compassion prison project

Bringing Compassion, Childhood Trauma Awareness and Creative Inspiration to the men and women living behind bars

compassion prison project

Bringing Compassion, Childhood Trauma Awareness and Creative Inspiration to the men and women living behind bars

Our Initiatives

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

65% of Americans have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs). 98% of the incarcerated men we surveyed experienced at least one ACE and over 70% had scores 4 or higher ACEs (the national average is 17%).

Compassion Trauma Circle

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

We form a circle.

For each ACE (and forms of toxic stress) we have experienced, we take one step forward.

When the circle is complete, we see that we are not alone, part of a community, our pain is shared, and that almost all of us have been victims of inhumanity and violence. This is prison reform.

Step Inside the Circle Documentary

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

Step Inside the Circle Documentary

On February 12, 2020, 23 Crew Members, including Academy-Award nominated Director of Photography Rodrigo Prieto and Grammy-Award winning producer Fritzi Horstman, began filming the documentary “Step Inside the Circle."

Filmed at a maximum security prison in Lancaster, California, the focus of the day was one of our cornerstones of prison reform: filming the Compassion Trauma Circle where 235 incarcerated men stepped inside the circle for each traumatic event they experience in their childhood.

Compassion Library

The Giving Back Project

Step Inside the Circle Documentary

In the United States there are:

1,833 Prisons

102 Federal Prisons

1852 Juvenile Facilities

3163 Local Jails

80 Native American Jails

We want to make sure each facility has a trauma-informed, social-emotional and spiritual library of books to encourage self-inquiry, self-empowerment, forgiveness and healing.

Reading = Healing = Prison Reform

The Giving Back Project

Every man and woman living in prison that we have spoken to want desperately to give back to the communities they've harmed.

The Giving Back Project is a cooperative effort to find ways to give back to the communities that have been harmed. Initiatives include: Prison Mural Painting, Breast Cancer Walk-A-Thon, Art Fundraisers and other creative ways to restore the harms of the past.

Trauma-Informed Prisons

The Giving Back Project

Trauma informed care, prison reform, community healing and rehabilitation, regeneration of the spirit and the end of punitive warehouses is the vision. Now. Let's change how we treat our most traumatized members of our community and begin to heal our society.

compassion prison project

compassion prison project

Step Inside The Circle PSA

compassion in action

Our Initiatives

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

Compassion Trauma Circle

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

Step Inside the Circle Documentary

Adverse Childhood Experiences Behind Bars

Step Inside the Circle Documentary

Compassion Library

The Giving Back Project

Step Inside the Circle Documentary

The Giving Back Project

The Giving Back Project

The Giving Back Project

Trauma-Informed Prisons

The Giving Back Project

The Giving Back Project

OUR MISSION

Photo Gallery

Celebrations and Creations

Trauma Art Class

Compassion Trauma Circle

Birthday Celebration for everyone

Thank you for your support!

Contact Us

Drop us a line!

www.compassionprisonproject.org

Stay in touch