For more than a decade and a half, I have watched the IBS prison visitation program with great admiration. They have accomplished a great deal over the years with regular organized events in Calpatria Prison. Providing Buddhist information and teaching as well as training in meditation, IBS now has 125 members at Calipatria State Prison( Approximately 500 members at all 4 prisons that IBS are currently visiting. They are Chuckwalla State Prison, Centinela state Prison and Pleasant Valley State Prison ) participating in the meditation and teaching sessions. The success of this program is no better judged than by those who are taking part in it. A sign of the approval of these participating inmates is the fact that when some of them have been transferred to other facilities, one of the first things they do is to set up a new meditation group. In this way, the program has expanded led by the requests and efforts of the inmates in five different places. It has been a great pleasure and learning experience to be involved with this activity. I believe it represents the highest level of the application of compassion as taught in Buddhism.
Lewis Lancaster
