Yoga behind bars: Classes at Yellowknife jail help inmates keep calm, improve attitudes

It's a Monday night and nine men are sitting in a circle on mats in a large gym. They're all wearing the same dark track pants and white T-shirts or tank tops, and some of them have their eyes closed.

This is weekly yoga class at Yellowknife's North Slave Correctional Centre.

There's no dim lighting, incense burning or soft music here. Anneka Westergreen's gentle instructions can just barely be heard over the hum of the gymnasium's air exchanger and overhead lights.

She's one of the volunteers who comes in once a week to instruct the class. Westergreen is a social worker by profession and she says that helps her prepare for the classes.

"Teaching in a place like this you want to have some knowledge about trauma and knowing what can be triggering for folks who have experienced that and not wanting them to feel those things again. We pick postures that are less vulnerable in nature."

For example, inmates in the class can turn their backs to the circle, for more privacy during the silent meditation.

"We spend a lot of time in our mind in the past and the future, and that's not real. That's actually our imagination," Westergreen says.

"Just to help them realize they can tap into a place of just being here right now and not be in that story of their past, and the worries and the labels in their past. That just being here is enough to feel OK."

Better sleep and a 'more upbeat attitude'

The classes started a little over a year ago, part of a Canada-wide program called Freeing the Human Spirit that is active in at least 25 prisons and correctional centres.

Lydia Bardak, the former executive director of N.W.T.'s branch of the John Howard Society, was instrumental in getting the yoga class started. She says the peaceful atmosphere in the class is a stark contrast to daily life in a correctional facility.

"You've got 40 guys sharing one television in a concrete and steel structure that's very noisy with doors clanging all the time. And that's the inside," she said.

"But you're removed from your family, you're risking losing employment, you risk losing your home. So the stress really piles on."

Bardak says she started hearing from participants early on in the program.

"One of the guys told me he had attended three sessions and he no longer asked the nurse for Tylenol when he went to sleep because he was sleeping all night and feeling better."

Some of the inmates at this particular Monday night class also mentioned they sleep better and that the class gives them a chance to get some peace. One even volunteered, "People like being around me more now."

Deputy warden John Nahanni says he sees fewer incident reports and a "more upbeat attitude" with the inmates who take the class. He says they seem to cope better with the stress of life behind the concrete walls of the institution.

"If this is an avenue that is going to help people cope with day-to-day living stress and deal with trauma and deal with addictions, that is something that we have to try to embrace and pass on to our guys."

At least 70 inmates have attended one class, with about half returning for three. Some have attended 30 classes.

Positive impacts

The feedback from inmates at North Slave Correctional Centre is consistent with similar programs in other parts of the world. One U.K.-based study concluded the programs made prisons a more humane place, and improved relations between inmates and correctional staff.

Another research paper looked at recidivism rates and found that prisoners at a North Carolina prison who took four or more yoga classes were significantly less likely to be re-arrested (8.6 per cent) than the general population (25.2 per cent). However, that study only followed inmates for about a year after their release.

There is also plenty of evidence that mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation have a positive impact on inmates while they are incarcerated, with participants reporting more peace of mind, lower stress levels and better sleep. In the U.K.-based study, inmates who took 10 or more classes also got better results in cognitive behaviour tests that looked at focus, impulse control, and decision-making.

Safer communities?

Similar programs have been criticized as a "perk" of prison life, notably by  former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak.

However, Lydia Bardak argues, it's about making communities safer.

"Do we want to be releasing angry people with hostilities and resentment or do we want to help these guys become more healthy," she asks.

"When they understand how to calm themselves, how to be more mindful, this makes their families and communities safer."

Nahanni also sees the benefits the yoga program will provide inmates when they are released from prison. 

Westergreen and Bardak say they're hopeful something can be developed to support inmates who want to continue the practice when they get out of the correctional centre.

"If people can come and do a yoga class and sit in silence for 10 minutes that kind of challenges the stereotypes we have about people who have a criminal record," Westergreen said.