UNIQUE JAIL PROGRAM AIMS TO HELP BREAK ADDICTIONS

VALPARAISO | Without an in-patient rehabilitation clinic in Porter
County, heroin addicts -- or substance abusers of any kind --
regularly end up in one of two ways: dead or in jail.

The latter are the lucky ones. They find themselves going through a
painful, immediate withdrawal. And they also find themselves in the
10-week Chemical Dependency and Addictions Program, an intensive
outpatient program run by Porter-Starke Services Inc.

Dennis Mallonee and Gwen Schilling, both chemical dependency
therapists, lead the programs for men and women, respectively.

"I think a lot of people don't realize the great work that's being
done by certain drug counselors," said County Commissioner Bob
Harper. "The county jail program really does well."

The program mixes counseling with education and requires the inmates
to do several hours of homework. Nearly a dozen participants,
however, credit Mallonee and Schilling as the secret to the success.

"Dennis is a real good guy, he likes to focus on people and
understand who people are," said Cody Krivosh, a heroin addict
halfway through the program.

Indeed, Mallonee has become accustomed to describing his clients'
addictions in a way outsiders can understand.

"Imagine if all of a sudden you had to give up eating," he said. "Or,
you can't have sex anymore. You're taking away from them (something)
that has been their ultimate pleasure."

"Are you kidding me?" he said, mimicking one of his students. "That's
my life, and you want me to give it up?"

Many of them are giving it up, as shown by the lowered rate of
re-offenders. Between December 2002 and December 2005, Porter-Starke
tracked 514 graduates. Of the 384 released from that group, the
recidivism rate was 35 percent, about half the national average.

At a ceremony for three female inmates last month, the graduates read
farewell letters to their addictions. Tina Erea, a 30-year-old from
Gary who prostituted herself for her heroin addiction, read her
goodbye letter to dope like a defiant poem.

"Goodbye to the gunfire I've walked through looking for you, to the
tears of joy just to hold you in my hands, to the bloody blisters it
took to get to you, and most of all to the raping -- physically and
mentally -- does anybody understand?" she said.

"It's been hell. I'm done burning."

The other two graduates mixed anger with heartbreak and betrayal.
Tears poured down the face of Katrina Chavez, 37, as she vowed to end
her alcoholism. With false promises and hidden agendas -- like early
release from jail -- in her past, Chavez said she took the course
this time for herself.

"You gave me a lot of time to think, but I know this time I want it
for me," she said.

Maurisha Thomas, a 28-year-old addicted to cocaine, wrote, "I will
say to you, the one thing I love the most in my life, goodbye. My
life is worth more to me than you.

"This is the end of the line."