Sitting Inside: Buddhist Practice in America's Prisons

The book has two audiences: prison inmates who want to start practicing Buddhism and volunteers from American sanghas who want to work with prison dharma groups. The book discusses the basics of meditation, compassion and precept practice within the correctional facility context. Whitney discusses some of the history of Buddhist involvement in American prisons as well as the history of constitutional interpretations of religious freedom as applied to inmates. The book is meant to be as practical as possible and it emphasizes Buddhism in action — through the precepts, peacemaking and sangha building inside and out.

Scott Whitney is a writer and magazine editor who lives in Honolulu. Before moving to Hawaii, he studied at the San Francisco Zen Center. Before that, he spent five years of his early adulthood in a Catholic monastery. He has been a student of Robert Aitken Roshi since 1981. Aitken Roshi gave him the Buddhist refuge name Kobai, which means "Old Plum."