I visited the centering prayer group at Old Folsom Prison in the late spring of 2013. It was scary to go into the prison — its gothic-like architecture with medieval-looking gates and huge granite stones was intimidating. We had to go through several gates, walk by the men's cells, by the showers, and then across the yard in order to reach Greystone Chapel, where the centering prayer group meets.

This video features short excerpts from conversations with members of our Outside the Walls community. These brief reflections offer glimpses into their experiences and the ways Centering Prayer has helped them find steadiness and peace in the midst of life’s storms.

Precisely a week ago, four volunteers descended on an Airbnb in Graceville, Florida, making final preparations to spend the next day in prison. Sue, Linda, and William traveled over 300 miles to join Chandra, one of two volunteers who support a Centering Prayer group inside Graceville Correctional Facility (GCF), a medium security prison housing nearly 1900 men. 

About halfway through my twenty-year prison sentence, I told my mom, “The day I leave this place will be the happiest and the saddest day of my life.”

The happiest—because I would finally regain my liberty after decades behind bars. The saddest—because by then, prison had also given me brothers. Men I lived with, worked with, prayed with. Men whose presence softened the daily dehumanization of incarceration. Without those relationships, many of us would not have survived.

That paradox has never left me.