In Hazelden's New Save My Son, A Mother and a Sheriff Unite to Offer a Diagnosis and a Workable Vision for Change.

Health/Medical Writers

CENTER CITY, Minn.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 30, 2000

As California Voters Decide On Proposition 36,

Sheriff And Author Present A Plan To Treat Addicted Offenders

Sheriff Mike Carona runs the fifth-largest jail system in the country, in Orange County, California. He had a vision. Maralys Wills had an addicted, incarcerated son. They both saw an American criminal justice system trending toward stiffer sentences, fewer prison programs, and very limited access to treatment--trends that were tied to the heartwrenching tragedy that Ms. Wills lived and Sheriff Carona watched repeated in the lives and the families of countless offenders.

Save My Son (Hazelden Information and Educational Services, October 2000) is the story, and the groundbreaking result of their collaboration. Interweaving the testimony of corrections officials, judges, and law enforcement professionals with the real-life stories of inmates and their families, Save My Son paints a broad picture of a system gone desperately wrong. Immediate, harrowing, and thorough, their work reveals that most of the crimes in this country are directly or indirectly the result of drug or alcohol abuse. In addition, they show how current trends virtually guarantee our massive rates of recidivism.

But Wills and Carona don't stop with a diagnosis. While most authorities involved agree that America's criminal justice system has an intolerable recidivism rate, the discussion about what can and should be done is polarized. Save My Son is winning praise from proponents from every side of the discussion as not merely a brilliant diagnostic book, but a comprehensive, pragmatic discussion on new alternatives to current practices. Carona uses his 22 years of professional experience and his perspective as the son of an alcoholic to arrive at a tough, compassionate vision that includes locked-down mandatory drug and alcohol treatment and job training facilities for nonviolent drug offenders. Wills' perspective represents the experience of thousands of American families who have searched for ways to introduce an opportunity for hope into lives gone appallingly wrong because of alcohol and drug addiction. After decades of experiencing the old ways that don't work, many officials are being convinced by Save My Son that it is time to look at new models of treatment that save both taxpayer's money and, more importantly, people's lives, and give our troubled society a better chance.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Maralys Wills is a full-time author with eight published books in both fiction and nonfiction. In addition to frequent speaking engagements, Wills teaches a novel-writing course for the North Orange County College District. She lives in Santa Ana, California.

Mike Carona has worked for 22 years in the criminal justice system, serving as a deputy, senior deputy, lieutenant, and marshal. He's served as a commissioner with the California Student Aid Commission and as an arbitrator for the National Association of Security Dealers, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Pacific Stock Exchange. He has an associate of science degree in administration of justice, a bachelor of arts degree in management, a master of arts degree in management, and a master of science degree in management. He lives in Orange, California.

ABOUT HAZELDEN

Hazelden, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1999, pioneered the model of care for alcoholism, drug addiction and related diseases that is now the most widely used in the world, and has been a leader in the recovery-related publishing field since Twenty-Four Hours A Day, the best-selling daily meditation book of all time, was published in 1954. Hazelden today provides treatment, recovery, research, prevention and training programs, services and publications for individuals, families, and communities affected by chemical dependency.

TO SCHEDULE INTERVIEWS OR FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Karin Nord, Hazelden Foundation, 651-213-4642 or [e-mail]

This book is available to online now at http://www.htbookplace.org.