How it All Began: The Prison-Ashram Project
In 1973, Ram Dass began sending his book, Be Here Now, into prisons. He received countless letters back. People wrote about their personal transformations and wrestled with tough spiritual questions like:
- How can I meditate while filled with anger, shame, or guilt?
- How can I be loving in such a dangerous place?
- How can I forgive myself and others?
- How can I find freedom behind bars?
The book also deeply impacted Bo and Sita Lozoff, who had a relative in prison. Moved by Ram Dass’ message and their own experience, they started answering these letters. This collaboration became the Prison-Ashram Project. For over 50 years, the relationships built through these letters have been the heart of our work. Many of the resources we offer feature writings, wisdom, and artwork from these letters.
Since 1979, we’ve sent over a million newsletters featuring art, writing, and spiritual reflections to people in prisons and jails nationwide. In 1985, we published the book, We’re All Doing Time, which has reached over half a million incarcerated readers. Additional books and free resources on contemplative practices followed.
The Human Kindness Foundation was established in 1987 to carry this work forward. Between 1994-2006, we ran a community called Kindness House, where staff, volunteers, and formerly incarcerated people lived and worked together. Over the decades, we’ve given talks and workshops in hundreds of prisons, churches, and community centers around the world.
Today, our programs extend to digital platforms through Edovo, a free educational app available in more than 1,400 correctional facilities. Since 2022, residents in prisons and jails have accessed the wide variety of podcasts, videos, books, and newsletters we provide on Edovo over 500,000 times.
Our methods have evolved over the years, yet the mission remains the same: to create compassionate, spiritually grounded communities with people behind and beyond prison and jail walls.
Reckoning with Our Past
During the years Human Kindness Foundation ran Kindness House, co-founder Bo Lozoff abused his power and hurt vulnerable people. He created a rigid structure of authority based on misguided claims of divine guidance. This led to spiritual manipulation, verbal abuse, and repeated sexual coercion.
After survivors of his abuse came forward publicly in 2008, Bo Lozoff left the organization. In 2012, he died in a motorcycle accident. While the organization later publicly acknowledged wrongdoing, these efforts were incomplete and insufficient. We are deeply sorry for all the ways our organization’s lack of full accountability hurt survivors.
In recognition of the harm Bo Lozoff caused, we will no longer distribute his books Deep and Simple, Lineage, and Just Another Spiritual Book. We will revise We’re All Doing Time to incorporate additional authors’ perspectives. Human Kindness Foundation will be the author of this collectively created work.
Our organization’s past actions hurt people. Acknowledging this is important and long overdue. We have much more work to do as we move from acknowledgement to genuine accountability and repair. The work of reckoning with our past and repairing this harm is the defining challenge for our future.
Get Connected
HKF spreads kindness in the world’s darkest places. We publish artwork, letters, and stories from our friends serving time in jails and prisons. Follow us on social media or sign up to receive our newsletters, which go out three times a year.
