Folks,

The H&I Committee has received a request from a Female inmate for a sponsor by mail.

If you are available, would you fill out this form and reply back with it to inmatesponsorship@PROTECTED?

 

H&I Sponsor Application

Below please find an application for sponsors in the CoDA Inmate Sponsor Program. The next few pages outline the expectations and requirements for participation as a Sponsor in the Inmate Sponsorship Program. Please fill in the form and return to Inmate Sponsorship Coordinator at CoDA, P.O. Box 33577, Phoenix, AZ 85067-3577 or scan and email to InmateSponsorship@PROTECTED

Please note that this is a developing program and we may find some things won’t work with some institutions. You are asked to be in contact with the Sponsorship Coordinator with any questions, problems, or concerns that may arise.

Information for Sponsor

The sponsorship assignment form will be sent to the inmate. Just wait for the inmate to send you a letter. Our mission is to ensure that any person seeking recovery through working the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Co-Dependents Anonymous can do so even in an institution. The primary purpose of the CoDA Inmate Sponsorship Program is to provide a sponsor to those people who are incarcerated in an institution and are not able to meet potential sponsors at their local CoDA meetings. Our interactions will only be via mail, not by telephone.

 

The accompanying application and any questions or concerns may be addressed to: CoDA Inmate Sponsorship Program, Attn: Inmate Sponsorship Coordinator, P.O. Box 33577, Phoenix, AZ 85067-3577, or InmateSponsorship@PROTECTED

 

Qualifications of CoDA Sponsors for inmates

1. Have two years of active participation in CoDA.
2. Be actively participating with a sponsor or co-sponsor.
3. Have worked the 12 Steps and a working knowledge of the 12 Traditions of CoDA.
4. Desire to share the clear message of recovery in CoDA.
5. Be willing to follow guidelines for participation.
6. Must not be on parole.
7. Men with men, and women with women.
8. Be responsible to notify SC when:
   1. sponsor is attending CoDA less than 2 meetings a month, or
   2. sponsor is no longer available to continue active involvement in inmate sponsorship program, or
   3. sponsor is no longer willing to continue active involvement with assigned sponsee.
9. Have the willingness and availability to reply to any letter within two weeks from the date the letter is received using the US mail, providing your own stamps, stationary, and using the CoDA PO box as his/her return address.
10. Not have as sponsee an inmate in a facility in which they themselves have facility clearance in any capacity.
11. Agree to participate in a sharing forum to be determined with other inmate sponsors.

 

Expectations of CoDA Sponsors for inmates

1. Meet all the qualifications for Inmate sponsors.
2. Carry a clear CoDA message. Remember you are representing CoDA to your sponsee.
3. Men w/ men; women w/ women.
4. Share only your Experience, Strength, & Hope (ESH).
5. No personal promises, maintaining anonymity (not sharing address, home town, phone #, etc.), yet helpful for the sponsee. We recommend that you do not share your last initial with your sponsee.
6. Stick to the 12 Steps and 12 traditions.
7. Reply within 2 weeks of receipt of inmate’s correspondence.
8. Get the correspondence guidelines for the facility where sponsee is housed. (Look on line at the institution’s website for info, it may be in a PDF titled “Information for relatives and friends,” “Inmate handbook,” or some similar title.)
9. First response will be vetted by sending to InmateSponsorship@PROTECTED

1^st letter is expected to be an introductory letter setting up boundaries.

This vetting process is to look at content only to assure that it is meeting our guidelines.

10. Participate in a sharing forum to be determined with other inmate sponsors.
11. Be responsible to notify H&I when:
    1. (s)he is attending CoDA less than 2 meetings a month or
    2. when (s)he is no longer available to continue active involvement in inmate sponsorship or with his/her assigned sponsee.

Brief Description of the Process

Inmates who request a sponsor will be asked to sign a Sponsee’s Correspondence Only Agreement (Sponsee application). Sponsors will also be asked to sign a Sponsor’s Correspondence Only Agreement (Sponsor application).

Committee approves and pairs a sponsee with a prospective sponsor, each pair will have a unique sponsorship #. An email will be sent to verify that the prospective sponsor does not know the sponsee. Then each member will be sent a letter introducing the sponsor/sponsee pair. The Sponsee will be instructed to send an initial letter to the sponsor care of the CoDA PO in Phoenix which is scanned and forwarded to the sponsor by email or just forwarded in a new envelope if preferred.

The sponsor’s first letter is to be sent to the Sponsorship Coordinator to be reviewed and then returned to the sponsor for revision or forwarded to the sponsee. After this initial review all Sponsor letters will be sent directly to the sponsee using a return address of CoDA in Phoenix. Sponsee will send all letters to the Phoenix PO where they will be forwarded to the Sponsee in a new envelope. This is done to protect the anonymity of the sponsor. We ask that you use your first name and Coda as your last name when signing letters to your sponsee.

 

Agreement

 

As a sponsor, I agree to:

1. Limit my contact with sponsee to writing only.
2. Refrain from using abusive or profane language in my correspondence.
3. Respect the confidentiality of my sponsee.
4. Refrain from supplying my sponsee materials including envelopes, stamps, pre-stamped envelopes, writing paper, and writing implements.
5. Refrain from sending my sponsee any books, CDs, or items of this nature.
6. Refrain from supplying my sponsee with my full name, telephone number, address, and any other personal identifying information.
7. Refrain from visiting my sponsee or having any contact with him/her outside the facility. The only exception is that upon release a sponsee may correspond with sponsor for a period not to exceed 90 days through this program if sponsee notifies SC of a valid return address.
8. Refrain from contacting anyone whom my sponsee might ask me to contact.
9. Abide by the sponsee's institution's correspondence guidelines.

I understand that every letter I send into the facility where my sponsee resides could be opened and checked for contraband. The content of the letter is to remain on topic. Discretion must be exercised in writing about any matter that could be construed as to jeopardize the safety and the security of the facility, its staff, its residents, this committee, or anyone else, including me.

 

Application Form

Sponsor Full Name:

Street Address:

City, State, Zip:

Home Phone:

Email address:

Do you have clearance to enter any correctional facility? Yes No

If so where? (Be specific):

Your sex: Male Female

How long are you willing to sponsor?

Number of inmates you are willing to sponsor at a time?

Are you bilingual in Spanish (both written and spoken)? Yes No

As a sponsor, I agree to:

1. Limit my contact with sponsee to writing only.
2. Refrain from using abusive or profane language in my correspondence.
3. Respect the confidentiality of my sponsee.
4. Refrain from supplying my sponsee materials including envelopes, stamps, pre-stamped envelopes, writing paper, and writing implements.
5. Refrain from sending my sponsee any books, CDs, or items of this nature.
6. Refrain from supplying my sponsee with my full name, telephone number, address, and any other personal identifying information.
7. Refrain from visiting my sponsee or having any contact with him/her outside the facility. The only exception is that upon release a sponsee may correspond with sponsor for a period not to exceed 90 days through this program if sponsee notifies SC of a valid return address.
8. Refrain from contacting anyone whom my sponsee might ask me to contact.
9. Abide by the sponsee's institution's correspondence guidelines.

I understand that every letter I send into the facility where my sponsee resides could be opened and checked for contraband. The content of the letter is to remain on topic. Discretion must be exercised in writing about any matter that could be construed as to jeopardize the safety and the security of the facility, its staff, its residents, this committee, or anyone else, including me.

 

I understand that failure to adhere to any of the aforementioned articles will result in cessation of my participation in this program and may put the whole program at risk.

 

The committee will notify me when I am approved as a sponsor and when I have been assigned a sponsee.

 

Please attatch and email this application to: inmatesponsorship@PROTECTED

Or please mail to: Sponsorship, H&I, CoDA, P.O. Box 33577, Phoenix, AZ 85067-3577

Thanks,

Jim B., H&I Sponsorship Coordinator

hosp@PROTECTED