Doing Time, Doing Vipassana
This classic documentary film takes viewers into India's largest prison, one of the toughest in the world, and documents the dramatic change in both inmates and guards brought about by the introduction of Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka. This award-winning film is not only beautifully shot, but also serves as an introduction to what a Vipassana course is for anyone interested in learning more about it. In the winter of 1994-95 the filmmakers spent five months in India, doing intensive research on the use of Vipassana as a rehabilitation method. The authorities were unusually cooperative, allowing the team free access to two Indian jails. The documentary begins with the story of Tihar Prison - a huge and notorious institution housing 10,000 inmates, 9,000 of them awaiting trial. When a new Inspector General, Kiran Bedi, was posted there in 1993, Tihar entered period of rapid-fire change.Bedi had earned a reputation as an energetic but controversial officer in the Indian Police Service. At Tihar she launched a series of reforms improving prison conditions. But she wanted to achieve a deeper transformation, and when she came across Vipassana she was convinced that this was the tool she needed. Bedi learned that the technique had been tried before in other Indian jails, with astonishing results.When Vipassana courses started in Tihar, many prisoners were deeply affected by the experience, and their attitudes changed drastically. The success led to one of the most extraordinary events to take place in a prison anywhere: in April 1994, one thousand prison inmates inside Tihar participated in an 11-day Vipassana course  - the largest ever held in modern times. This led to another unprecedented event: within the precincts of the prison, a meditation center opened, offering regular Vipassana courses to the Tihar inmates. The last part of the film present the inner journey travelled during a Vipassana course, and examines the technique in more detail.