— We think people who are outside prison are not prisoners, but we are. —

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Our Teachers

Serious Teacher, Clown, Devil's Advocate, Big Brother, Dharma Friend

From our Jan-Feb 2007 Liberation Newsletter

 

Fifty-five of Liberation Prison Project’s 200 Corresponding Teachers live in countries other than the US and Australia. One of them, Maurizio Cacciatore, has been writing to students since February last year from his home in Pomaia, the tiny village next to FPMT’s Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, an hour from Pisa.

Maurizio takes good care of his students. “He writes to 17 guys, most of whom are quite active with their correspondence,” says Carina Rumrill, the project’s Teacher Coordinator in San Francisco. “He answers their letters promptly, recommends books, and has a unique approach with each of them. He plays serious teacher, clown, devil's advocate, big brother, dharma friend, and a variety of different roles depending on the needs, circumstances, and dispositions of each inmate.”

Maurizio enjoys the correspondence and is learning about himself in the process. “Especially when some prisoners were heavily under control of some strong emotions and thought it was due to their being imprisoned,” he said, “I found myself in the same situation without being in prison, so I could relate to them in a very profound way.”

Interested in Buddhism since meditating at a Zen center in 1991, he joined Istitituo Lama Tzong Khapa’s Master’s Program in 2000 “with the a plan of doing the whole Madhyamika course and then going back to ‘real life’” as a business executive in Milan. But he stayed on to become director of the institute in 2001, retiring two years later.

“The business community was rather shocked when I decided to take a period without working, which is something completely unusual in Italy. It is not like the US where it is quite common to take a sabbatical year.”

The years since he moved to Pomaia, where he continues to study as well as translate teachings, have been the most interesting and meaningful of his life, Maurizio said. “And yes, I think also the happiest – even if the practice of getting to know yourself, having to see all the things you wouldn't like to see, is surely painful, no doubt about it.”

Maurizio Cacciatore writes to:

Mitchell Garioni, Sussex II State Prison, Virginia

Kerry Greenwell, Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, Indiana

Michael Oliver, Potosi Correctional Center, Missouri

John Sanger, Dick Conner Correctional Center, Oklahoma

Patrick Lee Sluyter, Gulf Correctional Institute, Florida

Brian Reese, Federal Medical Center, Minnesota

Gerald Campbell, Kettle Moraine Correctional Institute, Wisconsin

Larry Percival, Corcoran State Prison, California

Dale Zygadlo, Martin Correctional Institute, Florida

Marc Sturdivant, Calipatra State Prison, California

Tomas Schlickeiser, Salinas Valley State Prison, California

David Tooley, Lake Correctional Institute, Florida

Phillip Jackson, Evans Correctional Institute, South Carolina

Joseph Safrany, Apalachee Correctional Institute, Florida

Steven Karkutt, Lynaugh Unit, Texas

Janos Ingerle, released, California

Billy Henson, High Desert State Prison, California

Karl Edwards, Allen Correctional Center, Louisiana

 

AUSTRALIA

NEW ZEALAND

  • Andrew Jeffery

 

USA

EUROPE AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

MEXICO

  • Oscar Acosta
  • Susie Anstey

  • Fer Barroso

  • Marisol Benejam
  • Martha Cabral
  • Cristhian Cambresy
  • Lourdes Castro
  • Ana Paula Cerda
  • Rebeca Cuan
  • Lilia Serrano Dorantes
  • Sebastián Benitez Escobar
  • Esther Garibay
  • Nestor Manuel Grimaldo
  • Sergio Isidro Grimaldo
  • Margarita Aguilera Ibarra
  • Ángeles López
  • Fernando López
  • Mónica López
  • Victor Medina López
  • Paula Guerrero Mackense
  • Gandhi Maga
  • Nayeli Maillefert
  • Moya Mendez
  • Rosa Lydia Mendoza
  • Francisco Navarro
  • Jose Olvera
  • Soledad de Olvera
  • Katia Ornelas
  • Juan Pablo Pacheco
  • Paty Peña
  • Lourdes Vela Picones
  • Mariano E. Ramirez
  • Lorena Rojas
  • Leslie Serna
  • Silvia Sevilla
  • Ruth Da Silvera
  • Ven. Lobsang Tonden
  • Abel Vera
  • Victor Villaseñor

ASIA

CANADA

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA