THE RATIONALE UNDERLYING THE SUCCESS OF AVP

John A. Shuford, AVP/USA,Inc.

The Alternatives to Violence Project began over 25 years ago and now is active in hundreds of prisons throughout North America. There are over 1,800 volunteer trainers providing more than 1,000 workshops annually [70% in prisons and 30% in communities, schools, organizations, etc.]. Tens of thousands of inmates have participated in the trainings over the last two decades, with continuing reports of success.

AVP has received numerous comments from Department of Corrections officials like the following:

"I saw AVP facilitate a dramatic reduction in the number of assaults between inmates . . . and the overall climate improved to a point where the inmates were actually seeking out ways to positively effect their living environment." [Stan Taylor, Chief, Bureau of Prisons, Delaware]

"The Alternatives to Violence Program is one of the most popular and worthwhile Volunteer Programs in the New York State Department of Correctional Services. The volunteers are well trained, dedicated and many have had long years of experience working in a correctional setting. They arrive ready to challenge the inmates. And with the challenge, they also provide the format for positive change and help the inmates involved to cope with the pressures of the system. The instructors help the inmates to develop a positive self-image and equip them with new skills and attitudes during the period of incarceration. Building on these skills and attitudes after release will enable the inmates to lead a productive, crime-free life in the community." [Jerry Ducie, Director of Correctional Volunteer Services, Department of Correctional Services, New York.]

"Your program has been a mainstay contributing to the lowering of violence in the Facility. Time and time again, we have witnessed the effectiveness of the Alternatives to Violence Project through changed behavior of inmates, who might otherwise have committed violent acts which would have lengthened their period of incarceration. It is my sincere hope you are able to continue providing the Alternatives to Violence Project here at Eastern. We have no substitute program; we must rely on you and your staff for this vital support."

[Philip Coombe, Jr., Superintendent, Eastern Correctional Facility, New York.]

Inmates also feel the program is successful and there is usually a waiting list for the next workshop. In some prisons, the waiting list is more than a year long. It doesn't matter for what reason an inmate signs up, if s/he participates, it will usually have a long term effect, as indicated by the following comments:

"I went into the workshop as a pessimist and I came out as a changed person. I was alive. I was actually alive. I liked what I saw in myself. I liked what I saw in the mirror."

"All my life, negativity has been around me. I am negativity. It has created me. My thoughts were negative. When I dealt with other people, it was in the negative realm, even when I tried to do what I thought was right. AVP took out the negative and put in positive. It gave me new avenues to view, new alternatives, other ways to see things. Whereas before, I saw everyone as a potential enemy. Like most of us here, we came from a war zone, America is a war zone. You have to look at life as a soldier, every day. Now I sit back and look at the world in a different way with a different perspective."

Why has AVP been so successful, especially considering it is a voluntary program that receives no funding from the Department of Corrections, maintains a low profile and does no advertising what-so-ever? To understand the rationale behind the success of AVP, one must look at the nature of prisons and the impact a program like AVP has on inmate participants.

“Philip G. Zimbardo of Stanford University performed an experiment, setting-up a prison with 70 mature, emotionally stable, normal, intelligent college students from middle-class homes throughout the US and Canada. They appeared to represent the cream of the crop of this generation. The simulation was to be for two weeks but had to be canceled after only six days. What the experimenters saw was too frightening to continue. 'There were dramatic changes in virtually every aspect of their behavior, thinking and feeling. In less than a week the experience of imprisonment undid (temporarily) a lifetime of learning; human values were suspended, self-concepts were challenged and the ugliest, most base, pathological side of human nature surfaced. We were horrified because we saw some boys (guards) treat others as if they were despicable animals, taking pleasure in cruelty, while other boys (prisoners) became servile, dehumanized robots who thought only of escape, of their own individual survival and of their mounting hatred for the guards. . . . With regard to prisons, we can state that the mere act of assigning labels to people and putting them into a situation where those labels acquire validity and meaning is sufficient to elicit pathological behavior. . .'"

[ Corrections; An Issues Approach]

While an inmate is in prison, s/he is, in a way, taking a vacation from reality. The community within a prison bears little resemblance to the community outside. The effect is that the emotional development which would normally take place in an individual, is virtually stunted during the time they spend incarcerated. In some respects, it is the same process that takes place when a person is abusing drugs. A friend of mine tells the story about her son who abused drugs at age 18. When he stopped taking drugs at age 35, his emotional maturity was still that of an 18 year old. This caused major problems because his responsibilities, e.g., family, economic, community, were those of a 35 year old. The drugs had anesthetized him from reality and the growth that comes from facing reality. Likewise, when a person experiencing intense grief from the loss of a loved one is given tranquilizers, they will not work through the grief until they can face and experience the pain, which won't occur until they have stopped taking the prescription drugs.

Most inmates are imprisoned during their 20's or 30's, that time during which they would normally be developing their sense of self, their independence and establishing intimate relationships. They do this by experimentation and by being on their own, neither of which is possible in prison. Communication between staff and inmates and between inmates and other inmates is based on power and intimidation, which are antithetical to the development of intimate relationships and personal responsibility. In fact, inmates and staff tend to hide behind roles and images so nobody sees who they really are, which for them, is a form of protection. No wonder inmates have great difficulty in developing a true sense of identity when they are not able to experience who they really are, free from roles and facades.

Given this environment, what is it about AVP that makes it so powerful? It is a combination of several factors, which are: independence from the Department of Corrections [ DOC], volunteer trainers, experiential base of workshops, the fun respectful atmosphere and the focus on empowerment and responsibility in one's life. The program has credibility with inmates because it is independent of DOC, and not just 'another' one of their programs, and because the outside trainers volunteer 20 hours of their own time for each workshop, usually on a weekend. This independence also protects the program from outside forces that would like to change it for convenience sake. The design of the workshop is based on experiential learning, i.e., the creation of a nonviolent environment in which the participants experience the process of resolving conflicts so each party wins. This win/win approach is widely accepted as having the best long term results. We have found that by using this approach, the participants also experience, sometimes for the first time in their lives, a feeling of respect, trust and caring from others. The effect of this is often, and I repeat, often life changing. The participants begin to see life from a completely different perspective, and therefore, their behaviors and attitudes change. There is a solid foundation for this effect in accepted psychological theory, i.e., Carl Rogers theory of 'unconditional positive regard', which states that an individual needs to receive positive regard from others in order to develop a healthy personality.

All these factors help create an environment in which participants experience paradigm shifts, i.e., a change in how they perceive themselves and the world around them. The significance of a paradigm shift can be seen in the following story by Stephan R. Covey, in his book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."

One Sunday morning I was riding on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly; some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene. Then suddenly a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed. The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people's papers. It was very disturbing and yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing. It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he was so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said, "Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you could control them a little more? "The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and softly said, "Oh, you're right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don't know what to think, and I guess they don't know how to handle it either." . . . Suddenly, I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn't have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior; my heart was filled with the man's pain. Feelings of sympathy and compassion flowed freely. "Your wife just died? Oh, I'm so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?" Everything changed in an instant. Many people experience a similar fundamental shift in thinking when they face a life-threatening crises and suddenly see their priorities in a different light, or when they suddenly step into a new role, such as that of husband or wife, parent or grandparent, manager or leader. We could spend weeks, months, even years trying to change our attitudes and behaviors and not even begin to approach the phenomenon of change that occurs spontaneously when we see things differently.

This same kind of paradigm shift is experienced in an AVP workshop. It is something the participants aren't even aware of until it has occurred. While they are having fun, laughing and also working, the change is taking place. Sometimes the change happens during the first major exercise and sometimes it may be months later. It is like a light bulb turns on in their heads and illuminates areas inaccessible before due to darkness. Once this happens, everything changes. You will always know those areas of positive self regard and trust and respect exist, no matter what else happens to you. Some inmates go on to become AVP trainers, so they can contribute to similar changes in other inmates. AVP inmate trainers continue to grow as they help others within the context of AVP workshops and they also serve as positive role models for the general inmate population. Some comments from AVP inmate participants show the magnitude of this change:

"It has always been hard for me to trust other people. I've spent my whole life not trusting other people. AVP has allowed me the opportunity to develop trust in myself and in other people and it has made an incredible difference in how I look at the world and life."

"There is good in every one. We have not known how to see that good without being perceived as weak and vulnerable. AVP showed me how to reach down and see it, to tap that guy that has always wanted to come out but was afraid to come out. When I see someone now, I see them with a different perspective. I'm looking for something good, whereas before I was looking at all the negative things in someone."

"I always thought there were two kinds of people, strong and weak. When I learned the difference between passive, assertive and aggressive, it totally changed my perception. That was the turning point for me. Strength is now something that comes from within."

"To spend three days without negative energy has a profound effect on people."

"We know right from wrong, but we didn't know what we were doing wrong."

"I had been in every group in the institution and they were all generic. They gave the same information. There were very few solutions offered. When you are given the information without the solution, you are still lost. AVP gave me some concrete solutions."

"In AVP, for the first time, you are actually talking to the person, you see their facade melt away. And you let other people see you for what you really are."

"Empowering people to find themselves and then giving them the tools to express what they've found."

"If there is such a thing as a miraculous change in an individual, I can truthfully say that it was during my involvement with AVP that I began to grow from a person filled with hate, anger, and despair, into a person who believes he too is responsible for the protection, preservation and enrichment of humanity."

"Thank you for showing us how to divert our violent attitudes into a positive and peaceful outcome . . . Peace of mind is so hard to find these days . . . by some miracle, I found it here in the AVP program . . . I looked inside of me and found a loving and caring me."

"It is a whole different world, it's different for me."

AVP is like a time machine. It gently sweeps you away to another reality; you can never return, you are permanently changed. This is not to say that AVP is a panacea, for it is not. For those who are not adamantly resistant to change, it will affect them in varying degrees and it will continue affecting them long after the workshop. It is the sense of community which is developed in the workshop that has the most significant impact, and this is the result of creating an atmosphere of trust, respect and caring. It is this environment of respect and caring which we all need, and without which, deviant behavior develops. This aspect of the Alternative to Violence Project addresses a universal human need, and allows the program to be effective with diverse groups in an almost unlimited number of settings, both in and outside of prisons.

Covey, Stephen R., "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." Simon and Shuster, New York, 1989. pg. 30-31.

Travis III, Lawrence F., et.al. "Corrections; An Issues Approach." Anderson Publishing Co., Cincinnati, 1992. pg. 122.

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