The Denver Diagnostic and Reception Center (DRDC) sounds like a wholeness and hospitality spa, but it’s actually a state prison off Havana Street. It’s where I help lead AA meetings for inmates twice a month when I’m in town. Last night’s meeting in Unit 4 tested my own serenity, because a couple of guys delivered long monologues that didn’t have much to do with the program of recovery. I let them run their course and tried to listen instead of interrupt. In Unit 2, it was a completely different story. Of the 20 inmates gathered in a circle in the meeting room, at least 10 seemed genuinely interested in a way to break the cycle of addiction that had resulted in their confinement. The meeting was quiet, attentive, and moving. You never know what people might get out of one of these sessions, which plenty of guys attend simply to have an hour out of their cells. What’s certain is that every single time I drive away from the visitors’ parking lot, I feel less likely to pick up a drink than I did when I arrived.
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