Sedona AZ (December 4, 2014) – The Arizona Coconino County Sheriff’s Office has several programs to address the traditional needs of its inmate population. One of these programs is the provision of a sweat lodge, and recently the facility conducted two Sweat Lodge ceremonies for inmates.

For some American Indian cultures the Sweat Lodge Ceremony provides purification and balance of body, mind, spirit and emotions and can serve as a Prayer Circle, or a Healing Circle transforming the Old Self into the New Self. Rocks are heated in a fire pit outside the structure and then brought inside and placed in a small hole in the ground; there is no fire inside the structure. The ceremony is conducted in four parts and may last as long as three hours with breaks. A traditional Messenger helps perform the ceremony. The plan is to make Sweat Lodge ceremonies available to the inmate population on a monthly schedule.

This is but one of many programs the CCSO facility and staff offer to help inmates initiate positive life changes. The programs include opportunities for change supported by spiritual, religious, educational, health, and substance abuse treatment approaches. While the Sheriff’s Office strives to make available recognized religious, recovery and a variety of self-improvement programs to the diverse cultures represented in its inmate population, it also recognizes that approximately half of the people in custody are of Native American descent. For this reason Coconino County programs include a Sweat Lodge and a Hogan which is unique compared to programs offered at facilities elsewhere in U.S. detention facilities. Partnership with the Navajo Behavioral Health Services has been vital to the success of many of these programs.

The Coconino County Detention Facility management believes that time spent incarcerated can be turned into productive time by offering opportunities to improve life skills that effect positive life changes. Many of the programs provided to inmates are funded by the Inmate Welfare Fund which comes from commissary and phone usage fees. The CCDF is committed to inmate programs which benefit not only the inmates in custody but the community as a whole.

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