A day at Bihute prison

By FAZILAH BAZARI
Driving through the potholed roads, filled with brown murky water, red buai spits and surrounded by mountain ranges, my heart pounded as we drove to Bihute Prison.
No matter how many times I have been to many different prisons around the world, I always have the same feeling! Fear, sorrow, loss, abandonment and every trip makes me confront this fear and no matter how hard I try, I still have those butterflies.
We were there to visit one of our Yu Yet Teachers, Jackson Manuai Kiap, who is now teaching Yoga up in Goroka. He teaches yoga at the Bihute Prison female division and also to youth in Goroka town, mostly school dropouts and also some rugby players.
We were happy to meet the Goroka yoga community and they were happy to meet us. I was referred as the Mama bilong Yoga (the mother of yoga) and they all said they have read about me, seen me on TV and they were so happy to see me in person. Those words did not inflate me as much as the fact that they showed up in the right clothes, with the right posture, eager, ready, curious and delighted by the new girl on the block.
It was very humbling yet interesting that in a land very remote from everything else in the world, we were together talking the yoga language of peace, togetherness and kinship.
Bihute was lush and green unlike the inmates who looked dull and bored. I was on the outside looking in and they on the inside looking out. I was free and they were locked up. They wanted to welcome me but it wasn’t their home or their choice to be there. The prison world is very interesting. It is a place where no one wanted to be in yet it was full of people and activities.
I breathe the prison air – there at Bihute was crisp, fresh, and earthy. The butterflies in my tummy continued, and later I found out that it had nothing to do with the prison at all. I was a prisoner of my own making and I kept reminding myself to let these caterpillars free.
The yoga programme has been running for three months and there have not been any other regular programme at Bihute. Jackson teaches on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am. Simon the jail commander said, “Since Jackson started coming, he broke a wall!”
I was impressed by the way he articulated himself so I asked permission if I could write an article about my visit with photos and he was okay with it. When I asked him what he meant by “the wall” he replied “The inmates were seeing a black wall, they were like empty, stubborn and now they are more joyful based from my observation. They are nicer to respond, understand better with a slight attitude change,” he said.
Yoga has only started at the women division and I was told the men are also asking for yoga classes. Commander Simon said, “These men and women are mostly from the villages and they will quickly change as their lives are not so complicated like in the city. So I feel the penetration of the programme can be felt faster,” he said adamantly.
“I believe this programme can change people, change the lives of our people. I have seen it!”
He added, “I will make sure my officers join in. Pasin Highlands – lida man mas go pas, (The Highlands way, the leader must go first) so even me, as the commander I will join,” he said with a smile.
As our rapport grew, and we were discussing about the yoga programme in Port Moresby, he said “Yes I believe this (yoga) is to repair our inner being so I have no reservations for the programme. Here in Bihute, one fence is telling the other fence and the influence of yoga is spreading everywhere including on the men’s side and the community outside.”
The commander of Bihute, like the commander in Bomana, both in my opinion are great Papua New Guinean men. They want to think outside of the box and be innovative for the rehabilitation of their inmates.
I can’t help to imagine their calling! They are placed in the job of rehabilitating criminals who have gone on the wrong side of the law. They have taken on the job to make sure these inmates who are fellow citizens, fellow brothers, fathers, are accorded the same respect as human beings who are on the outside.
Commander Simon said, “My job is to make them leave a better person.”
He said he tells the inmate, “The creator wants you to change and placed you here in my care as you have breached the freedom that was given to you.”
He added to me that he had to be smart as how he dealt with them because he was like a father with many children and who are also adults and so he is grateful for any programme that can help change their attitude and bring behaviour change.
Indeed yoga can be the best rehabilitative programme. We all know the cost of crime and punishments cost a lot not only to the Government but also to the individual and their families.
A criminologist called Todd Clear who worked with prisoners in the US highlighted that prison has a direct effect on crime as it puts a bad person behind bars where he can’t victimise anyone else but it also has an indirect effect on crime in that it affects all the people with whom that criminal comes into contact.
A very high number of men who get sent to prison for example are fathers who have children. And the effect on the child of having a father sent away to prison is devastating. Some criminals are lousy fathers, abusive, volatile and absent. Having a parent incarcerated increases a child’s chances of juvenile delinquency between 300 and 400 per cent, it increases the odds of a serious psychiatry disorder or behaviour patterns coming from a traumatised upbringing by 250 per cent.
Once the prisoner has served his time, he returns to his old neighbourhood. There’s a good chance he’s been psychologically damaged by his time behind bars. His employment prospects have narrowed. While in prison, he’s lost many of his non-criminal friends and replaced them with fellow criminal friends.
Incarceration creates collateral damage in most cases, however in my personal view, prison sentence is much better than leaving the criminal wondering free. And whilst in prison, practices like yoga that work on the body, mind and emotions with mindfulness can actually bring a lot of awakening, healing and allow the person to be prepared to face a life that he has no idea what it would be like.
The impact of imprisonment to a law offender is huge to the person, his family and everyone around him. Yoga can reduce this impact and allow them to use some of the yoga teachings both while inside and long after even when they are no longer in prison.

Jenny’s story
Jenny (not her real name) knew me from Bomana Prison but I didn’t know her. Such a small world!
“I am in here because I attacked my husband’s mistress. I saw them both in my house, on my bed, naked and I took the bush knife and cut her. Then my husband attacked me and tried to kill me. I didn’t mean to kill her but she died.
“I have been here for almost 15 years and I will be released soon. I came in as a young girl, I am leaving as a mature woman ready to start my life again. I started practicing yoga at Bomana five years ago when you came to teach there. I used to have frequent headaches, back pains and I didn’t have energy to do anything.
“Since I learnt yoga, I have been doing yoga and meditation every day; it has given me more energy and good sleep. I really thought I was going to die in prison. I felt old with my back pains that went to my knees and I couldn’t stand too long or do anything.
“Life was miserable. Now I am going to be released soon. I was moved from Bomana to Lae for six months and now I have been here for two years on minimum security. I hope you all will continue to teach yoga in prison as it really helps us live a better life and we don’t need to take medicines anymore for minor ailments. We just do yoga stretches, breathe and sit quietly to meditate and I feel so much better. Thank you Jackson and God bless you.”
Most of them echoed the same sentiments and it humbled me. I took various videos of their testimonies and they all gave me permission to share their stories.
Commander Simon said he wanted to make Bihute prison a center of excellence. He told me he would be meeting this month with the prison industry and rehabilitation director from the Correctional Service headquarters and the National Literacy Secretariat and they would start a literacy programme at Bihute. He also wants to make Bihute the Highlands regional TVET centre for all minimum security offenders.
In his closing words, commander Simon looked far down at the church and said “We have many repeat offenders. Those who are released and then they come back. I always wonder why these people continue to commit crime and get arrested again. Reflecting he added, “Sometimes I ask myself, am I really doing a good job in rehabilitating these prisoners?”
With a long and deep thoughts, he extended his hands and thanked me and he said, “Fazilah, I think your yoga programme will reduce recidivism in our prisons in Papua New Guinea.”
I took a deep breath and felt grateful I was driving out of a place that held people back. I promised to return to see my sisters on the inside and reminded them that we are like a chain connected by love, courage and wisdom. Each of us are links to this chain and when one link is weak the chain breaks.
They promised to keep the links intact till we see each other again.

•  Fazilah Bazari is a yoga teacher and consultant.