The ISO prisoner outreach program was developed more than twenty years ago in response to requests for SAA literature from members of the fellowship who were incarcerated. Initially, the program was primarily focused on connecting a member of the fellowship with a prisoner to offer personal support and encouragement. Literature was provided at no charge to the prisoners. It was generally suggested that the prisoner work the Twelve Steps of SAA as best they could.
In recent years, while literature is still available to prisoners at no cost, more emphasis has been placed on sponsoring prisoners and helping them work the twelve steps by correspondence. Since there is no one right way to work the steps, several different approaches are made available, so the letter writers/sponsors may choose the one that they find most useful.
The Prisoner Outreach Committee assists the ISO office with program development and expansion. As a result, the program has broadened to include providing information to key prison officials and actively offering to support face-to-face meetings inside prisons. In response to the pandemic, meetings by videoconferencing have been successfully introduced and may offer additional opportunities for supporting SAA recovery in prisons.
Prisoners may request SAA literature and assignment to a letter writer/sponsor by contacting the ISO office in Houston. Family members or friends who feel that a prisoner might benefit from SAA should suggest that the prisoner contact the ISO at PO Box 70949, Houston, TX, 77270-0949, for more information.
At the present time, the prisoner outreach program is limited to the United States, but members of the fellowship in other countries are exploring how similar programs might be implemented in their various homelands.
Members of SAA who wish to become a letter writer/sponsor will find guidelines and additional information on the ISO service website and may submit an online request on this page.
For more information on writing to prisoners, watch the video below:
Watch and share our video about writing to prisoners.
