Eastern Region Corrections Committee (ERCC) of Alcoholics Anonymous
Carrying the AA Message into a Correctional Facility can provide just that!
Excerpt from a letter that our co-founder Bill W. wrote to a prison group in 1949:
Every A.A. has been, in a sense, a prisoner. Each of us has walled himself out of
society; each has known social stigma. The lot of you folks has been even more
difficult: In your case, society has also built a wall around you. But there isn’t any
real essential difference, a fact that practically all A.A.s now know. Therefore,
when you members come into the world of A.A. on the outside, you can be sure
that no one will care a fig that you have done time. What you are trying to
be—not what you were—is all that counts with us. Reprinted from (Corrections
Workbook p.7) with permission of AA World Services Inc.
How fortunate we are to have AA meetings to attend around the clock. These
days it is so simple to go to meetings in person or online. Think of the
convenience of attending online meetings, modem to modem in the comfort of
our own home.
Just go to AA Meetings up next hit join meeting and you’re in. This is not the case
for alcoholics who suffer from alcoholism who are currently incarcerated in a
Correctional Facility in NSW or the ACT.
When I was drunk my behaviour was often disgustingly and dangerously anti-
social.
I could have easily ended up incarcerated, but I did not, I found my way into AA
via a Treatment Facility not a Correctional Facility.
Recovery in AA has awakened my spirit, many opportunities to serve have come
my way. Carrying the AA message into a Correctional Facility can provide a
unique experience and the possibilities for spiritual growth abound.
Recently while taking an AA Meeting into the South Coast Correctional Facility in
Nowra via an online platform provided such an experience for another dedicated
member and myself. AA Meetings restarted in the facility (after lots of
interruptions due to COVID) online for the inmates there in March 2022. For
several weeks no inmates showed up. Undeterred we persisted and a trickle of
alcoholics began to attend. Over a period of many months the little meeting
grew. We are now regularly getting about 10 alcoholics attending each Friday
with two AA members joining the meeting online. We currently have a roster of
only four AA members. Lots of AA literature has been provided, Big Books, 12
Steps and 12 Traditions, Daily Reflections and specific AA literature for prison
inmates.
In our meetings we have been reading short passages from the Big Book and also
referencing the 12 Traditions and the various liberties and freedoms they provide for our
great Fellowship.
Recently at the end of a meeting the inmates announced they have started their own
meeting on a Monday with the help of Corrective Services staff. As we closed with the
Serenity Prayer at the end of that meeting and the dedicated inmates folded up their
meeting banners and waved farewell until next Friday, one of the inmates held up his
copy of the big book Alcoholics Anonymous to the camera in their meeting room, and
with a broad smile announced his freedom. What started off as a small meeting on
Friday has now become an AA Group. The inmates held their own Group Conscience
and have decided to call their group the jAAil Group of Alcoholics Anonymous.
I realised in that moment that patience achieves all things and that indeed God always
shows up when we carry the AA message from the heart, and here was his love flowing
out from the broad smile of a grateful alcoholic who had just found freedom. I could feel
the tears welling up from deep down within.
When carrying the AA message into a Correctional Facility we share experience,
strength and hope with other alcoholics as we do at any A.A. meeting on the “outside.”
Having prison experience is not a prerequisite – sobriety in A.A. is. Inmates are more
interested in learning how we got and stayed sober through A.A.’s Twelve Steps, rather
than hearing about time we may have spent in prison. Reprinted from (Corrections
Workbook p.7) with permission of AA World Services Inc.
If you are looking for a new experience in AA, and are willing to make a commitment to
this work, maybe carrying the AA message into a Correctional Facility may provide just
that! You can discuss your suitability with your Area Correctional Facility Coordinator.
Area Correctional Facility Coordinators in Eastern Region (NSW and ACT) currently
attend monthly online meetings of the Eastern Region Corrections Committee (ERCC).
In 2023 ERCC Online Meetings will be held at 8.00pm on the first Tuesday of each
month. All interested AA members are welcome. The ERCC provides access to a raft of
AA resources specific to Corrections work and supports Areas and individual AA
Members to navigate through the Corrective Services authorisation process in NSW and
the ACT so AA members can be granted clearance to visit Correctional Centres across
Eastern Region. Many AA Corrections resources, information, current clearance
paperwork and relevant AA Conference approved literature can be found on our web
page: https://members.aa.org.au/eastern-regional-nsw-corrections-kit/
You will need to have an account and be logged in to view the resources.
There are also several Community Corrections Offices found across Eastern Region
which provide other possibilities to carry the AA message through AA information
sessions for alcoholics on probation or parole, AA presentations to Corrective Services
Staff or providing AA literature, contact information and local meetings lists.
Let’s Be Friendly with Our Friends in Corrective Services.
Any questions please contact:
Mark S ERCC Secretary
[email protected]
