Mindful Leaders in Kenya

Mindful Leaders

Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)

Dr Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno (Leadership Studies) was granted an ESRC IAA Co-Creation award to develop and implement a practical and impactful training programme for the inmates of the largest maximum security prison in Kenya (Naivasha) where more than 2,000 men were serving life sentences or awaiting the death penalty. The result was the hugely successful and impactful Mindful Leaders Programme

The challenge

The African Prisons Project reported that in 2016 many prisons in Africa were operating at 300% of capacity, and some lack the necessary facilities for rehabilitation.
Kenya had seen cases of prisoners ganging up against warders, and guards torturing convicts.

The atmosphere of despair, tension and aggression in many prisons left warders and prisoners alike susceptible to mental health issues like post-traumatic stress disorder.

Most prisoners felt incarceration was the end of their lives, they had no hope, they engaged in aggressive behaviour, they could not deal with their negative emotions, they considered the guards the “enemy”, there was conflict and resistance to the prison rules and regulations of the institution.

What was done to help

Mindful individuals observe and accept their circumstances without judgement or immediate reaction. One of the most important and perhaps most difficult aspects of mindfulness is the idea of acceptance. To be clear, accepting one’s circumstances is not the same as not wanting change. Individuals can still work towards change even as they settle into an acceptance of who and where they are.

The Mindfulness Revolution in Naivasha started in 2015 when the Officer in Charge, Patrick Mwenda, was trained in the UK by Dr Adarves-Yorno as part of a leadership fellowship organised by the African Prison Project. This was followed by an invitation to bring the programme to Kenya and in June 2015 the momentum moved to Naivasha where Dr Adarves-Yorno trained staff and inmates. The goal was to transform the prisoners into mindful leaders.
The programme uses a unique combination of Mindfulness Plus training which combines traditional mindfulness practices with new techniques to rewire mental habits and release emotions and social identity processes ,which are rooted in creating a common sense of ‘us’. The training was developed as a response of the needs of inmates as well as their potential and has three components:

1. Mindfully understanding self in which the mindfulness principles of full acceptance, non-judgement and compassion were used in combination with personal inquiry and two psychological theories that help us understand our past behaviour
2. Mindfully rewiring one’s mind in which Mindfulness on the GO techniques were used. These techniques included the radio technique, Matattu (taxi/ bus) technique and traffic technique (see handbook upon request for more information)
3. Mindfully dealing with emotions which was composed of

a. calming the emotions (breathing, meditation, cleansing, writing, drawing)
b. Releasing our emotions (mindful screaming, mindful shaking, “conscious dancing”)
c. Managing our emotions (being a good host to our emotions).

Numerous mindfulness studies have demonstrated that self-awareness and self-acceptance are essential for improved well-being, health, performance and quality of life.
But in the prison context, acceptance alone is not enough – the accumulated emotions and negative sense of self need to be addressed mindfully too. The Mindful Leaders programme teaches the inmates how to release their emotions and move into a new sense of self.

The results

Rehabilitation through this programme and reform have meant that many mindful leaders have reconnected and healed fractured relationships with family members, through their desire to share this mindfulness gift with their loved ones and to give back and make a positive contribution to other people's lives.

The project Impact Evaluation Report, containing results of a survey of prisoners who have received mindfulness training showed the following results:

• Feeling less stressed (80%) and less angry (86%)
• Can forgive themselves (90%) and others (89%)
• More often able to let go of what they cannot change (84%)
• Being a mindful leader is an important part of who they are (88%)
• Engage less in conflict (72%) and aggression (84%)
• Manage their emotions better (84%)
• Have an improved relationship with prison officers (86%)
• Having more respect for rules and regulation (89%)
• Reduced use of drugs (85%) and alcohol (82%)* (% based on the 102 and 96 who answered as they had previously used substances).

As well as being implemented within Naivasha Prison, Mindfulness PLUS training has also been introduced to a number of other prisons and institutions in Kenya. The programme has been formally transferred to the Lang’ata Women’s Prison, a maximum female facility in Nairobi, and more than 20 other institutions in Kenya have also adopted it.

The most innovative project that has emerged is the Inner Rehabilitation Programme where inmates are transforming themselves and each other through Mindfulness.

The Kenya Prisons Service has recognised and celebrated the remarkable difference the project has made to the inmates, staff, relationships and harmony within the prisons and they are working on integrating this rehabilitation tool at different points during the sentence. The objective is that inmates will receive mindfulness at a minimum of two points of their sentence; at entry point, when they arrive in prison to help them deal with their new reality and the challenges ahead, and at exit point to provide them with tools for reinsertion in the community.

The change agents behind the Mindful Leaders programme have begun a crowd funding campaign in order to buy resources for the project and to help it expand and become self-sustaining; details can be found here.