We believe in the power of community to transform, influence and support people who belong to the most excluded group in society. We know that behind many crimes one finds great suffering and anguish, and that life circumstances of poverty and inequality often lead to delinquency, violence, and addiction. These painful life circumstances create further suffering. Yet, through inmate rehabilitation, this cycle of suffering and recidivism can be broken.

The meditation practice is intended to provide inmates breathing space and some serenity within the tough conditions that they experience daily, and through practice, open a possibility of remedy for them. This possibility does not dismiss the suffering they caused in the past, yet opens the possibility of preventing further suffering in the future, and provides support in their rehabilitation.

A volunteer from Shita Prison shares:
“I came to prison after studying a text that spoke about how every person has an inner diamond, a wholesome spark, glowing and indestructible. I felt a great desire to see this diamond in the eyes of people in prison.”

In 2006 the first meditation group was opened in Maasiyahu Prison. The inmate’s reactions inspired the opening of additional meditation groups in other prisons. Six months later, 15 groups were opened in additional prisons and through the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority.
In 2017, after many years of successful endeavors, we formalized our activity and established “The Quiet Within”.

At present, the organization operates 37 meditation groups in prisons, in the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority, and ‘Ma’agalim’ Rehabilitation center. Volunteers from The Quiet Within lead these weekly meditation sessions in an approach that is based on Mindfulness and the Buddhist path. Concurrently, we are working on additional projects.

Founder and Director of The Quiet Within – Michal Warshavsky:

I am a social activist. I have worked for about 35 years in the film industry as a Director’s Assistant. I studied advancement of At-Risk Youth for a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, and 17 years ago I founded the meditation project in prisons. I have also been active in other fields, especially in the struggle for the protection of public housing, and unrecognized villages in the Negev.

Meditation has been a central part of my life for many years. I have participated in many retreats, and at a certain point felt that I wanted to get off the cushion! To not just learn about compassion, but to truly act in the world and transmit the benefits of compassion, and of the actual practice, to inmates, a marginalized group in society.

Inmates deal with situations that are full of stress, anger, and violence; situations that leave many of them in the cycle of suffering, and impede their way to transformation. The reality is that the conditions of incarceration, coupled with the poor means of rehabilitation that are employed in Israeli prisons, result in very few offenders who are successfully rehabilitated. Thus, with the belief in the healing, and even revolutionary, power of the practice of meditation, I decided to initiate a project with the central aim – to bring meditation practice into prisons and transform prisoner’s lives, something considered impossible by many. I received the inspiration for this project from similar projects in prisons around the world.

The ability to influence and benefit incarcerated and released prisoners, the shared activity of the volunteers, the meditation book we wrote for inmates, in Hebrew and in Arabic, offered as a gift to every incarcerated and released prisoner in our groups – all of these achievements fill me with a sense of purpose and gratitude.