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"I wish for everyone who comes through these doors that they seek and they find enlightenment." With these words, Judge Sherri Sullivan of Missouri's 22nd Circuit Court inaugurated the Transcendental Meditation Center for Probationers in St. Louis on October 24.
Judge Sullivan was one of four judges and two state legislators who attended the inauguration of the new center, where offenders who are sentenced to learn TM as a condition of their probation will be instructed. The opening of the center is another step in the continuing work of Farrokh Anklesaria, Director of the Department of Rehabilitation at Maharishi University of Management.
Over a year ago, Anklesaria met Judge David Mason, also of Missouri's 22nd Circuit Court, at a criminal justice conference where they were both featured speakers. On March 11, Judge Mason called Anklesaria and said that after studying the scientific research, he was convinced that TM should be used as a correctional tool. He asked Anklesaria to be present for a press conference where he would announce his decision to make the Transcendental Meditation program a condition of probation.
That evening, three Missouri TV stations featured stories on Judge Mason's decision. Since then, Judge Mason has made TM instruction a condition of probation for 10 convicted offenders.
The launching of the St. Louis center for probationers is part of a plan developed by Judge Mason and Anklesaria to create a group of 300-400 probationers sentenced to TM. Judge Mason believes that this will produce a decisive effect in Missouri so that TM can become a state-funded rehabilitation program. Thus far, Anklesaria has secured funding for this program from well-wishers in St. Louis and Fairfield, with the help of Sheila Ross.
At the inauguration ceremony, Anklesaria said that the success of the criminal justice system has been limited by its failure to address the heart of the problem. "What is needed is a deeper element&emdash;the element of consciousness," he said. "Our actions are based on our thinking and our thinking is based on our consciousness. And what modern psychiatry and psychological counseling lack is the ability to bring orderliness from the field of consciousness."
Anklesaria also pointed out the important role that judges have in changing attitudes toward rehabilitation. "Judges, being in the silent atmosphere of the courtroom, are often able to initiate progressive new ideas for society," he said. "The representatives of the judiciary we have here today are the pioneers of the Consciousness School of Jurisprudence. They have glimpsed how consciousness is that one element whereby orderliness can be structured in the individual and society."
Of all the areas of society that can benefit from a technique to eliminate stress and expand awareness, the criminal justice system is the most needy. Yet, because it is a field permeated by stress, it is also one of the most challenging and difficult areas to penetrate.
Farrokh Anklesaria has been tireless in his efforts to enlighten the judicial system, not only in this country, but throughout the world. Raised in Bombay, Anklesaria completed training as a barrister in England in 1973. It was only a few years later in 1979 that he was appointed Minister of Law, Justice and Rehabilitation by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Since that time he has directed major rehabilitation programs incorporating the Transcendental Meditation program in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, and Senegal, Africa.
The results of these programs have been remarkable. In Senegal alone, where TM instruction was offered to the entire prison population in the country, recidivism (the rate released offenders return to prison) dropped from 90 percent to 10 percent, and three prisons were closed because they were no longer needed.
Over the past five years, Anklesaria's focus has been on introducing the program to the criminal justice system of the United States. He has traveled to 37 states to meet with members of state Supreme Courts, state directors of correction, directors of youth services, and other high-level correctional officials. He has also spoken at numerous conferences on corrections, probation, criminal justice, and youth crime.
But it was in Missouri that Anklesaria found Judge David Mason, the first to systematically sentence offenders to learn TM as a condition of probation.
Judge Mason grew up in tough neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee, and New York City, where every day he was exposed to the temptations and problems of drug abuse, violence, and crime. He saw friends suffer from drugs and thrown in jail, and even his own family members engaged in violence and drug addiction.
In spite of this background, Judge Mason became a national champion orator, graduated from law school, and eventually received an appointment to Missouri's 22nd Circuit Court.
During the inauguration of the new center for probationers, Judge Mason described his frustration over the years, seeing offenders with a background similar to his own, but not being able to do much more than lock them in jail. He criticized the decision in the U.S. some years ago to take a tougher stance on crime by putting more people in jail. "Not one study existed to say that if you put more people in jail, crime will go down&emdash;not one."
He went on to explain how just putting people in jail didn't solve the problem. "We throw in aggression training . . . GEDs . . . job training . . . All these things we jump into, sign away millions in this state, billions across the country, with nothing to say there was any real expectation of a return for the dollar. Why do we as a people jump so quickly into all these things with so much money and have such difficulty with something like this?"
Judge Mason also revealed that at his initial meeting with Anklesaria, he wasn't very interested&emdash;the ideas seemed too foreign. But as they talked, Anklesaria touched on some things the judge had been feeling over the years while studying sentencing alternatives. Anklesaria talked about the role of self-esteem, self-image as a contributor to crime, about the role of stress from family, friends, and society. These statements were consistent with other research the judge had read.
When Judge Mason decided to take time to look at the research, particularly the National Institutes of Health studies, he was impressed at what he read. "As it turns out, the Transcendental Meditation technique is the proven, most effective way of helping a person deal with stress, short of psychotropic drugs! It is truly. Nothing that we do now, I guarantee you, can match the research. Nothing that we have!"
Justice Stephen Limbaugh, a member of the Missouri Supreme Court, was also in attendance at the inauguration of the new center. Justice Limbaugh described how he was introduced to TM by Tom Zimmer, his best friend in high school. Tom is now a member of the Purusha program in North Carolina.
"From my own firsthand experience," said Judge Limbaugh, "I can tell you that TM is a remarkable meditative technique." Justice Limbaugh also described how TM can be helpful as a sentencing alternative. "We're in a time when the cost of maintaining our prisons and jails is absolutely overwhelming," he said. "It's a crisis in state and national government. Because of that, we judges have been encouraged to consider alternatives to incarceration . . . I see TM as yet another tool that judges can use for the rehabilitation of the criminal defendants who come before them. Moreover, I think it is an immensely promising tool."
Also attending the inauguration were two members of Missouri's state legislature, including the longest tenured woman legislator in the state's history, Representative Sue Shear. Ms. Shear chairs a house and senate joint statutory committee on correctional institutions. "I have been a lone voice for many years looking for alternatives to imprisonment, because I know for sure that we spend millions of dollars building new prisons and the crime goes on. And I see TM as a wonderful alternative to imprisonment and a way to reduce crime and all the problems we have in our society."
For those who want to support introducing the TM program into the Missouri criminal justice system, Anklesaria has announced a new program, "Adopt a Probationer." A $1000 donation will allow a probationer to participate in a three-month TM instruction program. If interested, call Sheila Ross at (515) 472-3590.
