In some ways, chaplaincy is a call to work with prisoners no matter the field. Difficult life transitions often make a person feel imprisoned in their circumstances. They look to chaplains and ministers as a means of lightening the spiritual burden they feel.

All my adult life I have wondered why I rarely meet men my own age. When I finished high school, the mystery deepened. The men I met were either older or younger than me. I remember my first day of working for the Post Office in 1986. I was twenty-nine. There was me and another new hire, a man who remarkably was the same age as myself. I scrutinized his face, his hair, his skin. So this is what it looks like, I thought. How unusual.

I have been contemplating the next step to take in my Buddhist Services on Death Row. My groups have grown from 1 to over 50 men, all of who are deeply interested in pursuing any spiritual knowledge they can find in order to explore and expand their inner lives. Many of them attend the other faith services there as well, so though I provide the Buddhist teachings, I always ask them to identify where and how the topics we are talking about show up in the other traditions.

One day I was walking down the paved ramp towards the yard to my destination, the education building. I like walking down this leisurely quiet route versus the stairway, which seems so abrupt and crowded. I admire the greenery on the side of the pavement; the agapanthus in various states of bloom, the blackberries, and their occasional large fresh, juicy berry. I enjoy the mixed brick and mortar texture of the ancient brown, gold, and tan colored walls, cracked, full of story, like old parchment.

It has been slightly over one year since my path of ministry and chaplaincy led me to become a volunteer at San Quentin State Prison. Over the past six months I have had the great privilege of assisting the formation of a new group for incarcerated veterans, “Veterans Healing Veterans From the Inside Out.” This group is the brainchild of Ron Self, former Marine and current incarcerated prisoner at San Quentin State Prison.

The day my chaplaincy supervisor at San Quentin State Prison asked me to coordinate a program that would bring animals into the prison was a happy day indeed. Animal chaplaincy has been a focus my entire life, though it was only after my formal chaplaincy training began several years ago that I heard the term animal chaplain. My excitement did not match the obstacles that met us in this endeavor. Starting a program in San Quentin is not something that happens overnight.

Whitney’s book is written for several audiences: for “free people” who want to share Buddhism with inmates in prisons and jails; for the incarcerated who want to learn more about Buddhist practice; and for those interested in how Buddhism exists in prisons. Most prison-related books are written from personal experience, or from a criminology perspective, but few weave both sides together as does Sitting Inside.