The 47-year-old singer-songwriter was sentenced to 55 days in jail for drink driving in 2012 but was incarcerated for nine hours for the crime one year later.
"Jail got me to stop taking drugs. I never wanted to go back to jail. I didn't want to be incarcerated ever, ever again," Brown said on television series "The Dr Oz Show".
The musician said he didn't want his children to see him in that type of light.
"I didn't want my kids to grow up and see me in that type of light. I've always been one to want to grow, to want to be better and better on the next day - if I'm bad yesterday, I want to be better the next day, especially for my children.