HE started off stealing milk and sugar from his mother's kitchen, then with the intake of drugs he began breaking into his neighbours' homes.

This is the story Larry Daniel gave during the graduation ceremony at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, Santa Rosa, Arima, where he and 25 other inmates graduated from an in-prison drug rehabilitation programme headed by the New Life Ministries.

Daniel told the small crowd gathered inside the prison walls that he started smoking cigarettes then graduated to alcohol then marijuana and stopped at cocaine.

"It was nice at first," he said, "I thought I was a king."

He reflected on the days when he was involved in criminal activity, which ultimately led him to prison.

Daniel said he decided to join the programmes after the words of his deceased sister, "I will die and you still using" haunted him while in prison and still using cigarettes.

Daniel, who boasted of being sober ten months, was one of eight inmates who shared their experiences during the programme, which ran from September to December, Monday through Friday.

Another inmate, Richie Aziz, said he joined the programme to pass his sentence faster while incarcerated, while Wayne Roopchand joined because he was told he would be paid for it.

All three inmates said they now feel ashamed of their behaviour and would never return to the drugs that led them there or to prison.

During her address to the graduates, Hulsie Bhaggan, clinical director of New Life Ministries, said the programme should be extended to the women's prison and the Youth Training Centre.

She added that the former addicts were "wonderful but broken human beings" who needed support and called on the government to spend monies on programmes such like these.

Deputy Commissioner of Prisons Olston Sandy told the inmates to utilise the lessons they received when they are released from prison. He asked that a similar programme be put in place to deal with sex offenders.