The Origins of the Narconon Program
 |
William
Benitez
Founder of Narconon |
On August 2, 1965, William Benitez, an inmate at Arizona State Prison
jumped down from his double bunk in the old cellblock where he was
housed and made the following notation on his wall calendar: “Decision
to set up Narcotic Foundation.” He also circled the 18th of the same
month, his target date to approach prison officials to request
permission to set up a drug rehabilitation program inside the prison
walls.
Officials denied permission for the following six months. Mr. Benitez’s
request to start a program consisting of twenty convicted drug addicts
caused concern to officials who feared such a program might pose a
security problem (such programs were rare in prisons during that
decade). Officials had little reason to believe that the request of a
habitual drug addict and repeatedly convicted felon would result in one
of the nation’s most successful rehabilitation programs for substance
abusers.
Mr. Benitez persisted and finally assured officials the program was
needed and would not pose a threat to the safe and orderly operation of
the prison. After being allowed to start the program on a trial basis,
he founded the NARCONON program (NARCOtics-NONe) on February 19, 1966.
From A Single Prison Program To Centers Around The World
Today, the Narconon program has spread from that one program in
Arizona State Prison to include community programs in many states and
countries such as Denmark, Italy, Holland, Germany, France, Sweden,
Spain, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Colombia,
Switzerland, New Zealand, South Africa, Ghana, the United Kingdom,
Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Argentina and Brazil.
Until he died from a sudden illness in 1999, Mr. Benitez was a
Hearing Officer with the Arizona Department of Corrections, the same
system which once kept him under lock and key.
William Benitez' Own Story
"I started smoking pot in 1947, when I was thirteen. Then I went
on to injecting opium and other drugs when I was about fifteen. I
started to get into trouble and was arrested for various crimes, so I
decided to join the Marines to see if I could get away from drugs.
Instead, I ended up getting arrested on drug charges during the Korean
conflict, received a military court martial and was discharged as
undesirable.
"In the following years, I kept trying to stay away
from drugs. Sometimes I could stay clean for a short while, then I would
go right back on the needle again. I carried the monkey for about eighteen
years, and it cost me thirteen calendar years of being locked up. In
addition to doing time in the Marines, I did a Federal prison term and
also was convicted three times in Arizona state courts.
"On my last trip to prison, I pled guilty on December 22, 1964 to
possession of narcotics. Because I was being sentenced as a habitual
offender, the sentence called for a mandatory fifteen years, and up to
life. I remember speaking to one court official and telling him how I was
still going to leave drugs alone and maybe even start a drug program. I
remember his words so well: “The best thing to do with guys like you,
after the first time, is take you behind a building and do you and
everyone else a favor and put you out of your misery.”
"My attorney arranged for me to go before the judge just before
Christmas, feeling that the spirit of the holiday might be in my favor. It
may have worked. I made my plea to the judge telling him of all the
attempts I had made over the years to stop using drugs, such as joining
the Marines, committing myself to hospitals for psychiatric care and
therapy on several occasions, isolating myself in mining towns in a
personal attempt to kick the habit, and even how two marriages had not
helped me straighten up. I told him that in spite of all those failures, I
was still going to make it and was going to find a solution to my problem,
that I had not yet quit. He must have believed there was still a spark of
hope for me. He sentenced me to the mandatory fifteen years, but instead
of running it to life, he made the term fifteen to sixteen years.
"After arriving at prison, a friend of mine gave me some reading
material to keep me occupied while I was in the Orientation Cellblock
pending transfer to general population. Among the material was an old,
tattered book, Fundamentals of Thought, by L. Ron Hubbard. I had heard of
his writings when I previously served a ten-year sentence at Arizona State
Prison, but had never read them. I had always been an avid reader of books
dealing with human behavior. Yet, this small book impressed me more than
anything else I had ever read before. I read it over and over and then
purchased additional books by Mr. Hubbard and studied them very carefully
during the following year, even into the late hours of the night in my
cell.
"The material identified human abilities and their development. I
was amazed I had never run across such workability within a multitude of
other works I had studied over the years. I’m not a gullible person when
it comes to accepting new or different approaches or ideas. If they work,
fine. Otherwise, throw them out the window. They either work or they don’t.
I was tired of experimenting with so many ideas and philosophies, many
having credence only because some “authority” had written them.
"What impressed me the most about [Hubbard’s] materials was that
they concentrated not only on identifying abilities, but also on methods
(practical exercises) by which to develop them. I realized that drug
addiction was nothing more than a “disability,” resulting when a
person ceases to use abilities essential to constructive survival.
"I found that if a person rehabilitated and applied certain
abilities, that person could persevere toward goals set, confront life,
isolate problems and resolve them, communicate with life, be responsible
and set ethical standards, and function within the band of certainty.
"I finally realized I had developed the essential abilities needed
to overcome my drug problem. Feeling myself on safe ground, I knew I had
to make this technology available to other addicts in the prison. I
thought back over the years of all the junkies I had shot up with, and
remembered their most treasured conversation, 'One of these days I’m
going to quit.' I had found the means and was going to share it with them.
That’s when I made the decision real by writing it down on my calendar
page in my cell.
"So effective was the technology I had learned, that I experienced
a freedom long lost to me. The tall prison walls became only temporary
barriers. I realized that my 6x8 foot cell was all that I needed as a
command post. Even back then, I knew Narconon would reach international
proportions, and even wrote an article on it in 1967, 'The Purpose of
Narconon.'
"The program was sanctioned by the warden, and it soon began to
expand from its original twenty members. I then started to get requests
from non-addict inmates who wanted to get into Narconon. They told me they
were impressed with what Narconon students had told them about the program
and what the technology taught. I approached the Administration for
permission to include non-addicts. At first it resisted, saying that
non-addict members didn’t need the services of Narconon, and that they
might disrupt the program.
"I demonstrated to officials that any person, inmate or otherwise,
could benefit from Narconon because its attention was on increasing
abilities, that we had an ethics mechanism built into the program, and
that the responsibility and involvement required of a member would soon
dissuade anyone not serious about improvement. I convinced the prison
officials. The program met its expectations so well that seven months
after the beginning of Narconon, I was asked to start another program for
young offenders housed in the annex outside the prison walls.
"I then wrote to Mr. Hubbard about Narconon. He and his
organizations supported our program by donating books, tapes and course
materials. We received hundreds of letters from throughout the world
validating our efforts to make drug addiction and criminal or illegal
behavior a thing of the past in our lives."
Shortly after founding the Narconon program, William Benitez researched
his court conviction and discovered he had been tried under the wrong
statute and was sentenced in excess of that prescribed by law. Upon return
to court, Mr. Benitez was advised that he could conceivably be
re-sentenced to time served and be released based on his eighteen months
already served because of the miscarriage of justice.
The Narconon program was only a few months old at that time and Mr.
Benitez believed the program would collapse if he didn’t return to
complete it. Rather than petitioning for his immediate release, he
requested a smaller sentence which would allow him to fully implement
Narconon program development. The Court re-sentenced him to four to six
years, leaving him sixteen months to serve. Mr. Benitez returned to prison
and developed the program to its full capacity. As he states, “It was
the best, but toughest decision I ever made in my life. I would have loved
to walk away from that court a free man.”
News Media Becomes Interested
The Narconon program subsequently came to the attention of the public
when reporters from the Arizona Daily Star secured permission from the
warden to interview the inmate who requested to be returned to the walls.
The Star printed a two-part series on the Narconon program in August 1966.
TV Channel 10 News from Phoenix also took its cameras to the prison to
interview Mr. Benitez and members of the Narconon program and to observe
its functions.
The Rest is History
Mr. Benitez completed his prison term and was released in October 1967.
He moved to California to expand the Narconon organization and to make it
available to persons in need. Mr. Hubbard and his organizations supported
the effort, resulting in worldwide expansion.
Years later, Mr. Benitez returned to Arizona and was hired as Inmate
Liaison by former Arizona Department of Corrections Director, Ellis
McDougall, in 1981. Until his death in 1999, he served as a Hearing
Officer on inmate complaints for the Corrections Director at Central
Headquarters.
Text © 2002 Narconon International.
NOTE: See additional Program information page links in the Related
Links column at the right.
|
