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CHRISTMAS BEHIND BARS

If anyone knew what it was like to have Christmas behind bars, they would realize that drug treatment might be the best holiday gift they could give to a loved one. After interviewing two clients who have spent a few Christmases in prison for drugs, I decided it is something I wouldn't wish on anyone, except perhaps the most wanton of criminals. Few people deserve a Christmas behind bars.

This is the way one client described his experience. "I saw grown men cry when they heard the Christmas carols piped into the hallway while they were sitting in their 8X 10 cell. The carols were a reminder, that if we all had made other choices, we could be with our families, not in our cells. We knew our families were probably thinking the same thing. We realized we had ruined too many Christmases for ourselves and others and that added to the feeling of being punished."

For those with long sentences, the Christmas carols were reminders that the best Christmases were in the past, and since New Years resolutions rarely work in prison the future was not too good.

"I was in prison because I was an addict. Even though the prison walls kept me away from my family on Christmas, they didn't prevent me from continuing to use alcohol and drugs, and I had plenty of both while I was there.

"Drugs were routinely brought in by the prison staff. Certain inmates would get to know some of the guards who would help set up the drug deals. Dealers were both inside and outside of the prison. The guards just helped make it happen. We paid for the drugs through trading cigarettes or cash smuggled into us. Sometimes friends on the outside would take money to dealers who would make sure the drugs were delivered inside. There was no drug testing unless an inmate caught with drugs.

"Before I went to prison, I rationalized that I was using the drugs and alcohol to celebrate Christmas. In prison I was using drugs and alcohol to dull the pain. Either way, I was addicted and needed help. The only difference in my drug use was where I was using the drugs. I didn't get better by being locked up and I don't think society was any better. The dealers were still running free and delivering drugs. They were creating more future prison inhabitants. In a way, addicts are fodder for this crazy system. It seems that a lot of people are making money off of this set up the dealers, the lawyers and the people who build and run the prisons. The addicts feed the system and they are the ones who for the most part suffer at Christmas. It is true that we were guilty, but there must be a better way to handle this situation.

"Only after being rehabilitated for real with a workable treatment program, did I start to have Merry Christmases.

"The world is better only because I had treatment, not because I spent time in prison.

"Families should get their loved ones into treatment before they get into the prison system. What is a life worth? I had to learn the hard way that life is not worth much if one is imprisoned by bars or drugs.

"Now life is valuable to me. Every Christmas is drug free and special. I hope that through my example and my work with addicts I can help others achieve the same."

Working at Narconon of Georgia has given me the opportunity to help many people break out of the cycle of addiction and get a new life. This is the answer needed to this deteriorating problem in society.

Learn more about this author, Mary Rieser.
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