HOW A.A.s CARRY THE MESSAGE TO ALCOHOLICS IN
CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES
The material in these Guidelines has come from the experience and
“growing pains” of A.A. correctional facilities committees. We are privileged
to share it with A.A.s throughout the United States and Canada who are carrying our
message behind the walls.
PURPOSE
The purpose of a correctional facilities committee is to coordinate the
work of individual A.A. members and groups who are interested in carrying our message of
recovery to alcoholics behind the walls, and to set up means of smoothing the way from
the facility to the larger A.A. community through prerelease contacts.
A correctional facilities committee may function within the structure of
a General Service Conference area committee or a central office (intergroup). In A.A.'s
early years, prison Twelfth Step work was usually done by an individual group or an
individual member. As A.A. has grown, however, it seems that a committee formed within
the A.A. service structure works more effectively.
Prior to 1977, services to correctional and treatment facilities were
provided under the umbrella of the Institutions Committee. Because of rapid growth, the
1977 General Service Conference voted to dissolve its Institutions Committee and two new
committees, one on correctional facilities and one on treatment facilities, were formed.
This division was created to provide better service to groups and meetings in both kinds of facilities.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Perhaps the first step would be to contact your general service area
committee or local intergroup (central office) and, if there is an existing correctional
facilities committee, they will connect you to the committee chairperson. Local A.A.
groups and members should be given the opportunity of sharing in and doing correctional
facility Twelfth Step work. It has proved a good idea to have members from many groups
serve on this committee. If a correctional facility committee does not exist in your area,
then you may wish to form one. Thus, a chairperson is elected, and plans are worked out
so that each correctional facility group and correctional facility in the area will be
assured of A.A. help. The chairperson of the correctional facilities committee often
participates within the area general service committee or intergroup steering committee.
These committees convene every month to make assignments and handle other related business.
The chairperson relays information from meetings of the Conference Committee on Correctional
Facilities, held during the annual General Service Conference, and shares Conference
thinking and experience on A.A. in correctional facilities.
If you are a new committee, the next step would be to list your
correctional committee with the General Service Office in New York. Your chairperson will
be put on a mailing list and receive a Correctional Facilities Workbook and other service
literature and material.
The Correctional Facilities Workbook is a good basic tool. It contains information
on how to do correctional facilities work, background information, guide letters, and a selection
of pamphlets, leaflets, etc. If your area already has a functioning committee, the workbook may
provide new ideas or new ways of implementing old ideas. If your committee is just getting off
the ground, the workbook will help you find effective ways of getting organized.
RELATIONSHIP TO A.A. IN THE AREA OR DISTRICT
As in all A.A. activity, communication of needs and progress is all important.
Such communication can be maintained through group representatives at intergroup/central office
or general service area meetings, through area or intergroup newsletters, and by direct contact
by committee members at regular A.A. meetings.
Communication also takes place at special dinners where correctional facilities
committees invite others to attend; regular correctional facilities workshops at area conferences
(in a few areas, inmates are allowed to attend these conferences with their group advisers) and
during monthly meetings of these committees (rotated within an area) to which all A.A.s are
invited.
BASIC FUNCTIONS OF C.F. COMMITTEES
The basic functions of correctional facilities committees are elaborated on in
the Correctional Facilities Workbook. However, here are highlights of major headings.
Correctional facility committees, when allowed to do so, take A.A. meetings into
facilities within their area. It encourages “outside” group participation in this
kind of Twelfth Step work. In some areas, each group has a group correctional facilities
representative. It provides a liaison between the correctional facilities groups and meetings
and groups on the outside, and also coordinates prerelease contact.
The relationship with prison authorities is discussed in the workbook to ensure
a positive reciprocal working relationship with administrators and staff. One such suggestion
is that A.A.s in this Twelfth Step work seek to understand, respect, and adhere to all
correctional facilities regulations.
The workbook also goes into detail about prison A.A. meetings. It suggests
different ways to shoulder responsibility for meetings and speakers.
Most committees find that adequate literature supplies are essential in a
correctional facility group or meeting. Supplies are financed and obtained in several ways:
Donated by local intergroup or general service committee; donated by members of the committee;
purchased with individual contributions; provided by groups through their correctional facilities
representatives.
Special funds: Buck of the Month Club or Pink Cans, where members contribute,
and funds are used for correctional facilities literature; special meetings or dinners, at which
a collection is taken; special cans at regular meetings, marked “For Correctional
Facilities Literature.”
Note: Correctional Facilities Discount Packages are
available from G.S.O.
SPONSORSHIP
Experience shows that even though an inmate may have been participating in a
group or meeting in a correctional facility, there is anxiety about the transition to a regular
A.A. group on the outside. With the constant reminder that A.A. has only sobriety to offer,
many committees do try to provide some additional personal contact, so this transition period
can be made easier.
Pre-parole activity is encouraged in some areas, and many committees work closely
with parole officers.
Sometimes, inmates are allowed to attend outside meetings in advance of their
parole. Through continual contact with parole officers, the committee can be given vital
statistics on all parolees coming into and leaving the area. The parolees are then contacted
immediately on arrival, and those going elsewhere are given contacts at their destinations
through the A.A. Directories.
The contact chairperson or group sponsor meets the inmate on release. Sponsorship
being the personal thing that it is, many areas have found it helpful to have inmates select
their own sponsors once contact with the outside has been made. The initial contacts do not
necessarily continue as sponsors, but do serve as a vital link between the prison and the
outside A.A. group.
NEWSLETTER
Sharing From Behind the Walls is a one-page newsletter for A.A. members
on the inside. It reflects anonymous sharing from inmate letters sent to G.S.O. This newsletter
is published quarterly and included in letters sent out by G.S.O. to inmates. It is available
upon request for use in A.A. correctional service.
RELATIONSHIP TO G.S.O.
G.S.O. lists correctional facilities chairpersons and committee members (U.S. and
Canada). The people on this mailing list are sent the following material:
- Box 4-5-9 — every two months
- Correctional Facilities Workbook (Chairperson)
- Sharing From Behind the Walls newsletter.
CORRESPONDENCE SERVICE
The Corrections Correspondence Service, coordinated through G.S.O., offers an
opportunity for A.A.s on the “outside” to share experience, strength, and hope
through letters with fellow members. Helpful guidelines for this service are provided to both
“inside” and “outside” A.A.s. You may write to G.S.O. to become a part
of this service.
An attractive flyer (F-26) describing this service is available from G.S.O. to
place in group literature racks.
Please keep in touch with us, so that we may share your activities in Box
4-5-9 and add your experience to our files, to help others who are involved in this
rewarding area of service.
from "A.A. Guidelines/Correctional Facilities
Committees" |
