by Samantha G
Inside Visiting Sponsorship Service (IVSS) is a pilot program, launched in 2018 by H&I Area 53 of Northern California. It connects Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) members on the outside with incarcerated individuals seeking recovery. At the heart of IVSS is a simple but profound question: “Would I be sober today without the help of a sponsor?”
Max V. of Men’s Stag group in Fremont, CA, the program’s coordinator and an IVSS sponsor since 2019, says for many behind prison walls, the answer is no. He believes that IVSS bridges that gap, offering hope and healing through one-on-one sponsorship. As for the process? Max explains:
Your sponsorship journey begins with a one-hour Zoom orientation, where you’ll go over a 16-page overview and guidance on everything you’ll need to know, including how to get a copy of your legal background from the Dept of Justice—if you have one—understanding prison protocols, and using the GettingOut texting app, to communicate with inmates. Despite the paperwork, Max reassures volunteers: “We go over all the details with you to make it easy.” And mentioned when an inmate applies for IVSS, he searches and discloses their record to make sure you, as a potential sponsor, are okay with the match.
Matches primarily communicate through secure texts and phone calls, initiated by the inmate: “All the inmates have tablets and they can receive texts and they can call their sponsor.” In-person visits are optional, but highly encouraged. They are safe and structured. Max describes his own visits as, “Very orderly. There are a lot of officers present, but they give you your space. I get a big sense of safety.”
The emotional and spiritual rewards are profound. Max recalls a powerful message his sponsee shared with him, noting that, “Being in AA, he feels that he is a free man. He says, ‘I do want to be released, but I’ve got a sense of complete ease and comfort, and I know I am okay.” Max added, “I get so much encouragement and so much hope… and there is a lot of gratitude for outside sponsorship.”
The demand for sponsors in IVSS is rising. “Recently we got a big flood of requests, so getting the word out will be very helpful,” Max says. With 106 men requesting sponsors, only 89 have been matched and there is now a small waitlist forming. The program would like to see that waitlist disappear.
IVSS is more than a program—it’s a spiritual mission rooted in AA’s Responsibility Statement. Max says during orientation, “This is the first page I have volunteers flip to. We want people getting sober to have help getting sober, and that desire to help overcomes any concerns about working with an inmate behind bars, so-to-speak.”
To sign up for the IVSS program, please email: handi.ivss@gmail.com, or sign up with their IVSS-EO Sign Up Form.
To learn more, Read a brief history of H&I.
Samantha’s homegroup is Women’s Freedom Finders in Fremont, CA