Inmate Weekly Recovery Fellowship Initiative
MARSHALL COUNTY — Several individuals committed to recovery have united to participate in a weekly recovery fellowship initiative at the Marshall County Correctional Facility. Rick
Dixon, Douglas Griffith and Brian Tapia started their own 12-step program in the spring of 2020. They meet with each other weekly to hold themselves accountable to themselves and each other.
Program Director Joshua Pitts, who supervises and facilitates the Jail Chemical Addictions Program (JCAP) at the jail, provided some additional literature for the gentlemen to assist them further with their journey. “I gave them literature once I started working here to help them along but other than that these men have taken the initiative to help themselves.”
Pitts expressed respect for their personal commitment to their recovery and healing. “I think it is great that these men took the initiative to help themselves and continue to do so. I respect the work they put in to retrain themselves to think differently which in turn will help them to behave differently when they leave here. I also think effort like this should be applauded because it takes effort like this for men and women who struggle with addiction to find success in Recovery. The follow through and accepting of personal responsibility of holding oneself accountable can go a long way in maintaining recovery once someone leaves our jail. I am proud of these men for sticking to their strict schedule of three days per week, no excuses. They sit down and put the work in to better themselves.”
Information released by the Office of the Indiana of the Attorney General illustrates through a study conducted by Indiana University on more than 800 participants served from 2007 to 2019 that 63% of JCAP participants are low-level felons and less than 20% of JCAP graduates commit new crimes.
Pitts said, “These statistics are important for people to see. Jail programs like ours make a difference; in our community, in our participants and in their families.”
Tapia was inspired to start the program while reading from the Twelve Step Devotional in his Life Recovery Bible. Read his original writing “Powerless and Unmanageable” on page A4 in this edition of the Pilot News.