Michael: Thank you for your comment. I do a lot of work with people recovering from addictions. Generally, I ask that they be 60 to 90 days away from their last use before any extended meditation. The emotions, body and nervous system are just too impaired during early withdrawal. If they were just doing a once a week 30-50 minute meditation session, I suppose it wouldn't hurt, but it also is not pleasant and not productive.

Why don't you order my book called Sitting Inside, you can order it on this Web site or on Amazon. It has a chapter on volunteers and their motivations. Many people show initial interest, but then disappear after awhile. Also, the simplest thing I can say is to look for people who are happy and mature in their practice. Unhappy people tend to want contact with prisoners so they can feel useful or loved or needed.

My cirteria may be too high, but I think you want people who are endorsed by their own sangha and who are experienced enough to be allowed to give meditation instruction to beginners in their own tradition. You also want people who are not too sectarian in their own Buddhist tradition. Some of this you can do by organizing training for volunteers in addition to whatever the prisons are providing.

So, that's a start. Keep me posted on how you're doing.
Metta to you,
/Kobai