LEWISTON – A Lewiston woman described in a newspaper report as the “face of crack” is going back to prison less than six months after she was freed following a drug-dealing conviction.

Lisa Hanson, 37, was sentenced Wednesday to another two years behind bars after she violated probation by using crack on Feb. 1.

Hanson tried unsuccessfully to convince Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Ellen Gorman that she was a good candidate for the drug court program instead of more prison time.

“Putting me in prison over and over again obviously isn’t working,” she said.

But Gorman had her doubts. It was Hanson’s fifth probation violation since she was arrested in 1997 on a charge of trafficking in cocaine. After conferring later with prosecutors and Hanson’s lawyer, Gorman ruled out setting Hanson free.

Barbara Fickett, Hanson’s close friend and godmother to two of her children, was angry when she left the courtroom.

“What just occurred is the system failing again,” said Fickett, herself a recovering addict. “It’s like a revolving door here.”

Hanson’s drug abuse was chronicled last April by the Sun Journal newspaper, which described her as the “face of crack.” In state prison, she told the newspaper she wasn’t convinced she would avoid drugs after her release – even with the threat of prison looming over her.

She was released on Sept. 26.

On Wednesday, Hanson made a tearful plea to the judge, saying how much she has changed.

“I am not the same person,” she said. “I have busted my ass to get this far.”

Hanson, the mother of eight children, said her 14-year-old daughter is pregnant, another reason she believed she should remain free. She said jail had made her cold and uncaring. She only used crack again because she was suicidal, she said.

By the time Hanson is released after her latest sentence, she will have served a total of 10 years, 10 months and 20 days on the 1997 conviction for drug trafficking.