Mental Freedom At Folsom State Prison

I am a 66-year-young medical doctor and general surgeon who has survived almost a decade of a wrongful, life-sentence conviction. I am a survivor because of T’ai Chi Chih and having discovered a meaningful purpose to this chapter of my life. TCC has enabled me to face the chaos and indignities of prison life with courage and dignity. In order to survive this stress, I exercised daily, took multivitamins and nutritional supplements, used acupressure and massage, and wrote books on various subjects. Those benefited me physically and mentally, but did not quiet my mind.

After arriving at the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility (a medium-high level security prison near San Diego), I wanted to teach a healthy living class. The associate warden, an overweight and unhealthy-looking man, refused to allow this by stating, “They are not ready for this. We have a 150 year tradition in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).” Four months later, he suddenly died from a heart attack. He had needed this class.

After “living” in Donovan for almost seven years, I’d begun to feel safe there, but I was transferred to Folsom State Prison, about which I’d heard many negative stories. The 12-hour, non-stop bus trip wearing handcuffs and chains was beyond uncomfortable. The failure to receive all my personal property for more than a month, and being moved from one cell to another, was very traumatic. However, after arriving at Folsom two special things happened.

I discovered a TCC course. I knew nothing of this practice, other than hearing that it was a strange exercise that old men and women did with slow, hand waving movements in Chinese parks. I signed up for a two-hour class held in the chapel and led by volunteer instructor, Judy Tretheway. It was excellent. Judy was very patient and emphasized the basic body motions before moving on to more complex exercises.

After a few weeks, I performed these movements fluidly and somewhat automatically. I then discovered the power of TCC: this moving meditation quieted my mind as it relaxed my body. It gave me a strong sense of mental freedom from much of the chaos in my life and all the on-going problems associated with CDCR and Folsom.

At this time, I also met Dr. Harvey Shrum, the education director of Folsom’s re-entry (pre-release) program. I worked as his clerk so that I could teach “Healthy Living Through Self-Responsibility: How Not To Get Sick and How Not to Die Young.” In addition to teaching this class to more than 600 inmates in one year, I also wrote a book of the same name, which Dr. Shrum edited and illustrated and includes a special section on TCC and meditation.

Dr. Shrum arranged that 500 copies be printed for free distribution to interested inmates at Folsom. He also sent the computer disc to all 33 state prisons so that they could offer it freely to all 179,000 inmates in California and has arranged for it to be offered for free through the charitable website, friends-care.org. Judy’s two hour class will soon be videotaped, shown on the educational TV channel in all CDCR prisons, and available through the aforementioned website.