Men’s circles to bring down the walls.
David R. Karp, Ph.D.
Skidmore College
This article is based on research by the author on men’s circles in prison. It focuses on men’s work done in three programs: Jericho Circles (Massachusetts), Inside Circles (Folsom Prison in Sacramento, California) and the T.R.U.T.H. Project in Wisconsin. It appears in the Offender Programs Report (Vol. 12, No. 5) Jan/Feb, 2009
by Steven Spitzer, PhD
Suffolk University
Over the last year, I have organized and facilitated two weekly men’s groups at a Federal Prison in Massachusetts. With the support of a team of six men skilled in the techniques developed through the Mankind Project (see Barton, 2000), we have offered these inmate groups (8–10 men) a variety of skills and experiences. The groups were established to create opportunities for self-reflection, trust building, and the development of emotional literacy for incarcerated men.
The difficulties men face in identifying and expressing their feelings are well documented (Real, 1997; Pittman, 1993; Pollock, 2000). Prison environments, with their emphasis on toxic masculinity, power, hierarchy, and the inmate code (Sabo et al., 2001), put men at even greater risk of disconnection. The institutional setting rewards stoicism, toughness, and detachment from feeling. Incarcerated men must “wear the mask” if they are to survive with respect to either the inmate subculture or the prison staff. Our prison groups endeavor to take off “the mask” so men can begin to address their deepest wounds.