Boudigues, 1988

Boudigues, J.-M. Case study of the Transcendental Meditation programme in the national prison system of Senegal. This paper summarizes results published in Nouveaux horizons en criminologie et en science pénitentiaire: Le Systéme Intégré Maharishi de Réhabilitation Fondé sur le Champ Unifié dans les prisons Sénégalaises. Séminaire annuel de l’Administration pénitentiaire. Dakar, Senegal: Maharishi European Research University and Penitentiary Administration of Senegal, 1988; and in a revised version published with the permisson of the Penitentiary Administration of Senegal, published in both French and English, with the English title New Horizons in Criminology and Penitentiary Science: The Maharishi Unified Field Based Integrated System of Rehabilitation in Senegalese Prisons. Annual Seminar of the Penitentiary Administration. Vlodrop, The Netherlands: Maharishi Vedic University Press, 1990.

This case study reports benefits for inmates, for correctional staff, and for the country from nation-wide implementation of the Transcendental Meditation program in the prisons of Senegal. Benefits for inmates included sharp reduction in negativity, irritability and aggressiveness; improved relations between inmates; improvement in health; marked decrease in drug consumption; improvement in sleep; and greater confidence and joyfulness. Benefits for staff were greater self-confidence, greater concern for inmates, greater self-control, greater conscientiousness, improved health, and decreased absenteeism and lateness. Benefits for prisons were almost complete cessation of fights between inmates, sharp decrease in the number of medical consultations, marked decrease in rule violations by inmates and staff, and fewer escapes; and benefits for the nation were reduced national recidivism, as well as increased and more balanced rainfall and increased harvests.

Year

1988

Publication type

Book Excerpt

Paper type

Empirical

Collected Papers

Vol. 6, pp. 4048–4049

Section

Rehabilitation

Findings (18)

Authors

• Jean-Michel Boudigues, MA

  Maharishi European Research University, Seelisberg, Switzerland