Struggles of Doc Gooden [J. Mark English]

NEW YORK (AP) - Dwight Gooden hopes his time in jail will help end his two-decade battle with drugs and alcohol, saying he'd "rather get shot than come back here," the New York Post reported Wednesday.

The former Cy Young Award winner is serving a year and a day in a Florida prison for violating his probation by using cocaine.

"You keep asking yourself, 'What went wrong? What went wrong?"' he told the Post in his first interview from prison.

Gooden, 41, is looking forward to the day he is released, which could come as early as November. He also insists he will stay clean and sober this time.

"I can't come back here," he said. "I'd rather get shot than come back here. ... If I don't get the message this time, I never will."

Gooden was serving three years' probation for speeding from police during a drunken driving traffic stop last year when he failed a drug test and acknowledged to a probation officer that he used cocaine. He chose a prison sentence over reinstatement of his probation, which would have meant the prospect of five years behind bars if he violated it again....