Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., New York, NY
A.A. IN PRISON INMATE TO INMATE
Copyright © 1991, 2008 by
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Mail Address:
Box 459
Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163
First printing, September 1991
Revised 2006
Eighth printing, August 2014
www.aa.org
This is A.A. General Service
Conference-approved literature.
Alcoholics Anonymous®, and A.A.® are registered trademarks of A.A. World Services, Inc.
ISBN 978-1-934149-64-5
eISBN: 978-1-940889-91-7
Printed in the United States of America.
The following stories are copyrighted © by the AA Grapevine, Inc., and are reprinted here, adapted and abridged, with permission: Slay the Dragon; My Name is Helen; No Longer a Phony; Suddenly the Program Came Alive; Freedom; Nice Jewish Girls don’t go to Prison; From the Inside Out; On the Jailhouse Floor; How to Make it on the Street; Between the Lines; Not Bad for a Redneck from Mississippi; Adding Up the Score; A Thing Called Hope; Ernest C., the Coffeepot, and Me; Coming Home.
The original versions of these stories are available from the Grapevine office or the Digital Archive at www.aagrapevine.org.
Alcoholics Anonymous® is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self- supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
Copyright by the A.A. Grapevine;
reprinted with permission.
FOREWORD
The stories in the first edition of this book originally appeared in the A.A. Grapevine, A.A.’s international monthly magazine. In this second edition we’ve updated the book by adding new stories – some from the A.A. Grapevine and others sent directly to us from members. In this book inmates tell these personal stories of the miracle of recovery. Each found freedom and hope from alcoholism’s devastating disease through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. These A.A.s share their experience with you in the hope you will identify with their problem, and that you gain the strength through the Twelve Steps, fellowship and tools of the A.A. program to join them on the road to recovery—physically, mentally and spiritually—from alcoholism. For more about A.A., you can read the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, our basic text where you will find our program of recovery.
Perhaps our co-founder described this miracle best:
“I have seen hundreds of families set their feet in the path that really goes somewhere; have seen the most impossible domestic situations righted; feuds and bitterness of all sorts wiped out. I have seen men come out of asylums and resume a vital place in the lives of their families and communities. There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us.”
Co-founder Bill W.
In “Bill’s Story”
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 15
CONTENTS
Slay the Dragon Soul Searching Dear Mac Brief History My Name Is Helen No Longer a Phony The One Prayer that Really Mattered School of Hard Knocks Suddenly the Program Came Alive Freedom Nice Jewish Girls Don’t Go To Prison From the Inside Out On the Jailhouse Floor Miracles Happen Saved from Herself How to Make It on the Street Freedom Is a State Of Mind Between the Lines Not Bad for a Redneck from Mississippi Adding Up the Score A Thing Called Hope Five Simple Actions Ernest C, The Coffeepot and Me Coming Home Jump Right In Life Is Good The Twelve Steps The Twelve Traditions
SLAY THE DRAGON
I had been a “guest” of New York State’s Department of Corrections three times in three years. Each time they released me, I was never ”ready to face the world.” Far from it. Prison was no teacher to this A.A. My only “lesson plan” was feeling shame and dirty. That was normal to a victim of incest.
I first came into the Fellowship in 1988. I was 36 years old. I had no criminal record yet. I had felt I was an alcoholic after taking my first drink. After my first A.A. meeting, I could no longer deny it. I was grateful. I believed I had finally come home. The speaker at that meeting told my story. That was my first spiritual experience in the program.
With the speaker’s help, I went to a treatment center the next day. I had no idea that treatment meant leaving my twin sons, age five. I would be gone for the next four months. If I had known that, I would not have gone. But as I look back, I think it was a very good thing that I didn’t know.
With the help of A.A. and God’s grace, I stayed sober for six years. My issues with incest were put on the back burner. The first five years,