An Alternative to Jail
Here's some news from Palatka, Florida. There, drug addicts and alcoholics are being given an alternative to jail. The article discusses three recent graduates of the Adult Drug Court program. By completing the Drug Court they were offered a solution. An alternative to serving jail time where there is little hope of recieving the tools necessary to recover. They have achieved sobriety and been given their freedom back after going through the structure of the Drug Court program. Many of Gatehouse's residents also experience the same freedom after completing the highly structured year long program as an alternative to jail.
“The point is to break the cycle,” Yingst said. “Once you begin treatment you begin to be given the tools that help."
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November 19th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Breaking the cycle is very important. For a very long time I wanted to stay sober but did not have the tools to be able to. Once someone took the time to teach me the tools a seed was planted. At first this seed did not grow but is was the beginning of a process that eventually after trail and error reaped many fruits of recovery. It was explained to me like this. If you take an army battalion and train them for a month the success rate is low. If you take the same battalion and train them for a year the success rate is dramatically higher. The point being is the more education one receives the better their chances are to live a long contented life in sobriety.
November 20th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I tried for five years to break my own cycle of addiction. I was facing prison time and was given the option of a year of treatment or five years in prison. I opted for a year of treatment. The year in treatment and the transition program after was what I needed to break my cycle of addiction. Gatehouse gave me the necessary tools to live a sober life. I can’t believe the direction my life has taken. I have been given the oppurtunity to work with people on a daily basis and have been given a career oppurtunity. I am more content now than I ever thought possible.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:17 am
In many instances criminal activity is the end result of drug abuse. Treating the cause, will eventually take care of the effect.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Having come to treatment I am really gratful that I was given the gift of AA and sober living skills, my best friend and running buddy is now serving 27 years in a state prison, I would most certainly be there with him if it were not for Gatehouse and AA.
December 10th, 2007 at 11:11 am
I myself spent a lot of time in jail, which compounded the guilt and shame feelings I already had. I didnt ever have much hope of ever getting sober with the jail time I had done, and I never had much hope of ever getting sober with these feelings and the continues cycle I involved myself in repeating the offenses that I was arrested for. I see long term treatment as hope for the young adults to have an opportunity of growth to change and become contributing members of society to help other people break the same process that they have been involved in, such as jail and drug addiction.
December 10th, 2007 at 11:14 am
What an opportunity!! I think that those who are presented with an alternative to jail have such a better chance at a better life. Chances are they have learned more (academically, socially, etc.) than they would have in jail along with learning the tools (as well as learning how to use them)to live a happy sober life.
December 10th, 2007 at 11:37 am
I came to Gatehouse as an alternative to jail myself. I owe everything I have today to Gatehouse and AA. Riding horses, making life long friends and getting a new way of living sure beats jail.
December 10th, 2007 at 11:51 am
After many years of drug and alcohol abuse and living a life of crime, my life suddenly came to a screeching halt. I was so wrapped up in my using that I disregarded everything around me. Nothing mattered, not my personal health and safety or family. The first moment of clarity is when I found myself locked up in LA County jail cell. I was looking at 10 years in a California state prison. This is when I came to the realization that I had screwed my life up by the poor decisions that I had made. By then I thought that it was too late and my life was over. The first miracle of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous that I experienced was getting me out of the situation that I had put myself in. One minute I was looking at going to prison and then next I found myself out of jail heading to Gatehouse Academy in Wickenburg, AZ. I was given one last chance at life. I started off with very little willingness to try something different. All I knew is that I didn’t want to go to prison. I could go on and on. Today I am just shy of being clean and sober for three years, have a wonderful family and a four month year old daughter that just melts my heart every time I look at her. I owe that to my higher power, AA, and Gatehouse Academy for having the patients to teach me a new way of life. For that I’m grateful!
December 10th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
The legal system can have a major influence in breaking the cycle. The reluctant alcoholic/addict tends to do very well when backed into a corner – that’s when many of us shine…when the chips are down!
I’ve seen many alcoholic/addicts over the years get sober through being court ordered to treatment and/or mandatory meeting attendance.
December 10th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Through my experiences when people commit crimes while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are not acting their true selves. And incarceration doesn’t solve the problem for those who are addicted to those substances. Treatment and the recovery process is necessary for life changing behaviors.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Being court ordered into the program at a younger age helped me in early recovery to be a bit more open minded to the program of AA. So when i saw my life going nowhere fast my early experience with the court system and AA showed me that there is a way out that isn’t jail, institution’s, or death. Being introduced to a community of people my age in a treatment center working to get sober was cool because for the first time in a long time i saw possibilitys for a better way of life.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:23 am
When I went to treatment, I was looking at spending 6 months to a 1 year in jail. I had already been to jail before and knew that it was not where I really wanted to be. I figured that I had nothing to lose, so I would just go to treatment. Once I got there, I realized that I didn’t want to go to jail that I wanted to try to get sober. I started honestly working the 12 steps and getting to know myself. I completed the program, and went back to court. When the judge saw me and saw the changes I had made, he looked at me and said “you still have some work to do, but you are not the same girl that I saw in my court room a year and a half ago.” I didnt have to serve the time in jail, and I thank AA for that. They showed me that I could be the girl I wanted to be, and not live in an active addiction.
December 11th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
In my experience, addicition is an emotional and mental prison in which the bars represent genetics, resentments, trauma, choices, behaviors, attitudes, and experiences.
I love the 12 Steps because they provide us with the key to get out of the cell and live in freedom. And the real beauty of the program is that we never have to give the key back. Sometimes freedom is terrifying after years in prison, but if we relapse and find ourselves back in the cell, all we have to do is reach through the bars, unlock the cell, and step back into the fellowship of recovery.
December 11th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
As a staff member at Gatehouse Academy, I’m struck by the parallels of being a resident at Gatehouse and being an inmate of a jail! In both places there is a dress code; both places are sometimes called “rehab,” and for the most part erroneously; and there are consequences for premature departures! Joking aside, one of the purposes of both :detainment centers” is to bring a person to the end of himself; the delusion of invincibility is common to both the criminal and the addict, and in both arenas one sees a desperate clinging to this lie. And in both cases one sees very poor judgment and a denial of the law of consequences – what one sows, one will reap. Our belief at Gatehouse, however, is that true rehabilitation – life change – happens at Gatehouse much more often than in jail, because we’re dealing with the whole person – body, soul, and spirit – rather than simple behavioral modification.
December 12th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Maricopa County(Phoenix)is priding itself with it’s new campaign for drinking and driving. They broadcast on the radio and TV that you will have your mug shot put on a web site if arrested for DWI.I wonder how much we would all benefit if the public was educated to the simple truths and strengths of AA the father of all 12 step programs. I consider it one of the bigger discoveries of my life
December 12th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I thought starting a family would get me sober but that was not the case. After going to five different treatment centers, in and out of jails, and making promises to the wife that I would change my ways was not enough. I kept trying to do it for the wife, kids, judges, and parents. I had to want do it for me. Like they say anything you put in front of your program you will eventually lose, and that was definitely true for me, I lost everything and I could not see much reason for living. I am facing 30 years in prison, going through a divorce, haven’t not seen my kids in a year, being sued for 1 million dollars, lost business, a house, my reputation and money. Then I decided to come to Gatehouse and now I’ve learned to put the tools of the program into action. I am happier today than I’ve been in a long time and have hope for the future. I guess you can say I’ve got my zest back for life. If it were not for this program I would be dead or in jail. I truly believe that my Higher Power led me to where I am today.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
One thing that is cool about recovery is that the majority of people who stay in the program do so by choice. Many of the oldtimers in recovery keep coming back because they like the results of being sober and want to carry that message to other people in recovery. I wish I could honestly say that I thought going to jail offers the same kind support but……..
December 13th, 2007 at 3:47 am
Looking back at the insanity that was my life, I am fortunate that I avoided jail time. My decision to attend Gate House Academy and commit to recovery prevented me from continueing the insane behaviors that would have led me to a jail sentence. I look at my recovery as having simply begun before I was forced by the courts to consider recovery, something that would have inevitably happened any way. It’s good to see that the legal system is granting people a chance to recover instead of serve jail time. Thos that take advantage of such an opportunity are people like myself, people that need that need the opportunity to learn about the disease they have, people that truly deserve that second chance.
December 13th, 2007 at 3:49 am
Looking back at the insanity that was my life, I am fortunate that I was able to avoid spending any time in jail. My decision to attend Gate House Academy and commit to recovery prevented me from continueing the insane behaviors that would have led me to a jail sentence. I look at my recovery as having simply begun before I was forced by the courts to consider recovery, something that would have inevitably happened any way. It’s good to see that the legal system is granting people a chance to recover instead of serve jail time. Those that take advantage of such an opportunity are people like mysel; people that need that need the opportunity to learn about the disease they have, people that truly deserve that second chance.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:14 am
I think drug court is nothing but drug education. I went to drug court at 18 and used the day I got out. It did not look at the real problem which was me and my behaviors which Gatehouse focuses on. I also did not want to quit at the time. I had to want something different and then work on the real problem which was not the drugs. Gatehouse helped me to see that and tackle it.
December 14th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
When a legally motivated addict lets go of the fear that getting honest will take them back or keep them in jail, they begin to feel the inner freedom that comes from living honestly. Living in that fear keeps us locked up tight in the Prison inside of us, and surrendering to recovery sets us free, even when locked in a cell…
December 15th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I am very grateful that I was given the chance to go to treatment at the age of 26. I had been to jail before and Juvenile hall a couple of times and it didn’t seem to help for more than a couple of days. Fear sobered me for a bit, but couldn’t keep me sober for good, I had to find a new way of life through character building and finding a healthy set of values to live by. I received the needed help for that at Gatehouse. They provided me with the prospect of a principle centered life that I would want to live, a real solution through a 12-step recovery process that has proven itself to work in even the roughest of times, not just when “everything is going great”. Even when everything in my world appears to be going wrong, I have the hope to trust that if I follow the right path and persevere that thing’s will work themselves out for the better over time, and the insight to see that life is great right now.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Well for me I ended up coming to rehab because there was a choice given to me, “either you go to rehab or you go to the street.” For me I knew what the street would entail, I would immediately have to pick up an extremely criminalistic lifestyle in order to support the habit I had been using my parents to support for years. So knowing that that would inevitably kill me or have me locked away for what would more than likely an extended period of time, I chose to come to Gatehouse Academy. almosty 11 months later I have to say that this has been the best decision I have ever made in my life. I just finished my third workshop with my parents and I think that my relationship with them is not only healed but is now in a position to be better than it ever has been before. will never be together
January 25th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
When I first read the information about this place I had know idea how it was going to turn out. It had to be better than prison, so I took the first step admitting that I needed help. This program gives you tools you need to keep this disease under control. My faith has increased tremendous because I now have a god in my life today, and thats something I never had before. You just need a little willingness to get started.