The Dhamma Brothers
"We often create this category of the 'other.' Prisoners are the most invisible of people who are behind the walls of these fortresses we create. Yet when people are in crisis or suffering, they’re very available for change. If given the opportunity, many are ready to examine where they’re going and what they can do to improve their situation." – Jenny Phillips, Dhamma Brothers film producer
In January, 2002 the first Vipassana meditation course in a North American prison was taught at the Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama. Donaldson is a maximum- security prison that is notorious for high levels of violence, overcrowding, marginal living conditions and a palpable undercurrent of hopelessness.
Through the efforts of Dr. Ron Cavanaugh, the then Director of Treatment for the Alabama Department of Corrections, and Jenny Phillips a psychotherapist and cultural anthropologist from Massachusetts, a 10-day Vipassana meditation course was brought to Donaldson. Grady Bankhead was one of the original thirty-six men who volunteered for and completed this first grueling course.
Vipassana is an ancient meditation technique as taught by S.N. Goenka. It originated with the Buddha over 2,600 years ago. Vipassana is not a religion, Eastern philosophy or New Thought movement. It is a profoundly deep meditation technique that is accessible to Christians, Jews, Hindus and peoples of all beliefs and cultures. Vipassana opens the mind and spirit to the life-changing experience of "seeing things as they really are", a simple statement but a formidable and soul-wrenching undertaking.
In an extraordinary union of head, heart and spirit, Grady sat with thirty-six fellow inmates on humidity soaked mats all day and into the late night for ten days. In total silence, without anyone telling them what to think about or how to deal with the emotional storms that surfaced day after day, these men were able to see and strip away years of anger, loss and self-deception.
To view The Dhamma Brothers film trailer, click on the adjacent photo (triangle) video link. A complete discussion of the film and ordering sources are available at The Film page of this web site.
To learn more about Vipassana techniques and code of discipline, visit the official Dhamma organization web site.
As a result of this shared experience, the men formed an alternative group identity to that of Alabama Department of Corrections white uniformed "inmates." They became and are to this day, the Dhamma Brothers.