Returning to Monroe
September was the first time that I went back to Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC) to teach yoga since March 6, 2020. That's two and a half years, or 924 days. When Covid first hit, I thought maybe it would be a few weeks, or at the most a few months before YBB would be allowed to go back in. That seemed like a long time.
Meanwhile, on the outside, we heard stories of the fear, frustration and hardships our incarcerated community members were coping with inside because of the pandemic, and there was nothing we could do about it but wait. We felt helpless.
At the time, I was a volunteer sponsor, and volunteer sponsors were told by the Department of Corrections that our sponsorship privileges would be revoked if we were to reach out or contact any of the incarcerated folks we serve and care for. We were reminded of this repeatedly.
Though I felt strongly that this was wrong, I always weighed the risk of reaching out against the fear of permanently losing my ability to go back in, so I followed those rules. But it felt very dehumanizing, especially under the unusual and frightening circumstances of the pandemic.
In the Summer of 2021, Faraji Bhakti, one of my regular students from MCC was released. He reached out to me via email. I felt the familiar fear that if I were to communicate with him, I would be punished for it by not being allowed back in to do the work I knew this was wrong. He had been incarcerated for 14 years. He had completed his sentence. He had “paid his dues to society.” He was a member of my community and my friend. He was a human being who needed and deserved friendship, connection and opportunities. We shared a mutual passion and commitment to the path of yoga.
Now, a year later, we are teaching together in youth facilities and working side-by-side at Yoga Behind Bars.
In September, I drove back to MCC, to my incarcerated community, to teach my first yoga class since March 6, 2022. It was wonderful to be reunited with our students. In the middle of class, I received a phone call from the officer in the control area letting me and the students know we could take off our masks. The mask mandate that had been in effect at Monroe for over two years was lifted. The students were elated. This felt very symbolic to me.
I called my co-worker on the way back to share the story of my return to his former place of incarceration. After I got off the phone with him, I pulled over to the side of the road and cried.
In community -
Chris
Christine List
Yoga Behind Bars Teacher & Staff