Doing Time Doing Vipassana

There will be a free screening of this award winning film at Granville Youth and Community Recreation Centre on April 20 at 7pm.

The website for more information about this film is Doing Time, Doing Vipassana In summary the film is about the 10 day Vipassana Meditation course in Tihar Jail in Delhi - and films the first course where 1000 of the 10000 prisoners in Tihar attended. This course was so successful that a meditation centre which conducts 10 day courses throughout the year has been established within the Tihar Jail.

Also you might be interested to know that the latest film on Vipassana Meditation in prisons has been released and opens in New York on Friday. It is called Dhamma Brothers This film is about the 10 day Vipassana Meditation course in the Alabama State Prison - a maximum security prison in the US. This film has also won awards in the US.

Dhamma Brothers has been submitted to Sydney Melbourne and Brisbane Film Festivals and the 12 minute trailer will also be screened on April 20 with Doing Time Doing Vipassana.

There are posters for this event that can be posted to you if you wish - please let me know. Also please phone me - Anna Adams on 0418 -168-092 with any questions about the meditation course in prisons or the films.

If it is possible to circulate this email that would be great so that anyone who is interested can know that this screening is scheduled.

with kind regards

Anna Adams
annaaddams@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008

Crims 'losing millions' in cash, assets

Millions of dollars in cash and assets have been stripped from organised crime gangs and other NSW offenders in the past year, the state government says.

In the past 14 months, $26.5 million in cash and assets has been seized or frozen in accordance with the Criminal Assets Recovery Act, Police Minister David Campbell said.

"This sends a clear message to criminals that their flash cars, boats and mansions are prime targets for NSW police," he said.

"If jail isn't enough of a deterrent for these crooks, then losing their prized possessions should definitely be."

Among goods already seized are real estate, cars, jet skis, jewellery and almost $8 million in cash, all linked to one major investigation.

Funds raised by the confiscation of cash and goods goes toward crime prevention, and drug rehabilitation and education programs.

Mr Campbell praised a strengthening of the Confiscation of Proceeds of Crime Act for the increased value of seizures.

"The new system gives police the power to pursue confiscation matters in the local court," he said.

"Police can seek to seize and sell any tainted property linked to a suspect, such as a vehicle used to drive to the scene of a crime or a mobile phone used to set up drug deals."

Teens to serve 15 years for 'gruesome' murder of friend

Two teenage girls have been sentenced to life imprisonment in Western Australia for murdering their 15-year-old friend who they then buried in a shallow grave in the south-west town of Collie.

The two girls, who are now 17, pleaded guilty to killing their friend, 15-year-old Eliza Jane Davis in June last year.

They covered her mouth with a chemical-soaked rag and strangled her with a piece of wire.

President of the Perth Children's Court, Denis Reynolds, said the offence they committed was gruesome and merciless in the extreme and showed a gross disregard for human life.

But because of their age, the pair will eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 15 years.

Outside, Eliza Davis' grandfather expressed his outrage at the sentence.

"They'll be free running around in 15 years and I've lost a grand-daughter," he said.

"I'll never get her back."

Their sentence will be backdated until June last year when they were taken into custody.