Our Sai Center explored opportunities for carrying out a service activity that would be heart-to-heart, from the server to the served, and one that would be beneficial in the long term for the people we served. In the “Thresholds” decision-making program, we found a service project that fit our needs. We share our experiences with the Thresholds program at the Dutchess County Jail in Poughkeepsie, New York.

“Thresholds” program background

The Thresholds program is offered to inmates who are transitioning into the community. The program teaches inmates to make decisions and encourages them to use the program’s six-step decision-making process while they are still in jail, so they become familiar with the concepts and get ample practice in applying the decision-making process prior to re-entry into society.

Thresholds was originally set up by Mickey Burglass, who himself spent several years in jail and discovered that inmates need tools to help them in their decision-making. For the most part, when faced with a dilemma, inmates tend to react thoughtlessly, jump to conclusions, or engage repeatedly in the same negative actions, without first analyzing the consequences. After being released from jail, they often make the same bad decisions that caused them to land in jail in the first place, and they end up back in prison again. They lack the appropriate skills to cope with the problems and dilemmas that arise in the outside world.

A six-step decision-making process

The Thresholds program emphasizes the importance of clear and methodical thought in following the decision-making process, even more than the outcome that may result from the decision, using the following six steps.

  1. Situation: Assess a situation as clearly and objectively as one can.
  2. Goal: Set the goal best suited to the situation and one’s capabilities.
  3. Possibilities: Identify alternative ways of achieving the goal (through brainstorming, thinking outside the box).
  4. Examination: List the advantages of each option, the risks of pursuing them, and the possible effects on oneself and others.
  5. Choice: Choose the best possibility.
  6. Action: Act on the choice.

Initial Challenges

We had a weekend-long training by volunteers working in the prison. We were impressed with the dedication of the trainers and their total belief in the program. Concerns we had were about our own anxiety and nervousness about conducting the initial sessions, how the inmates would respond to us, and how we would handle them if they became violent. The two Sai Center volunteers already involved in the program allayed our fears, assuring us that it was safe and that they had always felt Sai Baba’s invisible presence in the room to shore them up.

So we plucked up our courage and plunged into the project. Yet another challenge we faced was that the officers of our local jail had not heard of the Thresholds program and had to be introduced to it and become comfortable with it. And they had to become accustomed to the idea of Thresholds volunteers entering the jail on a weekly basis. Gradually, over time, this issue melted away.

Implementing the Thresholds Program

We teach the Thresholds program as a one-on-one format, though other formats (e.g. classroom format) are also available. Thus, one volunteer would meet with one inmate in a closed visitation room. Generally, seven or eight hour-long weekly sessions are needed to complete the course with an inmate. However, we spend as much time as an inmate needs, and on occasion we have spent 13–14 weeks with a single inmate.

Several measures have been introduced that help the success of the program at the prison. For example, the authorities match the strengths and personalities of the volunteers with those of the inmates, which helps set up an environment conducive to learning. The officers often give us anecdotal input about an inmate, allowing us to tailor the course to the inmate’s background and needs.

In the first session, we focus on the inmate’s awareness of their own thought processes. We identify that awareness as a state of wisdom, love, compassion, or discrimination. It is the best tool they have for guiding their thoughts and actions.

Throughout the Thresholds program, we focus on their progress in developing a center of inner wisdom to serve as their best aid to clearer thinking and to more successful control of their lives. We also emphasize that among their various thoughts about the past, present, and future, the only thing they cannot change is history, but absolutely everything else may be changed if they so decide. They have the opportunity at every instant to work on changing what is and can be. Each moment is the threshold to the rest of their lives; hence, the title of the course.

Conversations are not only about the Thresholds concepts. We also talk about wisdom we have gleaned from our lives and speak to them as we would to any highly intelligent young person. We make a concerted effort not to talk down to them. We invite them to discuss any troublesome aspect of their life or any dilemma with which they are struggling. Because of the one-on-one nature of the program (which is what the inmates prefer), they often open up and confide in us their struggles and worries about reentering into outer society.

Sometimes the inmates just want to talk about their inner turmoil, to unburden themselves and find a safe space to work out their issues. We have been touched by the openness of the inmates in sharing and feel it a privilege that they trust and allow us into their lives in such a personal way. We have also been told that our counseling is having a positive outcome, since the recidivism rate has dropped greatly.

To reinforce their learning, we often ask the inmate to write paragraphs on their interpretation and understanding of our conversations. When practicing the decision-making process, we emphasize the word think: think of all aspects, seek ideas, think deeper, think of all possible implications of their actions to themselves and others. For any important decisions, we encourage them to “think” on paper and write everything down, and to use the Thresholds program’s mnemonic symbols to remind and guide them in their decision-making.

We often speak to the inmates about the human values of truth, right action, love, peace, and nonviolence, in the context of their own lives and how to implement these values. They come back the following week to share with us how they practiced the values, for example, being able to show restraint and walk away when needled by a fellow inmate.

The Chinese have a saying, “Be like water.” We help them interpret what this may mean for them. For instance, the inherent nature of water is pure; it shines; it is not stopped by obstacles but flows around them. When water has found its level, it flows no more and is at peace. Similarly, we discuss how they could be like water – by controlling their temper, not getting out of control, and not engaging in conflict. The prisoners seem to relate to this Chinese proverb very well and have learned to defuse many conflicts that arise in the prison.

We make the inmates aware of concepts such as responsibility, dependability, respect, perseverance, and self-confidence. We encourage them to write brief paragraphs on what these concepts mean to them. We may tell them a story from the “Get Inspired” section of the radio e-journal, “Heart2Heart” (www.radiosai.org), to convey a point.

We have taught the so-hum (“I am THAT; I am God”) meditation (repeating the phrase with with each inbreath and outbreath) to a few inmates who genuinely wanted to learn meditation. The vernacular we used was Cosmic Consciousness or Universal Spirit, rather than God. To our surprise, the inmates said they felt and experienced what we ourselves experience from the so-hum meditation. One inmate reported using the technique successfully to calm his mind when faced with a significant concern or a potential conflict.

Another Thresholds volunteer taught his inmate the practice of repeating a trusted name such as a name of God and taught him coping skills by asking him to think about the divine form he believed in whenever he was in trouble.

Impact of the Thresholds Program

When we interact with the inmates and genuinely transmit to them the wisdom we have been blessed to receive, we have felt, deep in our being, that we are truly living the messages of “Love all, serve all” and “Help ever, hurt never,” which are the core of Sai Baba’s teachings and, according to Sai Baba, the core of every religion. We have also noticed several changes in how we view the people that we serve. Whenever we start a service project, whether it is food service or any other, there is often at first a feeling of separation between the people serving and those being served. Service is about personal transformation. And this transformation inexorably occurs as the feeling of separation gradually disappears. Our tremendous desire to continue with the Thresholds program is sustained by the palpable gratitude of the inmates for exposing them to such thoughts and ideas, the likes of which they have never experienced before, yet which ring true to them.

Our efforts are reciprocated and further fueled by the love we receive from the inmates. For the most part they have never interacted with people who want to try and help them with their personal problems, and they have never heard of any human-values system. For many of them, the street is their mother. If we have to skip a week, the inmates are not happy; they look for assurances that we will be back the following week.

In conclusion, we would like to share with you a note from one of the inmates:

“If by some chance we finish our studies together today or if you cannot be here before my release date, I wanted to assure you that you have not wasted your time. The lessons were inspirational and insightful, but your added wisdom put it into perspective. I can see how this will help me in my future. The lesson that will stick with me forever is, ‘Be the water.’ I have said it half a dozen times and utilized it already. Thanks for taking time out of your life to enhance mine. I won’t soon forget you.”

Additional Info

The authors are members of the Sai Baba Center of Wappinger Falls, NY, USA.

To learn more about or join this service project, you may go to: http://us.sathyasai.org/index.html and click on the state or city in which the Sai Center project takes place. Click on “Email us for information about these Centers.” A local contact will respond to your email

For more on the Thresholds program, see:

Prison Service: Thresholds program 1

Thresholds Program with Women Prisoners – Norwalk CT

Thresholds Program in a Transition Shelter - Bostan MA

Thresholds Program in a Transition Shelter - Shrewsbury MA

Keywords

transition program for prisoners, Thresholds program, Thresholds decision-making program, service to prisoners, prison seva, prison volunteer, Sai Baba Center of Wappinger Falls NY, New York, Northeast, Sai Baba Center of Wappinger Falls NY, education in human values, EHV, SSEHV, problem-solving skills, self-esteem for prisoners, Zone1, USA, Region 1, Dutchess County Jail, Poughkeepsie NY, Mickey Burglass

Project Details

Project start: 05/01/03

Project completion:

Stage of development:

Zone name: US. Canada, West Indies, Israel

Lat/Longitude: 41° 35' N -73° 55' W

Affiliation: Sathya Sai Center of Wappinger Falls, NY

Service category: Prison service

Author: Vasanti & Ramesh Mirchandani

Project leader: Murthy Cheruvu