A Hindu inmate’s prison diary
I doubt many of you have served or been remanded and enjoyed the hospitality of Her Majesty’s Prison Services. Spiritual well-being is important to me and I was glad to find out there was a Hindu Service once a week.
I started of in HMP Pentonville, which is a holding prison for all categories of prisoners to be detained until they have been allocated another prison (hopefully) after they have been risk assessed. It is a tough place to say the least, especially for someone like me who was there for driving offences and was forced to live with murderers and violent criminals…
August 20th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I was interested to read of the two types of Hindu Service experienced by the writer. I am a part-time Hindu Chaplain at one of Her Majesty’s Prisons. We have a Hindu Service once a month but any of the Hindu inmates can ask to see me at any time, in which case I go in. The Service starts with three Aums, followed by the Vakratunda Prayer, and the Gayatri Mantra. We then sing three Bhajans. Then we have a short discourse on a spiritual matter, or as at present, discuss specific chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. (This is done by one of my friends who is in an expert on the Gita). We then have a cup of coffee / tea together and share the ‘prasad’and generally have a good chat, usually about life, both inside and out. An amazing amount of wisdom comes out of this, especially for me !
August 20th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I am disgusted at the ignorance of the so called hindu priest “Prem”.He deserves a kick on teh backside and should be suspended as he is the ultimate hypocrite.Please someone throw him out before he does any damage.
August 20th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
This article highlights the poor and ineffective chaplaincy service provided by most Hindu chaplains attached to prisons in the Uk. This is typical not only in the prisons but also in Hospitals. Surely we can do better, and this we must.
The various Hindu bodies in the Uk e.g Hindu Voice,Hindu Council of Briatain,Hindu Forum Of Britain,Hindu Council Of priests and Temples,etc should get together and come up with a plan of action - Qualifications of Hindu Chaplains,how and what type of chaplaincy service to provide,etc
August 20th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I think I read recently that Belmarsh has an official inaugurated Hindu Mandir within the Prison grounds, so that is good news.
As for the Hindu Chaplains, I also have had a brief stint on the inside…a month at HMP Wandsworth, there was a Hindu group meeting each Tuesday, the chaplain here was also Mr Trivedi, very kind and caring man. for the most part we were sat discussing things rather than actual prayer time which I thought was going to be the focus but as the writer has stated that time out of the cell is very welcome, praying or not! He managed to hook me up with a copy of the Bhagvat Gita and a mala(prayer beads) for which im eternally greatful. One thing that sticks in my mind was when a fellow Hindu told the rest of the Hindu group that a imam had tried to lure him to Islam, Mr Trivedi’s resepnse was “do not take any notice of these people” rather than using his authority to investigate any further, the same Hindu person had said that he shared a cell with a muslim who told him to remove any Hindu images from the cell wall, the Hindu had totaly refused, but Mr Trivedi was of the opinion that the Hindu should have removed the Imagery from the wall as not to upset the muslim a point that I totally was against, a few of the Hindus were with me saying that the muslim had no right to ask fro the imagery to be removed, but Mr Trivedi’s laid back attitude was a little concerning for me and in my mind I thought I would not attend the Hindu group ever again, by the following week I was transfered to another prison anyway for the final 2 weeks of my sentence, a prison that had no Hindu chaplain.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Was this Prem’s surname Chopra by any chance ? Well this Hindu priest deserves to be locked up in Jail for good instead of spending couple of hours a weeks there and making Hindu inmates watch Bollywood trash all the time and then getting paid for it.
August 21st, 2007 at 10:05 am
I am sorry about your situation in your life. During our lifespan we all do wrong things, most of them of minor nature, some are punishable and some are not. I am sure whatever your crime was you have reconciled with it.
What is most important for you is to maintain good mental and physical health in order to continue living happily in the Indian society again. As you know in Hinduism belief in better reincarnation to come is very essential in order to lead a knowledgeable and prosperous life now. This belief acts as an incentive to remain responsible for our actions whatever they may be. So developing a right kind of mind to think before we act is very necessary. In Hinduism there is a process recommended by Lord Krishna in Bhagawat Geeta which, He guarantees will lead one to unite with Him. He calls this union, ‘Yoga’.
We Indians must understand that Hinduism is based on teachings of holy Vedas and Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have evolved from them. This is our common bond. There are four Yogas; Bhaktiyoga, Dhyanyoga, Gyanyoga and Karmayoga. The beauty of putting these Yogas into practice is that they do not require special equipment. They can be practiced individually or in groups. What I would suggest is you form a group of Hindus/Sikhs disciplines and meet, with permission of the authorities, in one room and discuss and practice these Yogas at least three times a week. As all of you are inside the prison, you can practice first three Yogas quite easily.
Bhaktiyoga can be practiced by total belief in our creator as Holy Spirit and remaining devotional to Krishna as 10th incarnate of Him.
Dhyanyoga can be practiced by sitting with legs crossed on a simple matt, facing the sun still, with hands on knees, eyes closed in silence concentrating on images of Krishna, Ram, Shankar, Guru Nanak or Mahavir, for fifteen minutes.
Gyanyoga can be practiced by reading news papers and books of one’s choice and whichever way acquiring knowledge about the world physical and political.
For physical fitness one can practice asanas starting with suryanamaskar and pranayam by sitting with legs crossed exercising disciplined respiration, holding breath and slowly emptying the lungs completely. For this particular Yoga you should approach the librarian of the prison and request borrowing books from local libraries out side.
Meditation is an excellent process for cleansing evil thoughts, misconceptions, and inability to concentrate, and most importantly for keeping in touch with our creator. For those of you who are unfortunately in prisons, especially in Britain, if you practice these Yogas with full faith, I will guarantee you will come out fit and well for doing good work for your families and communities.
August 21st, 2007 at 10:39 am
Namaste All
As hardly any one of us visit prisom, even as a day visitor to see some one who is in prison, we are more or less ignorent of what is going on in prison.
Our prisons are one of the most over crowded prisons in Europe and reoffending rate is one of the highest.
While offenders are sent to prison, not as a punishment but to see the error of their ways and come out a better person, it is just the opposite that takes place. They turn into hardened criminals.
They come out learning all the tricks of the trade, an expert criminal, so often with connections with criminals outside. Our prisons breed more criminals, create more criminal acts than solve any thing.
I feel if the prison provide a good chaplin, a learned person who is dedicated to his work and have affiliation, is in tune with the need of Hindu prisoners, then these prisoners will come out as a better person, less likely to reoffend.
Many countries, especially in Africa, Asia and even in USA, treat prisoners so badly that they are physically, mentally and morally a broken person, a spent force, a burdon to the community rather than a reformed charactor who would give up his bad ways and become a productive part of the society. They are unfit, unable to adjust and go back to prison where they feel at ease?
Recently I was reading an article how prison works in some of the advanced and enlightened countries like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, especially for the young and the juvnile prisoners.
These offenders, especially those who have committed horrendous crimes, are given a very long sentence but by far the vast majority of them are released early, depending on their progress.
Prisons are more of a learning institute than a punishment centre. One can spend up to ten hours a day in a prison school, college, studying their favourite subjects.
In five to ten years time when these youngsters come out, most of them have Uni degrees, some with PhD, in subjects like
commerce, accountancy, history, phychology, haematology, physiology, maths, literature, art and languages.
These prisoners go on to become good, productive, law abiding citizens, holding high posts, credit to not only to their family, country but also the prison system that has turned a criminal into a model citizen, a productive human being.
Those who fail to cooperate will sepnd a long time in jail but by far the vast majority, some 90% grab such an opportunity to turn their lives, the opportunity denied to them outside.
They will never reoffend and go back to prison. How come, we in this country always lack behind on such progress, use out dated system and let prison become a recruting school for criminal gangs,breed more criminals rather than reform a prisoner?
I know a friend whose teenage son was sent to prison for ten years, for defending himself when attacked. His parents stood-by him, put the pressure on the prison through Home Office to let him continue his education and he came out with a Masters degree in Finance and Business Administration. He is now doing his PhD while working as a part time lecturar in a Uni where he is doing his PhD.
So it can be done, if there is a will, there is certainly a way.bBut the prison service do every thing in their power to encourage the young offenders.
Bhupendra
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:00 am
Sai Ram Everybody,
This has been an interesting discussion ! The Prison Service has a Hindu Advisor (Dr. Shastri) who approves the appointment of Hindu Priests who operate in the Prisons. I’ve made a copy of all that has been said above, and will post it to him. Some of you may like to contact Dr. Shastri directly, at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (4a Castletown Road, West Kensington, London W14 9HE). Thanks to everyone for contributing !
With kind regards,
Suresh.