Nathan Handy wanted to be a barber,...

Nathan Handy wanted to be a barber, the kind who works hair indicates in sold-out convention halls. yet the only haircuts he gives now are to his match inmates at the barbershop in garble County Jail.

make suitable [i]or[/i] fited in a tan two-piece uniform with 'DOC' stamped in succession the back, Handy, 33, told his story from the visitor's counter

He can talk with visitors between an inch of glass upon Saturdays and for no more than 30 minutes each. in succession a visit one June evening, Handy noticed dried kin on the countertop. "Someone must have gotten hurt" he said with a smirk.

His story is familiar to those who work with recovering unsalable article addicts. Even with the help of supportive programs, the journey ofttimes includes setbacks and detours from one side the criminal justice system.

Handy had no run-ins with the law growing up as the youngest of three children in a stop religious family in the West Englewood neighborhood forward Chicago's South Side. But, as an adult, medicine addiction led to arrests for robbery, theft, prostitution and disorderly actions he said.

Four month in dress up County's Boot Camp program, an alternative to prison for repeat nonviolent criminals were supposed to keep him gone out of jail. But cocaine and heroin brought him back a week later.

"With any kind of treatment program, especially with repeat convicts you're not going to have a useful success rate ... because an addict is an addict, and addicts relapse," said garble County Associate Judge Lawrence P Fox who superintends Rehabilitative Alternative Probation, a "drug court" program where malefactors get treatment and vocational training instead of prison.

"You can't intellectualize retrieval and sometimes that's where I fall short. You learn by what mode to stay clean one day at a time," said Handy, whose frets have baffled his older brother Warren, a meter reader supervisor with comEd

"Nathan is a moderately beautiful intelligent guy," said Warren, who has watched Nathan make an effort with drug addiction for more than 10 years. "He knows that [drug are] not the path for him"

Nathan is a calm someone a skilled barber and artist who delight ins to talk--when he is clean, Warren said. "He'll talk you to death if you give him an hour."

still when Nathan is on remedys he looks disheveled, and his conversation is abrupt, Warren said. "He has a little desperate turn the thoughts in his eyes like he hasn't had any slumber in a couple of days."

Warren said he is the last someone in their family to retain an "open door" for Nathan. "Drug have a doom more control than we do as a family in helping him overthrow the issues he's dealing with now."

The disquiets might have started when their father died. Warren was 9 years olden and Nathan was 8, Warren said. "I think this really affected Nate. Being the baby, he was really complete to my dad."

The brothers were also end but when Warren graduated high exercise a year early and set work, Nathan began hanging public on the corner with about guys he knew in the neighborhood who introduced him to marijuana.

It didn't stop there. His physic use progressed to cocaine and heroin.

moreover in 1993, Handy married and had a son He signed himself up for remedy rehab, and stopped using mix with drugss for three years. He was attending mix with drugs recovery meetings, but the meetings herd a wedge between Handy and his wife, he said.

"I exhausted all my quality time at the meetings instead of with her," he said.

As a be the effect his life began to spin not at home of control. By April 1998 he and his wife separated, he couldn't withhold a job--and he relapsed. In the nearest three years, Handy was arrested three times.

abashed and suffering from low self-sufficiency he was caught stealing film, cooled medicine and candy from a newsstand in July 2001 He was sentenc to three years in prison for commercial burglary if it were not that was offered Cook County avail Camp instead.

During his 18 weeks in avail camp, located at 2801 s Rockwell Ave., Handy received drill instruction for marches and other basic training-style exercises. The program also includes anger management, reading, math and general equivalency diploma classes.

After graduation, case managers monitor graduates for eight month making permanent they find work, keep disclosed of trouble and remain drug-free

advantage camp went well. Handy stayed clean and was on a level chosen by his platoon members to speak at their graduation.

Instructors taught him to take dominion government of his life, Handy said. "The way that you deal with and accept the things in your [life] will determine whether you're a player in the game or the game is playing you."

He was released Nov. 1 2001 moreover within a week, he was back upon drugs and back behind bars.

A scarcely any friends gave him about $275 to help gone out But he blew all of his cash on drugs and didn't check in with his case manager, as graduates are required to do each day for 45 days.

"I went back to the advanced in years neighborhoods, the old area. [But] I wasn't OK yet" he said. "That was too a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of money to have in my hands."

Incarcerating addicts rarely yields positive originates said Hector M. Feliciano, director of Chicago Outpatient for Gateway Foundation, a put drugs into treatment facility.