Guiding Rage Into Power:
A One-Year Accountability
and Healing Program
The GRIP Program is an evidence-based methodology developed over 25 years of work with thousands of incarcerated people and many victims/survivors. Rooted in Restorative Justice principles, the program’s trauma-informed model integrates cutting-edge neuroscience research. Students engage in a yearlong, in-depth journey to comprehend the origins of their violence and develop skills to track and manage strong impulses rather than acting out in harmful ways. They transform destructive beliefs and behaviors into an attitude of emotional intelligence that prevents re-victimization.
Announcing the GRIP Peacemaker Magazine
A collection of stories, poems reflections, and art from over 30 contributors of the GRIP community. This is a major project from our community inside and outside, showing just how true the statement is that “Nobody Does Time Alone.”
Donate $75 and receive the gift of the Peacemaker Magazine.
Check the box if you’d like your gift to go to an incarcerated person.
Donate $100 and do both: receive the gift and offer the gift to an incarcerated person.
GRIP students learn to:
- Stop violent actions and do no harm. They study and practice a toolbox of skills to use when challenged, thereby undoing the roots of antisocial behavior. We tell students that they are not in prison because of what they did; more precisely, they are there because they believed the thoughts that justified what they did. By learning how to name and question those belief systems, they can find inner freedom and increase their ability to respect one another.
- Cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness develops the ability to discern between a blind reaction and a well-considered response. Students learn skills to handle stress and develop the inner resources to be resilient in any circumstances that might arise.
- Develop emotional intelligence. Students learn how to regulate and manage strong emotions in order to nurture healthy and mutually beneficial relationships as opposed to the toxic and trauma-based relationships so many of them are used to.
- Understand victim impact. Learning empathy by facing the impacts of criminal behavior is an effective way to develop the intrinsic motivation needed for prosocial behavior to take hold. GRIP is based on the understanding that criminal lifestyles weren’t formed overnight – this is why we devote a whole year to create durable behavior change.
Being a member of a GRIP TRIBE is an essential part of the program. Each member is trusted and valued as an integral member of their Tribe. In this bonding process, a unique learning environment emerges and deep healing takes place.
Most incarcerated people have experienced extraordinary abuse, violence, and trauma in their early lives. The culture of GRIP honors and acknowledges the humanity of all participants, as well as the unique path that each student takes to build resilience and heal their own particular wounds. It is only through this kind of compassionate and restorative approach that true accountability and empathy emerge.
GRIP Training Institute Mission
GRIP Training Institute, a 501(c)(3) serving incarcerated people in the state of CA. Our mission is to create the personal and systemic change to turn violence and suffering into opportunities for learning and healing.
GRIP by the Numbers
GRIP began in 2012 at San Quentin. In 2016 and 2017, GRIP expanded to 5 institutions. And in 2023, GRIP expanded to two more prisons including, for the first time, a women’s prison. Since GRIP’s inception, 1,512 students have graduated and 750 have been released. Only a few students have returned to prison, giving us a recidivism rate of 1.71%. The GRIP program has a 98.3% success rate.
What We Do
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Sign up today! Get informed about the work we’re doing inside, inspirational stories of transformation, and much more.