Glowing and Smiling in Prison

One of our friends-in-prison, Raphael S., who has had two articles over the last couple of years in ESSAY, started an SA meeting in Virginia State Prison. He is sponsoring another fellow. It’s meaningful for them to be part of the fellowship although they are incarcerated.

James has only been in the program since around September of last year after Raphael started the meeting on his pod in prison. There were five guys but all fell away from the meeting/fellowship except for these two men in their pod. I visited them recently. I technically only visited Raphael but greeted James with my eyes because of security protocols etc. They are working a good recovery program, connecting with SA members on the outside who write to them.

I have emailed Raphael (through JPAY) the next several topics in ESSAY. To visit him is always worth the all day commute etc. It was easy to pick out the two SA members in the prison visitors center because they were both glowing and smiling, as the visitors entered the room of 12 or so inmates.

 Not Alone Anymore

My name is James D., I am 21 years old and a grateful recovering sexaholic. I am the youngest out of three boys and all my life I struggled with abuse from my brothers up until I was 15 and I could fight back. Going through this abuse caused a glitch in my mind that led to a growth defect that I had until I was 17.

At the age of 13 my parents got divorced and I got blamed for it by my brothers, so I ended up with stress and depression. The way I dealt with this stress and depression is I acted out and I continued to act out every day multiple times to release the built up depression and stress.

When I turned 17 I moved into a friend’s house. He also ended up being my boss at work. Life turned upside down instantly. Good looking females came over every day for a long time. Sometimes they didn’t leave for a few days because my friend/boss was a drug head. I ended up lusting over ladies I didn’t know because my mind would go straight to that. My acting out got really bad and eventually landed me in jail with some time hanging over my head.

Incarceration brought the worst case of acting out. I would act out non-stop every day all day to the point I got sick. My life was unmanageable at the time and still is today. I declared powerlessness over lust and haven’t looked back because I know the second I look back I will fall and hit the ground running for the only solution I know, which is to act out.

Since I have been in lock up from January 28, 2022 until now I have learned that I can’t get sober alone. I need some Higher Power to pull me through the tight places and keep me sober. Having a fellow SA member here with me in my pod, I became officially sober on November 29, 2023 and the experience is great! Knowing I’m not alone is exhilarating. I’m sober today by the grace of God and the help of my sponsor. My release date from prison is July 17, 2027 as of right now, but that may change.