Fritzi Horstman is not your typical prison reform advocate. She is a Grammy Award-winning producer, best known for her work on The Defiant Ones, featuring Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine, but her true passion is bringing healing into prisons. Through her organisation, the Compassion Prison Project, she works with incarcerated men and women to break the cycle of trauma that fuels violence and crime.

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In this interview, Fritzi speaks to me about her purpose, the impact of childhood trauma, and how healing is possible, even from the inside.

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Q: Why did you start the Compassion Prison Project?

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I have an 18-year-old son that I traumatised. I didn’t know I was traumatising him; I knew somewhere deep down that my behaviour wasn’t good, but I had been traumatised as a child, and I passed that on to my son.

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When I started learning about trauma, I realised that what I did to my son was preventable. And that was an urgent message the world needed to hear, because no one wants to hurt their children.

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Then, when I walked into a prison and heard the stories of the men and women inside, stories of abuse, neglect, and extreme violence, I realised something. If my behaviour wasn’t who I truly was… then neither was theirs.

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That was the moment I knew I had to do this work.

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Q: Your “Step Inside the Circle” video has been watched by millions, but many people in prison don’t have access to watch it. Can you describe what happens in the video for those who are unable to watch it?

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Step Inside the Circle is based on the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, which found that childhood trauma leads to lifelong struggles, mental illness, addiction, homelessness, incarceration, even early death.

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In the video, incarcerated men stand in a circle. For each traumatic experience they have lived through, they take a step forward. The more steps, the more trauma they have survived.

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By the end, almost everyone is standing in the centre.

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It is a powerful moment because it shows people, many for the first time in their lives, that they are not broken. They are not alone. And that what happened to them shaped who they became, but it does not have to define them forever.

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Q: You describe violence as a virus. What do you mean by that?

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Violence spreads like a disease. If a child witnesses violence, whether it is a parent being abused, a sibling being beaten, or even violence in the neighbourhood, it changes how their brain develops.

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They learn that violence is the solution. They grow up believing domination equals power. That is not who they really are, but it is what has been programmed into them.

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And then they pass that trauma on, to their partners, to their children, to the next generation.

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Until someone stops the cycle.

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Q: How do we stop the cycle of violence?

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We need to understand one simple truth:

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Healing is possible.

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That is what the Compassion Prison Project is about. It is about giving people the tools to heal, teaching them that their past pain does not have to shape their future.

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We do this through group healing circles, where men and women can share their truth – often for the first time in their lives, without fear of judgement. We work on regulating the nervous system, helping people shift from constant hypervigilance to a place of safety and calm.

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Because the truth is, most people do not even know what it feels like to be safe.

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Q: What is your message to people reading this inside prison?

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You are the ones we are waiting for.

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The world cannot figure out how to fix violence. You are the ones who can break the cycle – by choosing to heal, not harm.

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Stop the prison politics. Stop the shenanigans. Get into programmes, work on yourselves, and remember who you really are.

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You are not your worst mistake.

You are not beyond redemption.

You are not alone.

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We need you out here. So heal, grow, and when you are ready, we will see you on the outside.