Inside Circle

Inside Circle is a healing community that runs programs within prisons and the community with the aim of empowering system-impacted people. At our core, we’re centered around the respect we have for our members and we lead change from within by providing opportunities for currently and formerly incarcerated people to heal and better serve themselves and others. What’s now referred to as Inside Circle took shape after a race riot occurred in New Folsom prison in 1996. Several inmates were seriously hurt, one fatally. This had a huge impact on inmate Patrick Nolan who saw the pain and hopelessness of the environment and had a vision to shift this dynamic from the inside. Our key mission is to reduce recidivism and build social-emotional literacy to remove all forms of violence in our prisons and wider communities. By using the power of human connection found in our peer-guided healing circles, we create the space for members to heal, transform lives, and positively impact systems by reducing violence inside and outside of adult and juvenile prisons. Prisons don’t heal, but in our experience, circles do. Tune in to our podcast at: https://insidecircle.org/podcast/ Check out our documentary at: