Anxiety Study at Lancaster
Violence Alternative Program
LA County Probation Camp for
Violent Youth Offenders
robbery, and terrorist threats against others. Most of the youth
were Black and Hispanic gang members, also some Asian,Samoan , and White youths from all over Los Angeles County.
Most had prior incarcerations. Typically these young men
appeared to be hyper-vigilant and restless. In the community
these gang members live a dangerous life style committing
more violent acts than their peers, and being victims of violence.
In addition they witness violence and have violent actsperpetrated against friends and family members. Many donot expect to survive to the age of 20.

Verna Suarez, M.S., MFT
President of Los AngelesAssociationOfSchool
Psychologists 2000-20001
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the Prison
Smart- Street Lights program. The Prison Smart -Street Lights
program is a course in stress management, anger management,
and rehabilitative training for incarcerated youth. The
cornerstone of the course is the Sudarshan Kriya breathingpractice,(SKY), which has been shown in prior studies toreduce anxiety and depression. The hypothesis for the current
program is that as the young men felt less anxious, they would
feel more centered and less likely to respond to provocation,or get angry. Youth who had participated in the first Street
Lights course that was given at Lancaster Challenger
Memorial (Camp Smith) in January of 2001, reported: theyslept better; didn’t react to provocation as rapidly ; did notexperience as much anger; felt less fear at bed time; andgenerally expressed that they were more calm. To test ourhypothesis , the Spielberber State-Trait Anxiety Scale wasadministered before the commencement of the course and 8weeks later to measure changes in level of anxiety that may bereflected in this decrease in anger, fear, and reactive behavior.

In this camp setting the members of different, antagonistic
gangs are mixed together, with approximately 100 detainees
on site at any time. The camp was run in a quasi militaryway, marching back and forth to school, responding “yes sir”
when their name was called, with a very rigid structure overall.
The goal of the camp program was to focus on rehabilitationand preparing the youth to return to productive lives in society.
The Street Lights course was mandatory as was the pre andpost testing. Certified Prison Smart-Street Lights Teacherstaught the courses. Each course had two teachers andsometimes they would have an additional facilitator. Fourteachers and several facilitators were involved in teaching
the courses. Sometimes a camp staff member would be present
to help maintain security, and when a staff member was notavailable other security measures were in place. The courses
were small in number, usually 8 or 9 subjects per course.
Eighty- six violent youths were instructed in the Prison SmartStreet Lights Program on 10 different courses.

The Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Test (STAI) has
been used since 1966 in thousands of research studies.
Anxiety proneness is a relatively stable personality trait (trait)
as differentiated from anxiety as a transitory emotional state(state). This test distinguishes between these two. We would
not expect to see a change in the trait, only in the transientstate. We consider this a valid measure, as revealed in theresult of subjects tested before and after surgery in a hospitalsetting. The trait scores remained the same, and the state scores
improved with recovery from surgery. The vocabulary used inthis test is suitable for Jr. High and so it was appropriate forour age group tested. The questionnaire has 40 questions
overall, 20 for the state and 20 for the trait. Responses as toagreement with each statement ranged from 1 to 4: not at all;somewhat; moderately so; very much so.

The procedures used were that the pre and posttests wereself- administered by those who could read well, and those
who had difficulty had the test read to them. No more than 6young men sat at each table to take the test. Each test waschecked by whom? Important that guards or AOL teachers
did not perform this task or see any of their responses andthat the subjects knew this to see that every question had aresponse. Test protocols were numbered so that the young
men’s identity was protected. The youth were informed thatthe responses to the tests were being used not to evaluate themas individuals, but to evaluate the program, and that the resultsof the individual tests would not be shown to teachers, parents,
or any camp authorities and they were asked to be as honest
as possible. Post testing was done on 72 youths (16% drop off
rate due to change of camps, court schedules, illness and 2
were in solitary confinement).

The design of the study was pre testing prior to being instructedin the program,state how long the program was 8 weeks offollow-up three times a week and post testing, using self-reporton the Speilberger State-Trait Anxiety Test. The self-report of
the young men was supplemented by the facility director’sreport. There was no control group at this time, as all of the incoming violent detainees participated in this course. Thesubjects were ages 13- 18, and they were 707B offenders ofviolent crimes with deadly weapon, murder, rape, armed- The course was taught over a period of one week for about
20-25 hours. These courses took place between January andApril of 2001 with post testing approximately 8 weeks afterinstruction. Follow-up consisted of one half hour of guided
meditation, and breathing techniques taught on the course,conducted at bed- time 3 times a week. The results of this pilot
study showed a significant decrease in anxiety in every course32except one that had four participants. Overall the numbers
show that the decrease was statistically significant at the .004
level. This suggests that in our population the SKY andStreetlights program decreased anxiety that in turn may have
led to the decrease in anger, fear and reactive behavior thatwas previously reported. Number of minors in incident reports
decreased significantly within the four- month period thatthese courses were taught, and there were no night- time
disturbances on the evenings that the follow-ups wereconducted. These results were in spite of a change of director,
a massive changeover in staffing, and significant deficits instaffing ratios during this time period. All of these areunderstood to increase the anxiety level of the detainees andaffect the level of security.
Due to the success of the program, the directors from 5 othercamps at Challenger Memorial Youth Center, where thisprogram was being conducted have all requested that thisprogram be put into their camps.
—Further studies on larger number of subjects are needed toconfirm these findings.

Facility Director’s ReportFights, Facility Incident Reports, and Disciplinary Removals(all indicators of negative behavior)
Pre Prison Smart (June to October 2000)
Prison Smart ( November 2000-March 2001) Percent

Post

Monthly averages
averages

MonthlyFights 6.8

Fights 4.2-38%
Facility Incident Report 91.2
Report 71.8
-21%
Temporary Disciplinary Removal 51
Temporary Discipline Removal 39.2

Facility Incident-23%

Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale
Pre testing Number
86
Post testing 8 weeks later Number
72
Statistically Significant Reduction in State Anxiety at the .004
levelHealing ExperienceI was a patient of Chronic Bronchial Asthma withacute exacerbation in change of seasons right frommy childhood (hereditary from both parents), oncontinuous use of Bronchodialtors and Steroids.
After doing my 1st basic course in June 1999 till date
I have used my inhalers just 3-4 times. Now I am
free of all steroids, anti-allergy and bronchodilator
medicines. It is amazing.
Jai Gurudev.
Dr. Ruchi Gupta (MBBS),
6A/153, New Vijay Nagar,
Jalandhar City, Punjab 144001.

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