The Magic of the GRIP Prison Movement: Guiding Rage into Power

Ep. 161 (Part 2 of 2) | In this profoundly moving and inspiring conversation, GRIP Training Institute CEO, Kim Moore, and facilitator/trainer Fateen Jackson, Sr., also a GRIP graduate, educate us as to the power and magic of the GRIP prison movement, based on Jacques Verduin’s model: Leaving Prison Before You Get Out. This yearlong trauma healing and accountability program is unique in the degree of radical transformation it aims for—and delivers. It is about freeing minds, and as Kim points out, goes beyond the duality of teacher/student, inmate/not inmate, victim/offender to where everyone joins in a mutual journey of healing, transformation, and liberation.The program is so transformative that ripple effects from GRIP students can be felt throughout the prison, and GRIP graduates often struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out.

Kim and Fateen shine a bright light on the inestimable value of a caring, compassionate community, pointing out that deep personal transformation and taking responsibility doesn’t happen in isolation. They share illuminating stories of their own experiences, and the dedication and gladness they exude in this talk is itself impactful and inspiring. There is something in this conversation, maybe because it touches our deepest brokenness and then lifts it up and redeems it, that reaches right into one’s heart and infuses it with inspiration, hope, compassion, and love. Recorded November 21, 2024.

“Who have you left out of your heart? How can you expand your sphere of human concern?”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

• Roger acknowledges the power of GRIP’s processes (01:20)
• What are the most impactful processes that participants go through? (02:18)
• Transforming shame into remorse: you are not your crime (05:17)
• The importance of self-care for facilitators: what practices do Kim & Fateen do? (06:39)
• Reminding participants who they truly are: you can give love and you can receive love (10:36) 
• Moving beyond the duality of giver/receiver, victim/offender, teacher/student (12:31) 
• Transforming belief systems: You are not in prison because of what you did, but because you believed the thoughts that justified the actions you took (14:06) 
• A longing to hear a genuine apology (16:40)
• Opening your heart to every offender, no matter what they’ve done (18:25)
• The transformational power of this work: engendering hope, compassion, redemption, wisdom (21:22)
• GRIP graduates struggle with how little emotional intelligence and trauma healing work the rest of us have done when they get out (24:25)
• Can people accept that you are a changed, transformed individual? (25:03)
• The diversity of this program: everyone is welcome, everyone learns from everyone else (26:29)
• Meditation: stopping the violence with awareness (29:40)
• The wisdom that is born in these groups goes way beyond prison (32:56)
• If you would like to be part of the GRIP family (34:12)
• What is the vision for GRIP’s future? GRIP’s scaling strategy; connecting with incoming lifers from day one (35:15)

Resources & References – Part 2

• Guiding Rage into Power program, the GRIP Training Institute (where you can watch a moving and impactful short video of a group in process)
• Jacques Verduin, founder of GRIP, Leaving Prison Before You Get Out: A Transformational Healing Journey for Incarcerated People to Learn How to Guide Their Rage Into Power (GRIP)
• john a. powell, director of The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, advancing groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality
• MC Hammer, Pray (Just to Make it Today), YouTube music video

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Kim Moore has spent more than two decades working to make the San Francisco Bay Area a more just and equitable community through her work as a community organizer on issues of affordable housing, healthcare, immigration, violence prevention, and criminal justice reform. She has dedicated the last eight years to The GRIP Training Institute, a restorative justice organization serving hundreds of incarcerated individuals across seven California prisons, where she serves as Executive Director, and the entirety of her career to advancing justice and building a Beloved Community. A strong believer in the principle, “The first revolution is internal,” Kim considers meditation and the Dharma the foundation of her work for justice in the community. Kim is also a Buddhist chaplain in the Theravada tradition, and holds degrees in anthropology from Stanford University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

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Fateen Jackson, Sr, is from Long Beach, California, and currently resides in Northern California. Fateen completed the GRIP program as a student while still in San Quentin, in 2013. After graduation, he went on to facilitate several groups while still inside. He performed a spoken word piece called the Apologetic Salute, at a TEDx event, which was held at San Quentin in 2016. The spoken word piece was dedicated to the people who have suffered violence at the hands of another person. Fateen regained his freedom in 2019 after former governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. He joined the GRIP staff the same year, and is now a Senior Facilitator as well as the Senior Facilitator Trainer/Coordinator for the GRIP organization. He goes inside several institutions to deliver the GRIP program and to train people in the work.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell