Correctional Facility Meetings

The PI / CPC Committee meets the first Tuesday of the first month of every quarter (January, April, July, and October) at 6:30 PM at Intergroup.

Please join us in carrying the A.A. message to the inmate behind the walls. Our committee is a vital link to prisons and jails, providing professionals and other workers in these facilities with information about A.A., literature, and guidelines for setting up A.A. groups on the inside. Fifty percent of inmates may be alcoholics, and we may be the only opportunity they have to hear the A.A. message.

The guiding principles of the A.A. fellowship are contained in the Twelve Traditions. Traditions Five, Six, Eleven, and Twelve are directly related to our work.

Singleness of purpose is central to the survival of AA.  Inmates faced with no programs to address problems other than alcohol (i.e., drugs, gambling, etc.) often find their way to A.A. meetings. A.A. members not wishing to exclude such individuals from meetings can do so only with a firm understanding of A.A.’s singleness of purpose.

Being not affiliated with any other institutions, we seek only to cooperate and help coordinate with correctional facilities personnel. A.A. is not a secret society, and we carry the message to whomever we can. A.A. members who carry the message into correctional facilities have found it helpful to remember and to emphasize to corrections personnel that A.A. is a fellowship of peers, and that A.A. members learn to help other alcoholics without taking credit or reward for our own or others’ recovery. 

Tools and ideas for doing correctional facilities work:

• One (1) year of continuous sobriety to chair a meeting.
• Six (6) months of continuous sobriety to speak at a meeting.
• No minimum length of sobriety to attend a meeting with a committee member.
• Be on time, well groomed and courteous.

Remember that having once been an inmate is not a requirement.

Treatment Facilities Committee

In the Greater Richmond area, there are many opportunities to carry the A.A. message to treatment facilities. Many sick and suffering alcoholics spending time in these facilities have gotten that first message of hope through volunteers speaking and chairing meetings at these facilities.

When your Intergroup representative talks about service commitments at your group, put up your hand and volunteer. It will keep that gratitude in high gear.

Also, groups can adopt an institution. By adopting an institution, your group members will have weekly contact with those who still suffer from active alcoholism.

Public Information and Cooperation with the Community

Carrying the Message to the Community

Public Information in Alcoholics Anonymous means carrying the message of recovery to the still-suffering alcoholic by informing the general public about the A.A. program. We carry the message by getting in touch with the media, schools, industry, and other organizations, and relaying the nature and purpose of A.A. and what it can do for alcoholics. The purpose of Public Information service work is to provide accurate A.A. information to the public when requested. For this purpose committee members visit schools, businesses, church and civic groups, and community meetings. We also staff A.A. booths at health fairs and serve as resources for our friends in the local media.

Cooperation with the Professional Community
(CPC) work was spun off from Public Information in 1970. Through it, we provide information about A.A. to those who have contact with alcoholics through their profession. This group includes health care professionals, educators, members of the clergy, lawyers, social workers, union leaders, and industrial managers, as well as those working in the field of alcoholism. Information is provided about where we are, what we are, what we can do, and what we cannot do.

In all our activities we emphasize our Traditions of anonymity, singleness of purpose, and non-affiliation. 

A.A. members wishing to carry the message to the general public and professional communities are encouraged to attend. If you have questions, call the office at 804-355-1212.