'CHANGING LIVES DAILY'

Shiquita Linear never imagined she'd spend most of her 20s as a prostitute
on Union Avenue.

But that's what happened after she got hooked on crack cocaine. The drug
lured her to a fast, dangerous and illegal profession to support her daily
habit.

Nothing - not even a 10-hour rape and kidnapping ordeal, repeated stints in
jail or the birth of two children - kept her from Union Avenue.

Today, the 28-year-old lives about a mile away from Union Avenue. But she
is no longer leading the sex-for-drugs lifestyle.

The Bakersfield native said she's been off drugs for more than five months
now - the longest she's ever been clean.

She credits the change partly to Exodus House at The Freise Inn, a drug and
alcohol rehabilitation center that recently opened in the heart of one of
the city's high-crime areas. Linear is a resident at the center.

Program Director Mickey Sturdivant said the new location near Eighth and P
streets is the perfect place for the center.

Amid the crime and grit, the Exodus House "is a safe place. We're not
causing problems. We're solving problems.

"We're changing lives daily," Sturdivant said.

Since the center's opening, it has harbored drug-addicted prostitutes and
gang members who have come seeking help, Sturdivant said.

"I knew once we got over here, we were going to be the light," Sturdivant
said. "The word is out. We've had several gang members that have come in
and asked for help. We're having prostitutes walking in all the time.

"They want to change but they don't know how."

Sturdivant said she uses her past to convince gang members and prostitutes
they can leave drugs behind.

Sturdivant, who was addicted to crack cocaine, says the drugs took
everything from her.

She would steal to buy crack. She was homeless. She was a prostitute.

The Bakersfield native has been clean for 12 years, dedicating herself to
offering treatment to others who have followed her path.

"Some people say, 'Once a drug addict, always a drug addict,'" Sturdivant
said. "I'm not a drug addict anymore. I can deliver that message firmly."

The Exodus House currently serves about 28 women and six children. It is
able to accept 44 women and 10 children.

The 12-month residential program opened in central Bakersfield in December.

Sturdivant and her husband, Chris, founded the program in 1992 after both
recovered from drug and alcohol addictions. The Exodus House treats people
who have been ordered into treatment by the court as well as those who just
walk in the door.

So far, Sturdivant said she's only had two people who didn't complete the
program. Those court-ordered to attend risk serious penalties if they quit,
including prison.

County probation supervisor Mic Hall said the probation department has had
some clients who have specifically requested the Exodus House.

"It's nice to have programs like the Exodus House, which takes in women
with small children," Hall said.

The need for such centers will likely rise with Proposition 36, which will
take effect in July. The voter-approved measure requires drug treatment
rather than jail sentences for first- and second-time non-violent drug
offenders.

Hall said his department is awaiting word from the state judicial council
on how Proposition 36 will be implemented locally.

Hall and Richard Thomas, another county probation supervisor, oversee two
units that deal with about 4,000 felony probation cases. More than half of
the people they deal with are substance abusers, he said.

While some of the probationers may be put in outpatient programs, there are
others who need to be in a residential treatment facility, Hall said.

Such was the case with Linear. She was released from jail in December and
court-ordered to go to a residential drug treatment center. She is on
felony probation for three years. Part of the agreement is that she
completes the program at Exodus House.

Linear said she knew she could not fight her drug problem on her own.

Her mother, she said, is caring for her children, as she has in the past,
so Linear can focus on overcoming her addiction.

Linear's going on her second month in the program.

Dressed in a professional red blouse and long skirt and with long braids
neatly pinned back in a pony tail, Linear doesn't look like a stereotypical
drug addict. But her memories paint a different picture.

She was so hooked on crack that she would steal and eventually sold her
body for money. She went to jail about 13 times.

One man even kidnapped her in 1997 as she left a doughnut shop. He hit her
in the head and, at different points, he pointed a gun and knife at her
during the episode, she said.

For 10 hours, he beat her with a water hose, poured Pine Sol on her, cursed
at her and raped her in a field near the Arvin-Lamont area. She finally
escaped, running away naked and fainting before a group of farm workers,
who then called police and clothed her, she recalled.

"It scared me, but it didn't scare me enough," she said of the incident.
"As soon as I got out of the hospital, I went out to Union."

The man eventually was caught, arrested and charged for the crimes. He was
sentenced in 1998 to 150 years to life without the possibility of parole.

It's The Californian's general policy not to publish names of sexual
assault victims. In this case, Linear chose to share her story in hopes of
convincing drug-addicted prostitutes to seek treatment.

Linear said those memories serve as a reminder to never go back.

"My mother would constantly pray for me," she said. "I never thought I
could be Shiquita again."

Linear said she is working hard at trying to piece her life back together.

She wants to return to the life she had before. She had been studying to
become a beautician when she got caught up in drugs.

The focus now is finishing the program, she said.

"By opening the door for me, the Exodus House has changed my life in so
many ways," she said. "They inspire me to stay here and keep going. (They
always tell me) 'Walk forward, don't walk to the side.'"