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Group and Individual GrowthThrough the Out-o'-DoorsPage 8Procedures 'or Protecting,Preserving and Gathering EvidencePage 13Inmates Volunteer to AssistJohnstown Flood VictimsPage 26

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est in Prison - General Overviewby Earl Babbie, Ph.D.Editor's Note: This article presents an initial examination of the use of the ErhardSeminars Training (est) in the prison system. The research for this article involvedinterviews with inmates and staff at lompoc Federal Penitentiary and San Quentin,plus participation in the first day of the est Standard Training at leavenworth.The report should be seen as exploratory, providing a general overView on the in-troduction of est training in prisons, and as a first stage in the design and executionof more rigorous evaluations.

The Erhard Seminars Training wascreated by Werner Erhard in 1971.Erhard states the purpose of thetraining as follows: "to transformyour ability to experience living sothat the situations you have been trying to change, or have been puttingup with, clear up just in the processof life itself."The training is usually conductedduring two consecutive weekends,taking approximately 60 hoursaltogether. About 250 traineesparticipate in each training, led byone of the nine est trainers.There are three key elements inthe training. First, fo r a part of thetime, the trainer presents data, ideas,and points of view fo r the trainees tolook at.Second, in a series of "processes,"trainees sit with their eyes closedwhile the trainer asks questions orgives instructions: e.g., "Recall a timeyou were happy." "Locate a point inyour left knee and notice whatsensations you are experiencingthere."The third element-called "sharing" - is an opportunity (not required) fo r trainees to share with thegroup any of the things they have ex-

About the Author: Earl Babbie, Ph.D.,received his A .B. from Harvardwhere he graduated cum laude. Heearned his M.A. an d Ph .D. at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.Several of his books, articles andpapers have been published. Hismost recent book is entitled "SocietyBy Agreement. " Dr . Babbie is a pro-fessor in the Depar tment o fSociology, University of Hawaii. Healso serves as president of Babbie En-terprises, Inc.

perienced during the training or anyrealizations they have had aboutthemselves.Currently costing three hundreddollars, the training has been unquestionably popular. Since 32 people participated in the first training inOctober, 1971, another 100,000 havetaken it during the program's firstfive years-despite the fact that esthas never engaged in advertising.

Virtually all of the participants decide to enroll through word-ofmouth referrals. Research ongraduates, moreover, suggests thatthe great majority feel they havebenefitted from it . (Babbie andStone, 1976)History of the Prison Trainings

Thomas Keohane, Jr., currently theassociate warden (programs) atLeavenworth, is probably the oneperson most responsible fo r the introduction of est into the prisonsystem.Keohane recalls that when he wasassociate warden at Lompoc FederalCorrect ional Inst i tut ion, GeneStevens, mayor of Lompoc, took theest training and recommended thatthe prison staff look into it. "A t thattime," Keohane recalls, 'W e had a lo tof everything. We ha d 16 selfimprovement groups. The institutionwas very active in a variety of programs." Keohane and then WardenFrank Kenton decided to explore thepossibility of adding est to the list.The first est training in prison wasconducted at Lompoc in July, 1974,with 54 inmates and four staff members graduating. Keohane indicatedthat he had been accustomed to getting good feedback from the variousprograms offered to inmates, bu tbetween the two weekends of theest training "this one seemed to be

getting a little different feedback, alittle higher caliber, and a more intense commentary about the effect itwas having."Af ter they completed theirsecond weekend," Keohane continued, "the staff that took it startedtalking about it . And they were talking very favorably about it."Prison staff began noticing thateven the more radical inmates whotook the training spoke highly of it .More importantly, perhaps, inmateswh o had records of problems inprison began "getting along."As a result, Lompoc officialsscheduled another t r a i n i ng conducted during February, 1975,from which a total of 60 inmates andstaff members graduated. The resultsof the second training were substantially the same as the first.Keohane himself then took thetraining in San Francisco. Intervieweda year later, he summed up his viewof the training this way: "I t reallyhandles self-contentment, I think,and satisfaction and self-fulfillment.It makes you a more effectiveperson."

Directs Programs at leavenworthKeohane ha s subsequent ly

become the associate warden fo rprograms at Leavenworth and in October, 1976, an est training was conducted fo r inmates and staff there. Adozen staff members and 140 inmates began the training on October13th, with a total of 121 staff and inmates graduating on October 21st.

George Jackson, Ch ief DeputyDirector of the Department of Corrections, State of California, me tWerner Erhard and discussed est.That initial meeting eventually led toa training at San Quentin on June8-9, 15-16, from which 59 staff members and inmates graduated.In preparation fo r this report, I interviewed nine inmates wh o hadtaken the training at either Lompocor San Quentin, eight staff memberswho had taken the training, and anumber of inmates and staff whohad not.The nine inmate-graduates varied

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from being quietly enthusiastic tobeing ecstatic about the value theyhad gotten from the est training. Themost common result they reportedinvolved a simple joy with living.

They said they were more enthusiastic about life, more open intheir relationships with others, andmore sel f -conf ident. Th e nongraduates I interviewed said essentially the same thing about those inmates they knew who had taken thetraining.Many of th e inmates spoke indramatic terms about their experience of the final night of thetraining. "That last day, somethingsnapped within me. It was like a bigcloud or something that's beenweighing me down- i t just lifted."Another said "That last night when Igot it .. . I never felt physically,spiritually, or mentally that waybefore."In part, their enthusiasm with living represented a higher self-esteem.Many spoke of coming to acceptthemselves as human beings fo r thefirst time.A prisoner who stencils and sellsSan Quentin T-shirts spoke of changing his attitude about his work: "Ididn't give any sense of value to mywork. I didn't think my work wasworth anything. That's nonsense. Ido damn good work, and I know it'sgood work. I'm going to charge fo r it,and I'm no t going to bicker about theprice."Several inmates spoke of the effectthat understanding and acceptingthemselves had on their relationswith others. On e inmate, serving asentence of life without possibility ofparole, summed up the matter, saying "Once you understand yourselfand like yourself and learn to loveyourself, then you've got room foreverybody else."In large part, the inmate-graduates'comments dealt with their views ofprison and their feelings about beingin prison themselves.

Winter MeetingSet for PhoenixA successful ACA Congress will

depend upon the success of theWinter Board meet ing. Im portance of the three-day planning session is magnified becauseit encompasses committee and affiliated organization meetings.Scheduled fo r February 15-17, atthe Ramada Inn East, Phoenix,Ariz., it will set the stage fo r the108th Congress at Portland, Ore.Reservations can be made by contacting the ACA office.

est In Prison (from page 23)come to the penitentiary, I come fo rsomething different, bu t yo u setyourself up."Whi le each of the inmateg r a d u a t ~ s interviewed felt personallyresponsible fo r being in prison, noneseemed to express guilt, shame, orremorse. Rather, they seemed tohave made a matter-of-fact discoveryabout the way things are. Each had"done something you ge t pu t inprison for."

The realization that they wereresponsible fo r putting themselves inprison was frequently" accompaniedin the interviews by comments about"accepting" the fact of being inprison. "I t makes it easier to acceptbeing here. Because you are here.And the est training .. . allows youto accept what is.

"One of the things that causes alo t of the troubles in prison andcauses people to get into prison inthe first place is because they haven'taccepted what it is."Some people don't do this. Theysay, 'I'm not the kind of person whobelongs in here. I'm just no t thatperson.' They go through their wholetime saying, 'I'm no t that person.'No w if somebody comes along andtreats them like they are an inmate,they get uptight because they don'tfeel like they are an inmate, and theyResponsibility fo r Being in Prison have troubles."

Many of those I interviewed Asked if that meant he no longerstressed their realization, during the desired to get out, th e inmate wast ra in ing, that they had been quick to co rre ct that impression.personally responsible for putting "O h no! Oh no! Never happen! Itthemselves in prison. This replaced means that you stop feeling badtheir earlier views that someone else about being in here, and you ac-had been responsible or that they complish what yo u want to ac-had been the innocent victims of complish while you're in here. Incircumstances. This realization was other words, your mind and feelingsnot reported with regret or remorse aren't tied up in 'Gee it's terrible tobut more as a simple discovery of be in this place: "the way things were. Most of the inmate-graduates in-

One inmate wh o had been in and terviewed echoed this view. Oneou t of prisons several times reported said "I love San Quentin. I don't hatechanging his view of wh y he was in San Quentin, because I love myself.prison. "I ain't got no kicks coming. I I'm happy right here. I'm no t plan-was a chump before. Every time I ning on staying here, bu t I'm happy

(Continued on page 36) while I'm here."NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1977 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CORRECTION

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est in Prison - General Overviewby Earl Babbie, Ph.D.Editor's Note: This article presents an initial examination of the use of the ErhardSeminars Training (est) in the prison system. The research for this article involvedinterviews with inmates and staff at Lompoc Federal Penitentiary and San Quentin,plus participation in the first day of the est Standard Training at Leavenworth.The report should be seen as exploratory, providing a general overview on the in-troduction of est training in prisons, and as a first stage in the design and executionof more rigorous evaluations.

Relationships in PrisonMost of the inmates interviewedreported changes in their rela

tionships with others. Some spoke ofgetting along better with fellow inmates - reporting more open andhonest interactions with fewer conflicts.

On e inmate spoke of walkingaround, or away from, confrontations. Some spoke of having very different relationships with prison officials. Several said they no w regarded the corrections officers andother staff as merely being peoplewith a job to do .

On e described an unsuccessful attempt to establish a ne w educationalprogram at lompoc. He felt thatprior to the training he would haveretreated into animosity toward theofficials; now he is looking at newways of proposing the program,answering the previous objections.Several of the staff members I interviewed confirmed the general improvement in social relationshipsamong the est graduates. Many gavespecific examples of inmates whohad been in constant conflict withother inmates and with staff prior tothe training and who subsequentlyhad totally changed.Keohane summed it up by saying"I I just seems fewer of them get introuble after they've gone throughthe training, even if they've beentroublesome since the time they gothere. They become more responsible."In nearly all of the interviews, theinmates mentioned the desire toshare the experience of the trainingwith others. The married inmateswanted their wives to take the training. One had written to est, requestin g a scholarship for his wife.Another was making arrangementsfo r his ex-wife to take the training.Most mentioned the desire to havefriends - both those in prison andthose on the street - take the training.

est as a ContextInterestingly, everyone interviewedsaw the est training as a supplement

to other prison programs rather thanas a substitute. Most described the

impact of taking the training onother things they were doing whilein prison. Many spoke of participating in educational programs; otherswere involved in community programs - working with juveniles, fo rexample.

One inmate summed up his viewby saying "A person should havesome religion, they should havesome education, and they shouldhave some est."Ted long, the est trainer who hasconducted most of the prison trainings, agreed that est should not beseen as a substitute fo r other programs.

"Those other programs can bevaluable. Where the est experiencecomes in is in terms of putting themin a context that reveals how valuable they can be," he emphasized."The training deals with the context in which people hold and lookat and interact with the things

around them in a way that producesactual value, not apparent value orconceptual value.

"The est context reveals the valueof other programs so it's no t a question of est versus those things. It's aquestion of us pointing out to people that those programs can be morethan a way of manipulating thesystem . The training enables aperson to get into a program - toget whatever value he can ou t of thatprogram, not try to trick it or outsmart it."

long saw the immediate impact ofthe training in terms of institutionallife, giving inmates a context withinwhich to hold their experience ofprison . In the long run, he felt thetraining would provide ex-convictswith a context within which to holdthe experience of life on the street.

Another way in which the est training differs from other prison programs is its one-time nature. The"context" Long described is createdas a lasting quality of one's experience in the basic two-weekendtraining. While est offers graduateseminars fo r those who want toparticipate in them, the 60 hourtraining is regarded as complete initself.

Interestingly, many of the non-JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1978 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CORRECTION

Second of Two Parts

graduates I interviewed assumed thatest would require continuing ongoing training to reinforce its effect -like some of the self-help programsthey were familiar with. The inmateand staff graduates tended to disagree, however . As Keohanedescribed it : "lI 's no t rea lIy a program. This is an experience that onlytakes place on a coup le ofweekends, and you don't need tokeep going back."

Future of est in PrisonsThe four est trainings conductedso far in prisons have been donated

by est without charge. In addition todeferring the normal tuition revenues, the organization has providedthe costs of supplies, salaries, andtravel.Don Cox, the president of est, indicated that while es t may continueto donate some prison trainings, it isnot in a positiol) to do so on an unl imited basis. In addition to theprison trainings, es t has donated' trainings to disadvantaged com-munities and groups, to schoolclasses, and others.

Within the three prisons, therewas a consensus among those interviewed - graduates and nongraduates alike - in favor of moretrainings.

Among the prison staff members,there was a special concern thatfuture trainings be accompanied byrigorous evaluation research efforts.The psychologists and psychiatristsinterviewed felt this was essential,and they are unwilling to pass finaljudgment on the effectiveness of theest training until they can observethe inmate-graduates over a longerperiod of time.Asked if they would support a continuation of trainings in the interim,they all said they would. A carefulevaluation of a lompoc training is inprocess.The inmates were more un qualified in their support fo r futuretrainings. Some had personally written to est requesting more trainings,as well as graduate seminar programs.II is clear from this exploratorystudy that est has a great deal to offer the prison system. The extent ofthat contribution and ho w that contribution can best be made availableon a wider scale awaits further research and study.

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