Mutual Aid in Prison

Since Synanon House set itself up in Santa Monica four and a half years ago as a mutual self-help cure station for drug addicts, it has seen its fame spread across the country. And for good reason. Addicts given intensive treatment at special federal hospitals have a relapse rate as high as 90%; Synanon, which models itself on Alcoholics Anonymous and uses ex-addicts to give junkies the support and understanding they need to kick the habit and stay clean, has cut the relapse rate to as low as 20%.

Most striking outpost for the addicts' mutual-aid method is Nevada State Prison. Authorities invited Founder Charles E. Dederich. 49 (never a drug addict himself, but a graduate of A.A.), to set up Synanon's system in the cell blocks and maximum freedom honor camp at Peavine, northwest of Reno. The result has been an unexpected bonus. Not only is Synanon taking hold with 18 addicts, but because the same personality weaknesses that drive some people to narcotics are also present in many nonaddict prisoners, the Synanon program at Nevada now covers twice as many convicts with no addiction history.

The Unconnables. At the prison, Warden Jack Fogliani has set aside a whole tier of cells for Synanon. Occupying it are men who normally would be under maximum security. Yet this tier is the only one in which the cells are left unlocked at night. Each 4-ft. by 8-ft. cubicle is spick-and-span. On the walls, instead of calendar nudes, are reproductions of Van Gogh and art work done by the inmates. Neither Fogliani nor the prison guard captain visits the Synanon tier unless invited.

"Punishment is not the answer, nor keeping a man locked up," says Warden Fogliani. "These Synanon people can approach the convicts in a way that we can't. They've been at the bottom of the barrel, too, so other convicts listen to them. It's the voice of experience." Bill Crawford, one of the Synanon leaders who moved to Reno, and an ex-addict himself, goes further: "The prisoners suddenly found they were with guys who, like themselves, have conned people--and therefore can't be conned by the prisoners."

Socrates in the Cells. Synanon depends heavily on group therapy, and it insists on a tough regime. Since both addict and nonaddict cons have made lying a way of life, absolute truthfulness is demanded. Any hedging, any attempt to shift the blame for their plight to others, is ruthlessly torn apart within the group. Even foul language is banned, because it might snowball into a rumble. And the ultimate punishment is expulsion from the program. But in return, Synanon gives the addict, often for the first time, a sense of belonging to a group. Instead of a "fix," it offers, by the example of the ex-addict leaders, hope that a cure is possible. And because the group governs and disciplines itself, it gives the addicts and other convicts a jolt of self-respect.

Often the starting point for hope is a timeworn epigram that is chalked on a slate, such as Socrates' "All I know is that I know nothing," or Emerson's "Discontent is the want of self-reliance." From there the prisoners take it on their own, analyzing themselves and one another. But the strongest prompting toward cure is the living example of the ex-junkies themselves.

Such a one is Candy Latson, 26, a Houston-born Negro who started using dope when he was 15. He has twice done time in Los Angeles County jail. "I got to the honor camp once there. I went in clean, but I came out hooked again," he says. Through Synanon, Candy learned insight: "I kept telling myself I had four strikes against me: I had only a seventh-grade education, I was black. I was a dope addict, and I had a record. I was using my misfortunes for an excuse to keep using dope." Last week Candy Latson was in Nevada State Prison--not as a prisoner but as an honored guest and Synanon counselor. He has been clean now for three years, and is working fulltime for nothing more than his keep and $2 a week spending money, to help others kick the habit and stay clean.

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