ACI Hosts First Ever Recovery Rallies Behind Walls

An inmate identified as Tiffany stood before correctional officers, officials and other inmates and said she has lost family, children and friends due to her incarceration.

“I’ve missed a lot of my son’s life,” she said, her voice beginning to quake. “When I first came in he was two and now he’s going to be 18.”

She and about 30 other women of various ages and colors streamed into a function room in the at the on Thursday, all wearing the same blue prison uniform.

The women all had one thing in common, besides the uniforms: they are all in recovery for drug and alcohol addiction.

And they all know that the same vehicle that brought them to prison is most likely going to come to pick them up when they finally get released.

Without recovery, the odds of coming back to the ACI and facing more years away from friends, family and children, is much higher.

That’s why they gathered together for this emotional, joyful ceremony on a day marked by clear blue skies behind the windows and each inmate’s solemn pledge to keep trying to stay in recovery. That pledge took the physical form of a recovery tree upon which each inmate pressed her own paper leaf.

The event was a Rally for Recovery, part of thousands of rallies across the world in September in recognition of National Recovery Month. Rallies have been hosted by the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals and the Rhode Island Recovery Month Coalition.

What’s unique about the rallies at the Department of Corrections is the fact that they’re happening at all. Rhode Island is the first state known to host rallies behind prison walls.  One was held at the John J. Moran men’s medium security facility on Sept. 13 and two were held at the men’s minimum security facility on Sept. 14. These events were so successful, two more were planned for the women’s facilities. A total of five were celebrated within the confines of the ACI campus.

The rallies have been led in part by Jim Gillen, director of Anchor Recovery Center, who played a native American flute as the women took turns with a glue stick and reaching one-by-one into the branches of the tree to set their leaves into place.

Roberta Richman, associate director of the Department of Corrections, said the 10 years she worked at the ACI's women's facility as a warden were “the most painful, but the most beautiful 10 years of my life.”

She still gets letters from women who have since returned to their everyday lives. Some have hung on, stayed in recovery, and bring her the satisfaction of knowing that some of the women who come to jail feeling broken are now living good lives.

“Recovery is not a one time event,” Richman said. “It’s a lifetime event. It’s an opportunity to think about who you are and try to become your best self.”

When the women get out of jail, Richman urged the inmates to take the right step and stick with recovery, despite the temptations, urges and external forces that are sometimes beyond your control.

“Meet your sponsor, go to the people who truly love you, your mothers, your husbands, someone who will truly look after you.”

It is critical upon release to reach out to the support network that exists for not just recovering former inmates, but everyone in the journey of recovery. Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous, places like the Anchor House, where people in recovery can hang out, share stories, shoot pool, have fun. It is true that it’s easier getting through something when you’ve got people around you in the same situation.

Donna Collins, deputy warden, told the inmates that she was recently walking out of the building at the end of the work day shortly before taking off for a vacation. She happened to be walking out at just the same moment an inmate was getting released.

“She looked healthy, she looked happy,” Collins said. “I thought she was about to break out into a cheerleader routine” right there in the parking lot.

But when that car came to pick her up, it was the car that brought her there in the first place, Collins said.

“That woman is no longer with us,” Collins said, her voice wavering. “I don’t want to see that again.”

Wardens and COs they may be, at that moment, every uniform being worn in the room became irrelevant. It was a room of women, mothers and daughters, all aware that there was help, love and support available through recovery.

Another inmate identified as Tiffany said she was grateful for recovery because it allowed her to find her higher power, giving her the chance to “find my potentials and put them on display,” she said.

“The best thing I got was a foundation and a network.”

Leona, sobbing at first, spoke with a raw urgency.

“I’m going to continue to do this not just for me, but for my family,” she said.  

According to a release, National Recovery Month is an initiative of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), within the Department of Health and Human Services. The goal of this initiative is to increase the understanding of behavioral health and reinforce the message that prevention works, treatment is effective, and people can and do recover.  A large public rally was held at Roger Williams Memorial Park on Sept. 10, to kick off National Recovery Month in Rhode Island. Last year, BHDDH won the 2010 Recovery Month Annual Event Award for its public rally in recognition of exceptional efforts to expand the breadth and reach of National Recovery Month in 2010. Director Craig Stenning traveled to Washington, D.C. on Sept. 8 to accept the honor.

Stenning on Thursday said attending the rallies is the best part of his job. As a co-founder of CODAC and director for about 20 years, “this is the work I love,” he said.

“For some of you, this might be your first step,” Stenning said. “Thank you."