I have to kind of wonder about the effectiveness of AA programs in prison, particularly when they are not optional. AA can be very helpful and the meetings are great, but let's be honest for a second here. Most of these men are not drinking not because they have recovered, but because, well, they're in prison!

What do you think? Does AA have a place in prison?

have found them helpful. They meet other people who are in the mindset not to drink, and they have something to do other than lie around on their bunks. And since it isn't too difficult to drink while incarcerated, they DO serve a practical purpose in helping some to avoid the pruno when it's available. :o Also, they may hear things that others say that help them clarify their own issues. I think like for the meetings on the outside, it depends on the attitude of the person who is attending the meetings, and if they are open to receiving the message and thinking about their addiction; the meetings are helpful. Last, although they might not show any benefit from attending at this particular moment in time, it may be that somewhere down the road, what a person has heard or learned at a meeting may be helpful to them.:o

One of the last thing said at meetiings, in or out, is "Keep coming!" If one creates the habit, a network, then it's always worth the chance that it might stick. Besides, what's the alternative?

I agree with everyone else. My husband, I hope is sincere with his AA. But you have to want it, for it to work. He tried years before & did'nt really try to make it work. Now things are different. He told me he was giving his very first lead last week.

Laura

My man (@ Bellamy Creek in MI) just found out that there is no AA for level 4's and we are both devastated. We have both been in recovery for several years and have thrived because of AA. No AA is like no cardiac medicine for someone who almost died from a heart attack. AA not only keeps willing participants sober, but it keeps us SANE. AA and the 12 steps teaches new ways to think about and cope with problems; getting clean is just the first part of it. That said; now I have to find out how to get my man some AA in Michigan's level IV prisons! Any suggestions?

Saylah - if you and he have been around AA that long, then ask the prison admin about an informal meeting - he and a few others can just do a meeting themselves!

One thought: try alcoholicsanonymous.com--I believe they have some resources for "isolated AAs". The General Services Office will do some work with prisoners via snail mail--you can reach them at AA World Services Inc., P.O. Box 459, New York, NY. 10163. At the very least they can send literature and the like which he should be able to receive.

If the prison administration will not allow anyone to have a meeting, it might be worth looking into some other recovery programs that do not rely on meetings (I have mentioned Rational Recovery elsewhere, and there are others). And both of you need to remember: you've both got the tools gained from AA. Not being able to get to meetings for a while is no excuse for not using them!

One of the greatest men I ever knew, who was also my boyfriend, got sober on the mainline in San Quentin through AA and helped hundreds of people after that. He died of a heart attack 13 years later. I'd say it has a place in prison, yes. That's an understatement. And it's not about whether or not they are putting actual alcohol into their bodies while locked up; it's about a frame of mind and choices made and choices not made due to alcohol. It's a much larger picture when you really think about it. I hope that makes sense, I am brand new on here and want only to be helpful and learn! Thanks.