THE 12 STEPS

Thursday
January 3, 2013

I do a lot of work with some of my fellow inmates, trying to help them prepare for their parole hearings, and hopefully, their eventual release. While these guys are different races, spanning all walks of life, most of them share a surprising number of similarities, one of which is an addiction to drugs and/or alcohol. While this isn't an addiction I've suffered myself, I've worked with enough addicts to have better than a basic understanding of some of the things they're going through, and how the steps work. This comes in quite handy, as one of the most commonly asked questions is how does an inmate go about making amends, which is one of the steps in the 12-Step program, particularly when his victim is dead as the result of the inmate's actions. While there's no easy answer to this question, let alone a "one size fits all" solution, there are some basic things which can help someone in this situation, things which I've incorporated into an essay, which follows this introduction.

I drew my inspiration from a very dear friend. For years now, he's been working to help others progress through a 12-Step program, and during this time, he's written a number of essays and articles himself. One of them was about how to make amends when the people you wanted to make amends to didn't want anything to do with you. After reading his essay, I started thinking that maybe I needed to write something for the guys I've been helping, guys who WANT to make amends, but can't, because they killed their victim(s). The following is what I came up with, and I hope that it serves as inspiration for others.

As always, if anyone has any questions about anything I've written, or just wants to exchange letters for the pure pleasure of it, I can be reached at the address below. You can also follow me on Facebook.

Shawn L. Perrot CDCR# V-42461
CMC-East Cell# 6326
P.O. Box 8101
San Luis Obispo, CA 93409-8101