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The Celebrate Recovery program stresses Bible study and self-reflection to resolve addictions and anger
By Zack Southwell
From Dec 2010
Thanks to the efforts of John Grigson and Celebrate Recovery, 40 women at the Louisiana Transitional Center for Women in Tallulah graduated the faith-based program Tuesday. "I don't normally work with women," Grigson said. "But these ladies were wonderful." Grigson said the graduates worked with the program for six months. "I'm very happy to see this positive change in them," Grigson said. He said unlike most graduates of the Celebrate Recovery program, Tuesday's graduates wore the caps and gown, common at high school and college graduations. The Celebrate Recovery program stresses Bible study and self-reflection to resolve addictions and anger. It offers graduates a chance to lead others through the program and tries to find support groups among churches. The program has locally joined with churches like White's Ferry Road Church of Christ and First Baptist Church of West Monroe to continue Bible studies. Additionally, inmates receive advice on employment applications and get connected with job placement companies like Willstaff.
Celebrate Recovery was founded in 1991 by the Rev. John Baker of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. The goal is to overcome habits like sex disorders and drug addictions with a 12-step program based on Christian principles. Other churches and some prisons implemented the program, and as of March 2004, more than 150,000 people are said to have participated. "It definitely puts a smile on our faces, to see them feel a sense of hope," Grigson said. "It's a good thing to know these women have a positive place they can go and get help." Grigson said 136 inmates have already signed up for the next program set to begin Jan. 3. He said some of the 40 graduates will remain as teachers. "That's the goal of the program, to spread the Good Word," Grigson said. "This is some rare good news in light of the holiday season."
Grigson said the graduates were able to shave some time off their sentence by taking part in the program. Copyright 2010 The News Star used by permission
…And From Feb 2011 According to the Sheriff's Office, 85 percent of prisoners released from Ouachita Correctional Center will return within five years. Out4Life brings together a diverse group of community stakeholders, including representatives of faith-based organizations, state agencies, corrections, community-based organizations, victim's advocacy groups, and the business community. More than half of the nation's prison population is destined to return to jail after release. The national average for three-year recidivism stands at 51.4 percent according to 1994 figures from the Bureau of Justice. It's worse in Ouachita Parish. According to the Sheriff's Office, 85 percent of prisoners released from Ouachita Correctional Center will return within five years.Advocates for prison programs say they are hard at work to curtail the area's recidivism ratee. Celebrate Recovery, active at the Richwood Correctional Center, is dedicated to infusing inmates with a spiritual aspect that may not have existed before. However, the program also is structured to teach them more than the word of God. Celebrate Recovery is a 12-step, faith-based program to prepare prisoners for life beyond walls and barbed wire. The program stresses Bible study and self-reflection to resolve addictions and anger. It offers graduates a chance to lead others through the program and tries to find support groups among churches. The program has locally joined with churches like White's Ferry Road Church of Christ and First Baptist Church of West Monroe to continue Bible studies. Additionally, inmates receive advice on employment applications and get connected with job placement companies like Willstaff Crystal. Celebrate Recovery was founded in 1991 by the Rev. John Baker of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., with the goal of overcoming habits like sex disorders and drug addictions with a 12-step program based on Christian principles. Other churches and some prisons implemented the program, and as of March 2004, more than 150,000 people are said to have participated. On Feb. 3, 78 inmates at Richwood Correctional Center graduated from the program. Local program supervisor John Grigson said the participants are required to complete certain exercises between sessions, like homework. "There are six lessons in our workbook," Grigson said. "At the end of each lesson, our guys have to answer the questions in the back." Grigson said the group also must adhere to five core guidelines stated explicitly in the workbook:
- Keep your sharing focused on your own thoughts, feelings and actions.
- There is NO cross talk.
- We are here to support one another, not "fix".
- Anonymity and confidentiality are basic requirements.
- Offensive language has no place in a Christ-centered recovery group.
- These lesson are enforced, as well as the rules the prison has for the inmates.
"We don't take that lightly," Grigson said. "If we find out they have broken a prison rule, we can kick them out of the group, if it's necessary." While the program has not been implemented at RCC long enough to determine its effect on recidivism, program leaders are optimistic about its potential. After the most recent graduating "class," Grigson said 150 more have signed up to take part in the next session. So far, 207 inmates, both men and women, have graduated the program since 2009 and more than 1,200 are signed up at the various facilities Celebrate Recovery is in. Billy McConnell, managing director for LaSalle Management, which owns and operates RCC, said the program has been in place since 2009 and has made a significant mark with the inmates. "It's had a good impact in that prison personnel are having to fill out less disciplinary reports about the inmates," McConnell said. "The inmates know they need to behave to get into the program." Clovis Tillery, warden for RCC, said he has seen a dramatic change in the attitude of the inmates in the program. "It's been very positive," Tillery said. "There is more discipline, and there are more inmates wanting into the program." Another program instituted to curb recidivism is Out4Life. In February 2008, Prison Fellowship launched its nationwide Out4Life campaign with a conference in Shreveport and established regional centers in the state including Monroe. Woods Watson, a pastor at First Baptist Church in West Monroe and facilitator with the Northeast Louisiana Regional Reentry Task Force, said one reason the group focused on Louisiana is the state's peculiar problems with incarceration. Even in the U.S., which leads the world in jailing its population according to the Pew Center on the States, Louisiana is an extreme case. One out of every 55 residents is behind bars in Louisiana, a higher rate than any other state according, to Pew research. Even as funding prisons has devoured state budgets faster than anything except Medicaid, Louisiana outspends the average. Out of every taxpayer's dollar sent to the state, the Department of Corrections estimates 36 cents goes to housing and feeding prisoners, who contribute little to the state economy and will probably return behind bars after release. Out4Life brings together a diverse group of community stakeholders, including representatives of faith-based organizations, state agencies, corrections, community-based organizations, victim's advocacy groups, and the business community. These groups then discuss how to coordinate re-entry efforts in their state. Out4Life calls for the creation of coalitions that will provide pre-release, day-of-release, and post-release programming and mentoring to prisoners enrolled in the program. Pearl Wise, probation and parole supervisor for Monroe's district, said the Department of Corrections recognizes the seriousness of the state's incarceration levels. She cited the support DOC offered Out-4-Life from its beginning at the Shreveport conference and said the agency shares the program's vision of fixing the broken model of prisoner re-entry. The major reasons parole officers send parolees to prison are violations caused by lack of resources, according to Wise. In September 2009, the Northeast Louisiana Regional Re-entry Task Force brought together local churches, law enforcement, state agencies, community-based organizations and businesses to consider what released prisoners need to stay out. They found jobs, a secure place to stay and support services were the most important factors in keeping someone from succumbing to old appetites and habits. Matters that free society takes for granted, such as the location of the food stamp office, a government-issued identification or transportation, can make it difficult to find employment, and even then most jobs are often with restaurants or fast food chains that pay minimum wage. If $7.25 per hour isn't enough to meet parole fees, restitution, alimony, transportation and room and board, a released prisoner's old lucrative but illegal ways of getting money can begin to look more attractive. By February 2010, the task force had adopted a comprehensive strategy to address jobs, homes and support services for the newly released. The strategy contains specific benchmarks in improving access to services such as transportation, mental health. drug screenings, mentoring and education. The task force has partnered with Freedmen Inc. and other groups that provide jobs and rooms to former prisoners. Members of the task force meet at least every month to review how they're developing community resources and proven ways to keep released prisoners from reverting. The group's ultimate dream, according to Watson, would be a northeastern Louisiana re-entry center where every released prisoner could get help. Copyright 2011 The News Star used by permission
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