Freedom project: Nonviolent communication and mindfulness training in prison
Open accessAbstract
Freedom Project trains prisoners in nonviolent communication and meditation. Two complementary studies of its effects are reported in this article. The first study is correlational; we found decreased recidivism rates among prisoners trained by Freedom Project compared with recidivism rates in Washington state. The second study compared trained prisoners with a matched-pair control group and found improvement in self-reported anger, self-compassion, and certain forms of mindfulness among the trained group. Ratings of role-plays simulating difficult interactions show increased social skills among the group trained by Freedom Project than in the matched controls.
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NVC emerged as an enabler, allowing better understanding of the social context for behaviours, prioritising service user voice, reframing pathologising narratives and helping to side-step conflictual modes of communication.
“NVC emerged as an enabler in this process, allowing for a better understanding of the social context for behaviours, prioritising service user voice, reframing pathologising narratives and helping to side-step conflictual modes of communication (Suarez et al., 2014).”
From Critical Mindfulness in Social Work: Exploring the Potential of Reflexive Self-Care in the Journey from Student to Social Worker (2022) · cites this paper as Suarez et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Suarez, A., Lee, D. Y., Rowe, C., Gomez, A. A., Murowchick, E., & Linn, P. L.
- Affiliations
- Antioch University Seattle, WA, USA
- Fielding Graduate University (US)
- Antioch University Seattle (US)
- Venue
- Sage Open
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-01-01
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2158-2440 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2113461856
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 1.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- SAGE Open (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- nonviolent communication, meditation, prisoner reentry, recidivism, anger, self-compassion, mindfulness, social skills, role play, prison population
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