Personal Narrative: My Journey To Lackawanna County Prison

In the early hours of March 2013, I remember waking up and praying for the nightmare to be over because I felt I had no way out of my current situation. My life had come to a point where I was no longer in control and heroin was controlling my every decision. A few short hours after that fictitious “fox hole” prayer, I found myself handcuffed in the back of an uncover officers vehicle on my way to Lackawanna County Prison. I had never felt so alone, but at the same time, I had never felt so relieved in my life. Later I would realize that what I perceived as the worst day of my life would soon become the event that I am most grateful for because I was given an opportunity to break the chains of addiction and to grow into the person that I had always dreamed I could be. As I sat in jail for many months, I could remember countless nights when I

Although I had made many alterations within myself thus far, I did not feel ready to return to the one place where I had created so much chaos almost six months prior. As my discharge date was approaching, I remember thinking I can return home and do the same things I always do or I can actually give myself a chance to live and do something I have never done before. I chose to remove myself from society for another 6 months and I elected to be transferred to a long-term halfway house. While I was there, I was given the foundation that I needed to jumpstart this road of recovery that I have been on for nearly three years now. For the first time in my life, I was actually being held accountable for all of my actions. I finally realized that I didn’t have to live with the heavy consequences that I had been receiving if I just made the right decisions in life. As basic as that sounds, it was exactly what I needed to prepare myself for the real world and to learn how to make healthy