  For a donation of $864 - a husband and father of three can attend a class on substance abuse recovery for one full year.

Ø 
For a donation of $1,620 - 15 students can study to become violence prevention facilitators for an entire quarter.

Ø  For a donation of $2,400 - 10 offenders of severe crimes can confront their past and prepare for 6 months to meet with a panel of victims for dialogue.

Ø  For a donation of $6,480 - 15 students can attend class for a whole year.

Ø 
For a donation of $20,000 – one of our programs can be documented in a training manual, so that our work can be taught to prison staff where there currently are no rehabilitation programs.