Yoga Blossoms in Canton Prison

Yoga is hardly the first thing that comes to mind as an activity for male prisoners. But two inmates who teach yoga classes at a state prison near Canton believe it is ideal for prison life.

“Yoga is my sunrise,” says Marshawn Feltus. “I want yoga every day.” Quite a few others at the Illinois River Correctional Center agree with him. More than 150 prisoners attend yoga classes at the medium security prison every week. It is the first prison in Illinois to include yoga in recreation activities, but it joins hundreds of prisons across the country that have incorporated it as an aid to rehabilitating prisoners.

Cory Foster, a senior policy advisor with the Illinois Department of Corrections, says yoga provides prisoners with skills and mindsets that can ease their transition into the community and reduce the number of repeat offenders. In April the Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet introduced a volunteer-run rehabilitation program that incorporates yoga techniques. (MORE)

Source: Illinois Times