The Corrections Committee is responsible to engage and serve local and state correctional facilities within District 26. These include the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities of NCCI Gardner and MCI Shirley.

District 26 currently seeking qualified A.A. members to join the corrections committee. To bring AA within a DOC facility you must undergo a background check (CORI), and one year of continuous sobriety is recommended.

How to Be of Service

If you are interested in being of service with the Districts 26 Corrections Committee, please contact us at Chair@aaDistrict26.org. District 26 currently needs AA members to join its Corrections Committee and be of service as follows:

• Become a Corrections Committee Member. This involves attending the Area 30 monthly Zoom committee meeting, attending local AA meetings to make announcements about corrections service opportunities, and sharing corrections-related AA literature.


• Bring AA Meetings to Correctional Facilities. Very few AA members from our district are currently approved to bring meetings into our district’s correctional facilities, the need here is huge! This involves getting approved as a corrections volunteer and maintaining your volunteer clearance, establishing a monthly meeting at a correctional facility, and attending those meeting commitments regularly. To learn more about eligibility, the approval process, and maintaining volunteer clearances please contact Chair@aaDistrict26.org.


• Donate your old Grapevines/La Vinas. This involves mailing past issues of The Grapevine/La Vina in plastic bags to local DOC facilities. Magazines must be sent in plastic bags otherwise they will not be accepted. Use mailing address: MCI Shirley, Harvard Road, Shirley, MA 01464 Attn: Treatment Director.


• Become a Prerelease Contact. No AA members are currrently signed up as a prerelease contact so the need here is huge! Use one of the prerelease contact forms below to participate in this vital 12th step service.


• Write letters via the Corrections Correspondence Service. Currently there is a backlog of incarcerated male AA members waiting for correspondence from outside male AA members. This service is run by the AA World Services (AAWS) office in New York City and it involves registering with AAWS to correspond to an incarcerated AA member who is located in a different state. To maintain privacy, local AA members can use AA Boston Central Service’s mailing address and mail forwarding service for corrections correspondence. To learn more about this service work, visit the Corrections Correspondence Service page on AA.org, or call Kenny at Boston Central Service: (617) 426-9444.

Corrections Volunteer Eligibility Requirements

• Applicants must be off probation/parole for a minimum of two years.
• Applicants must not have any open criminal cases.
• Applicants must have at least six months of continuous sobriety.
• Applicants must have gotten at least one (1) COVID vaccine shot.

Pre Release AA Contact

For anyone seeking to arrange help upon release from someone in A.A. in the central MA area, this pre-release form is available: Local Pre-Release Contact Form. For elsewhere in eastern MA: Pre-Release Contact Form.

Public Service Announcements



For questions, please call (508) 752-9000 or email corrections@aaDistrict26.org