It's late afternoon, and men's voices, blurred by the roar of vehicles, can be heard from across the compound. Twenty years ago this hilltop above the village of Moravia was used for farming and grazing. Now, it's the location of Cayuga Correctional Facility, a medium security prison, a campus of orderly, modern structures surrounded by a razor wire fence. From the windows in the dorms, men can look across grassy acres to a dense forest. In the early evening, deer sometimes graze beyond the fence. Hawks and sea gulls wheel in the blue sky above the yard.

Cayuga Correctional Facility houses about 1,000 inmates inside a 72-acre compound. Most inmates at Cayuga are within a few years or a few months of release. Last year, about 27,500 men and women were released and two years before that, more than 25,000 were released in New York state.

There is always the risk of recidivism, or return to prison, for former inmates. The Chaplains' Office at Cayuga Correctional Facility has developed a new program called “Life's Core Issues.” Through this program, the chaplains are attempting to address a need that many inmates have: to develop a belief system that will help them reunite with family and live successfully in society after their release.

“Many people here come from difficult backgrounds and peer pressure here is huge. People in prison are very concerned with spiritual matters. ... they just may not know how to express it,” said Imam Saad Sahraoui. Imam Sahraoui, the Muslim chaplain, has worked in correctional services for 16 years.

A modest flier posted in the mess hall invites Cayuga inmates on a spiritual journey. The flier says that to join, a man must be willing to share and participate and more important, he must be willing to change. Change, the flier warns, can be painful. Men express their wish to participate through a written application. “Life's Core Issues” participants meet three times a week. Each meeting lasts one and a half hours.

The facility chapel is a simply furnished sunny room in a wing of the activity building. Today, a dozen men in green have gathered in the chapel for this program of self-exploration, which aims to bring participants closer to God and closer to peace with themselves. Some men wear masks of indifference. Some smile. The topic today is forgiveness.

“Each session begins with a prayer,” explained Catholic Chaplain, Maureen Collins. She has been at Cayuga for five years. “The program works because of the high level of participation.”

Each group consists of 10 men who are aided by two facilitators, men who have completed a previous cycle of the program.

The program lasts for eight weeks and is completely voluntary. Participation carries no salary, no facility privileges, no extrinsic rewards. There is a waiting list to enroll in the fall session, the program's third cycle.

Since its inception, the program has had the backing of Deputy Superintendent of Programs Laurine Jones.

“This is a powerful option for people to have the shared help of our chaplains while they make deep changes,” said Jones, who oversees and coordinates a number of programs aimed at helping inmates prepare for successful reentry into life “on the outside.”

“What's unique is the unanimity of the chaplains. We stress our commonalties,” said Protestant Chaplain Wayne Hampton, a 20-year veteran in correctional services.

The chaplains staff the program together on a rotating basis, with two full-time chaplains coordinating each session. At the initial meeting of each cycle of “Life's Core Issues,” rules for confidentiality are established. During the late afternoon sessions, issues of spirituality, change, anger, loss, forgiveness and self-control are discussed. The men are given handouts to read on each topic and homework assignments that include supplemental reading and journaling.

“It's a brave thing, to look at self and accept what we've done and move forward,” observes Imam Sahraoui.

“The whole process is intended to allow the individual to open up slowly and build confidence with these things that are difficult to express. In the next cycle, we're going to go deeper into trauma and the grieving process,” said Native American Chaplain Clint Shenandoah.

Shenandoah, who recently joined the chaplains' staff, helped adapt the curriculum to the program format. Shenandoah was formerly with the Oneida Nation Healing Center in Syracuse. He provides pastoral services at 18 correctional facilities including Cayuga.

The chaplains continue to “tweak” the curriculum and the discussion exercises before each new cycle begins. They plan to add additional material to help participants analyze the peer pressures they encounter and make choices based on values rather than on circumstances. This, they feel, is essential for someone coming out of prison. The program touches on issues of addiction to drugs and alcohol, which inmates study in detail in other prison programs. The staff members of other programs are noticing cross-over benefits as inmates blend self-knowledge from “Life's Core Issues” sessions into other classes.

Still, personal change is not easy in the prison setting.

“A comment was made by a participant who said that he leaves the sessions faith-filled, Collins said, ”but it's hard to sustain that when he returns to the dorm.“

As the program proceeds, each man is asked to identify the changes he is experiencing. One man in the last cycle wrote: “I'm not as smart as I thought I was.” Another confessed: “I didn't like the person I was.” Still another commented: “My feelings are controlled now. I don't have to hide them.”

During the program, each man develops an action plan for the future. For most, the future means returning home soon, to community and family, to work or to school. As each cycle comes to a close, participants articulate how their core values have changed. It is the intent of the chaplains and others involved in the implementation of the “Life's Core Issues” program that the men returning home from Cayuga Correctional Facility have opportunities for new tools of faith, belief and intent that will help them live successfully in society without returning to jail.

Lynn Olcott is a teacher at the Cayuga Correctional Facility