This article appeared in The St. Petersburg Times in September 1992:
A year ago, Rick J. ate garbage from trash bins behind an Orlando shopping center.
A cocaine addict and alcoholic, the 44-year-old Melbourne man had abandoned his wife, kids and job with the Internal Revenue Service for a life of petty crime.
An embezzler and thief, he was sentenced to prison. Like other inmates now in the Brooksville Drug Treatment Center, he committed crimes to feed his addiction.
Now, using an innovative approach, officials hope to break this cycle of crime and addiction.
At the Brooksville center, and in a similar program in Gainesville, inmates spend four to six months dealing with addiction and learning to become productive. Inmates must apply for the program, a more extensive and personal alternative than is offered at most prisons, where inmates get only a few hours in counseling.
If inmates succeed, by adhering to strict codes of conduct, they can get an early release.
“If the state didn’t have a center like this, I don’t think I’d make it,” said Rick J. during a group session. “I would not learn how to live life on life’s terms.”