CHICAGO Ten yoga mats, foam support blocks and a qualified instructor awaited the women who filed quietly into the recreation room, slipped off their shoes and stood in place on the mats, prepared for the stretching routine to begin.

The only remarkable element among the trappings of this beginners yoga class was its location: Inside the barbed wire fence of the Cook County Jail. The women prepared to stretch were inmates. Instead of yoga pants, they wore Department of Corrections-issued pink and gray uniforms.

Yoga and meditation sessions have been a mainstay in the womens jail for six years, since a group of volunteers from a local nonprofit that encourages yoga as an element of rehabilitation started showing up, mats in tow, and leading classes for all female inmates, said Alisa Kannett, an administrator for the nonprofit group Yoga for Recovery.

For years correctional facilities across the country have been implementing yoga workshops and programs, sometimes at the urging of inmates, and the trend is growing, said Gabriella Savelli, director of Prison S.M.A.R.T. The group has helped implement yoga programs at 36 correctional facilities in 21 states, including at a mens boot camp in Cook County and Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill.

Prisoners participating in yoga may see psychological benefits, such as reduced stress and improved mood, according to a study published this summer by scholars at Oxford University.

Researchers found that prisoners who embarked on a 10-week yoga course also showed greater accuracy in a computer test of impulsivity and attention. But it doesnt require an academic study to know that, for some inmates, practicing yoga just feels good.

As the 10 women in one of the jails residential programs stretched their arms and breathed deeply at a recent session, their satisfied sighs and comments during the class made that clear.

Lovely. That was cool, said Kristy Montgomery, 29, after completing a tree pose.

Like many of the women in Montgomerys division, she has a history of substance abuse and prostitution, and the weekly class is healing, she said.

Every time, my body feels lighter. My mind feels lighter and feels freer.

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Yoga for prison inmates is no longer a stretch