What better way to wrap up a week of activities designed to help us reach our full potential than with a forward-thinking look at the institutions we can build and the legacies we can leave?

William Holmes facilitated this last session of Think Outside the Cell Week and used a quote from former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver--"You're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem"--to sum up the session's theme. In other words, you can make a positive contribution, or a negative one. Continue Reading...

William Hicks offered participants in Think Outside the Cell Week a fresh and proven way to tackle the daunting stress that is pervasive in prison: yoga.

William, a certified yoga instructor, said that he turned to yoga after a severe back injury left him nearly paralyzed and in excruciating pain. Since practicing yoga, he has not had any back problems.Continue Reading...

Robert Corapi energized Day 5 with a session on exercise and nutrition. His presentation underscored Think Outside the Cell Week's holistic approach to personal development.

Robert gave the men a cornucopia of useful facts and information about nutrition--from what, when and how much to eat to the importance of eating breakfast and drinking water. When in doubt,he said, adhere to the practice of drinking one ounce of water for every pound you weigh, and drink water throughout the day. Continue Reading...

Day 4 of Think Outside the Cell Week was facilitated by Bruce Bryant and Lamar Sanchez. Bruce talked about the importance of family, and how each of the participants has assets, skills and abilities that can be used for the benefit of family and community.

The men were guided through two excercizes. One involved asset mapping, where each participant was given two strips of color paper and asked to write on each their strengths, talents and skills. Then, they were asked to say out loud what they had written, as the facilitators wrote the various skills on the blackboard. Continue Reading...

On the third day of Think Outside the Cell Week, co-facilitators Jose Soltero and Lamar Sanchez discussed the importance of planning and budgeting, both while in prison and after returning home. Too often, they said, people prefer instant gratification, which leads them to live from paycheck to paycheck and to spend rather than invest and save for the future.Continue Reading...

On the second day of Think Outside the Cell Week, I stressed the need for participants to embrace entrepreneurship as a necessity, not a luxury. For people with prison in their backgrounds, it's just that critical.

I cited a recent Wall Street Journal article that highlighted how difficult it is for people who've been in prison to find jobs. And I listed the four tracks that the formerly incarcerated usually end up on once they return home. They will either:
1. Find a job
2. Become self-employed entrepreneurs
3. Go on public assistance
4. Resort to crime and go back to prisonContinue Reading...

The week got off to a great start on Sunday at Sullivan Correctional Facility. I began the first session by explaining to participants that Think Outside the Cell Week is not simply about thinking outside one's physical prison cell. It's about thinking outside the emotional and psychological cells that we confine ourselves in. Continue Reading...

I conceived of Think Outside the Cell Week in 2007 as a way to inspire people to overcome self-defeating beliefs, attitudes and behavior, and to achieve their full potential. I had originally envisioned the week being celebrated by families, communities and municipalities across the country. Even around the world. As I saw it, this global movement would then trickle into the lives of incarcerated men, women and young adults. But as fate would have it, after conferring with my wife, Sheila, I've decided to have the first Think Outside the Cell Week in prison.

With the assistance of seven co-inaugurators,I rolled out today, April 18, the first in a week-long series of life-enhancing workshops that are broken down into Think Outside the Cell Week's 7 Pillars of Success. Each day of the week, we'll engage the 45 men who've signed up with hands-on activities, a recommended reading list, a quote of the day and real-life examples--both in prison and in the free world--of people who exemplify each Pillar of Success.

On day 1, which focuses on the pillar Education/Personal Growth, I am defining branding and interactively walking participants through the process of developing their own personal branding statements.

On day 2, Entrepreneurship/Employment, I'll stress the need for participants to embrace entrepreneurship as a life skill. We'll do an exercise based on the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, after which participants will be asked to highlight their strengths in one-minute sales pitches to hypothetical business partners.

Jose Soltero, a co-facilitator and co-inaugurator, will emphasize the need to develop a sound personal and home budget, and to become financially literate, on day 3: Financial Literacy and Stability. On day 4 will come Family/Community, where Bruce Bryant will conduct an asset-mapping exercise and ask groups of men to offer solutions to hypothetical personal, family and community problems.

On day 5, Health and Fitness, Robert Corapi will energize the session by having participants perform light-intensity exercises for bodybuilding and sports fitness routines. He'll also discuss the basics of nutrition. Lamar Sanchez and Collin Patrick, both co-inaugurators, will serve as model trainers to demonstrate the proper form for particular exercises. They will co-facilitate segments each day of the week.

Given the high levels of stress in prison, the yoga training offered by William Hicks on day 6, Spiritual Enlightenment, will offer a fresh approach to coping with the everyday tension that is pervasive in prison. William Holmes will bring the week full circle on day 7, with Building Institutions/Leaving a Legacy. He will highlight the fact that we each have a responsibility to leave this world better than we inherited it, by either building or assisting a community-based institution.

This week represents a beginning. I trust that, year by year, word of this movement will spread and that its universal themes will one day be embraced by people throughout the world.Continue Reading...