Ex-lags earn a crust at Hmpasties
Prison guards offered Buddhist breaks to beat str ess
PRISON officers stressed out by surging violence from lags are being offered places on Buddhist meditation retreats to achieve “peace of mind”.
An advert in an internal magazine said the Vipassana techniques on the ten-day residential courses can “help you face challenges better”.
It comes as attacks on jail staff hit a record high – with 27 assaults a day.
A source said: “It shows the immense strain on prison officers as they deal with cut after cut.
“It shouldn’t fall to Buddhist meditation to help – the Government must make the investments to ensure that we have the right resources to protect ourselves.”
Ministry of Justice figures show attacks have risen 21% in England and Wales – with 10,213 during the 12 months to December last year.
The meditation courses are being run “solely on a donation basis and are offered freely”.
An ad in the Prison Service Journal said: “Working in t he pri s on service can be very demanding, challenging and at times stressful.
“Why not learn a meditation technique that will help you to face these challenges better? Vipassana meditation is a straightforward, practical way to achieve real peace of mind and thus to lead a happy, useful life.
“Vipassana means ‘to see things as they really are’. The technique is a process of mental purification through self-observation.
“It teaches us to observe the reality within ourselves at deeper levels and enables us to dissolve tensions and unravel the knots within. The technique was taught by the Buddha as a universal remedy for the problems shared by all human beings.
“It contains nothing of a sectarian or religious nature.”
Dhamma, the group behind the initiative, said: “All expenses are met by donations from those who have completed a course and wish to give others the same opportunity”. A FORMER inmate has set up a Cornish pasty bakery to help other jail-leavers get a taste for life on the straight and narrow.
Lee Wakeham, who served two terms in Manchester’s Strangeways for violence, teamed up with charity Groundwork last year to launch Hmpasties.
It aims to help former lags turn their lives around as they learn cooking and customer service skills and work towards food hygiene qualifications.
Many of the ingredients they use are even sourced from prison farms near the bakery in Droylsden, Gtr Manchester.
All staff get a living wage and the shop’s first full-time worker was Nathan Modlinsky, 24, who did time for GBH.
Talent
And the bakery’s pasties, which include traditional Cornish, steak, jerk chicken and chickpea curry, are already up for awards.
Lee, 43, said: “There’s a lot of talent in prison. It’s just got to be managed correctly when they come out.”
Lee had been jailed twice by 19 after a troubled childhood.
But after his second stretch, he found work and changed his ways. He now works as an employment coach.
He added: “We’re trying to make fewer victims of crime. To do that we need to improve the lives and outlook of people who are committing crime.”