Source: Statesmen Journal

http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=81703

On June 10, 2004 Statesmen Journal reported, "A Korean Zen master sang, prayed and offered words of hope Wednesday night to a receptive group of inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary. In a prison chapel framed by barred windows, Buddhist monk Kyunghoon Sunim told the inmates they could free their minds from the bounds of physical captivity. Like all prisons in the 12,000-inmate Oregon corrections system, the penitentiary provides a wide array of religious services and programs for prisoners, officials said. Inmates attending Wednesday’s unusual event belong to a larger group of prisoners who gather weekly for Buddhist meditation sessions at the 2,200-inmate penitentiary."