About Us

Introduction

In the history of penology there has never been a program that could conclusively reach and motivate to change the hard core convict population. The Seventh Step was initially designed to reach those men and women who are many time losers. These are the prisoners who have been labelled incorrigible. They are strong men and women who often are leaders within the structured institutional environs. When released from prison, they cost society untold thousands of dollars because they are hard to catch and convict. Most of them have committed crimes for which they are never charged. This type of offender has never responded to any programs, until now.

This program does not have the answer to problems of re-motivation, but it does have an answer... a much-needed answer for a group that wields great influence both inside and outside of prison. This program, working in conjunction with other programs, can be of assistance to penal systems or penologists who strive to change men for the protection of society.

This is a people reform organization, i.e. Not Prison Reform. It is a viable force to prisoners because it utilizes common sense and example as weapons towards re-motivation. Ex convicts do not have that intangible barrier between them and the prison population; they talk the same language and totally understand the surroundings of an abnormal, structured environment (prison).

It is impossible to train a surgeon in an automobile factory... a prisoner cannot be motivated toward normal social interaction within a prison, without some outside assistance. The Seventh Step programs are directed toward developing normal social and constructive approaches to living in the community upon release.

History

In 1963, Bill Sands, an ex convict and the Reverend James Post, formulated a self-help group in the Kansas State Prison. This first pre release program adopted a slogan and guidelines that are the basis of the Seventh Step programs today. Initially the programs relied heavily on community sponsorship of inmates upon release. When Bill Sands was forced to curtail his involvement, due to ill health, a serving inmate, Ezra Kingsley, assumed leadership and instituted a new meeting format that has evolved into the "hot seat" therapy that is still an integral part of group chapters. When Bill Sands died in 1967, the Seventh Step programs had spread across the United States.

Bill Sands

In that same year, two John Howard workers in British Columbia encountered the group on a visit to the U.S. and introduced it into the Haney Correctional Institute for youths, as a drug/alcohol treatment program. It was short lived in that population but Webster and Lynch, realizing it's potential, reorganized and introduced it into the British Columbia Penitentiary in 1968 with the help of ex inmate Tom Gordon. The program flourished in that setting and other groups opened in adult institutions across the province. Another B.C. inmate, Pat Graham, carried the philosophy and program into Alberta where it was established in 1971. At approximately the same time, Reverend Charles Bell opened chapters in the Province of Ontario, using portions of the Seventh Step program.

A national charter, acquired in 1973, was allowed to lapse until the Alberta organization reapplied and was successful in obtaining Letters Patent for The Seventh Step Society of Canada in 1981.

The Board of Directors of the Canadian organization is comprised of two members from each provincial affiliate. National headquarters are located in Calgary, Alberta.