The emphasis on drug sweeps of low level drug dealers and subsequent incarceration have consumed an ever larger share of available resources. They have meant a steady decline in the proportion of anti-drug funds earmarked for prevention and treatment. A 1991 General Accounting Office report,"Drug Treatment: State Prisons Face Challenges In Providing Services," found that there were drug treatment slots for less than 20 percent of the estimated 500,000 state prisoners who were considered to have been drug addicts at the time of arrest.
A Nov. 1995 Research Report of the National Institute of Justice says that the majority of inmates with substance abuse problems still do not receive treatment while in prison, and the number of drug-using arrestees who are probably in need of treatment exceeds 2 million.
It's been estimated that "200,000 drug-addicted convicts are released each year from prison without treatment, only to have 80 percent of them return within a few years" (Editorial, "Focus on Drug Treatment, " USA Today, June17, 1994, p. 6A).In 1991, the annual cost of imprisonment per inmate in New York City was $58,000. At the same time, residential drug treatment cost only $14,000 per person annually, and outpatient drug treatment cost only $5,000.
A RAND study (Rydell and Everinham, "Controlling Cocaine supply vs Demand Programs," RAND 1994) concluded that drug treatment programs are seven times more cost-effective in reducing cocaine consumption than other programs that aim at controlling the supply of drugs. The study further concluded that drug treatment could reduce the cocaine consumption by a third if extended to all heavy users.
A joint study by the RAND Corp., the U.S. Army, and the Office of National Drug Control Strategy, found that treatment is seven times more effective than local enforcement, eleven times more effective than border interdiction, and twenty-two times more effective than trying to control foreign production (C. Peter Rydell and Susan S. Everingham, Controlling Cocaine: Supply versus Demand Programs).
The Brooklyn, NY Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison (DTAP) program, diverts prison-bound felony drug offenders to residential drug treatment for 15-24 months. The 19% recidivism rate for DTAP's graduates, in contrast to a 46% rate for similar defendents who did not participate in the program, is the most recent evidence of DTAP's success (Drug Treatment Alternative To Prison of the Kings County District Attorney, Nov. 1995). The program costs $18,000 per offender, vs $44,000 for the first year of incarceration, and $30,000 for each following year in state prison.
Want the potential national value of DTAP-like programs? Click National DTAP Dollar Savings.
(taken from the ODADAS Cost Effectiveness Study 1992-1996; Final Report 12/3/96)
See also a graph of the Ohio drug reatment results.
The Nov. 1995 Research Report of the NIJ, (Douglas Lipton, "The Effectiveness of Treatment for Drug Abusers Under Criminal Justice Supervison") makes similar strong points:
Preliminary findings of a study conducted by the University of Delaware indicate that drug-involved offenders who participate in a continuum of drug-treatment - - prison-based treatment followed by treatment in a work-release center - -have lower rates of drug use and recidivism than drug-involved offenders who participate in a shorter treatment program. 18 months after release:
71% of offenders who received both forms of treatment were arrest free after 18 months, compared with only 30% of a comparison group that received no treatment (a 41% reduction due to full treatment)
A study conducted for the state of California provides the most comprehensive cost-benefit examination to date on the effectivenes of substance abuse treatment. Looking at all treatment programs in the state, researchers concluded that every dollar spent on treatment resulted in $7 in savings on reduced crime and health care costs. (Marc Mauer and Tracy Huling, "Young Black Americans and the Criminal Justice System: Five Years Later," The Sentencing Project)
A study of 2,450 substance abusers in Oregon looked at their patterns of arrest, incarceration, and use of public assistance before and after their treatment. Researchers concluded that for every dollar the state spent on drug treatmnet, it saved $5.60 in costs for prisons, welfare, and other expenses. (U.S. News 9/30/96)
The NY State 1989 Prison Omnibus Legislation provided for the establishment of six 200-bed alcohol and substance abuse treatment annexes at specific prison locations.
Persons successfully completing the intensive prison annex phase (Phase I) of treatment, after about 193 days of treatment, are transferred to a work release facility or an appropriate community based program. The prisoner is thus returned to his or her home community 6 to 18 months prior to parole eligibility date. In this second phase, participants either (1) reside, receive treatment at, and get work release from a community service provider or (2) they live at home and report to a day treatment center for substance abuse treatment, job development, employment counseling, family counseling, and other support services. The average length of stay in Phase II was 277 days (in 1994-1995).
The law also provided for a Phase III aftercare component to be provided upon release from DOCS while under the supervision of the Division of Parole. The intent is to provide a continuum of substance abuse treatment.
All CASAT participants are known to have had an alcohol or drug addiction problem. As of June 1995, 83 percent of the CASAT population had been sentenced as a second or persistent felony offender.
Recidivism results for CASAT have been encouraging. 24 months after release to Parole supervision, the CASAT (men only) probability of return was 22%, compared with 32% for all releases, and 41% for those who failed to complete phase II, and 37% for those who failed to complete Phase I.
Want the potential national savings from full 3-Stage rehabilitation programs? Click Dollar Value of 3-Stage.
"Drug and alcohol abuse and addiction are implicated in the crimes of 80 percent - some 1.4 million - of the 1.7 million man and women behind bars in America. Among these 1.4 million inmates are parents of 2.4 million children, many of them minors. Today, one of every 144 American adults is behind bars for a crime in which drugs and alcohol are involved."
"The most troubling aspect of these grim statistics is thathe nation is doing so little to change them. From 1993 to 1996, as the number of inmates needing substance abuse treatment climbed from 688,000 to 840,000, the number of inmates in treatment hovered around 150,000 - and much of the treatment they are receiving is inadequate. From 1995 to 1996, the number of inmates in treatment decreased as the number in need of treatment rose."
"Failure to use the criminal jsutice system to get nonviolent drug- and alcohol-abusing offenders into treatment and training is irrational public policy and a profligate use of public funds. Releasing drug-and alcohol-abusing and addicted inmates without treating them is tantamount to visiting criminals on society. Releasing drug-addicted inmates without treatment helps support and maintain the market for illegal drug users."
Drug Courts and residential drug treatment for state prisoners were favorably cited: (see Savings from Diversion Progrms
"Given the enormous number of drug-involved offenders that are arrested each year, the association between drug involvment and criminal activities, and the enormous number of these offenders in prisons, one important body of research focuses on the drug-involved offenders."
" Substantial scientific evidence shows that drug treatment is an effective method of reducing both drug use and crime by these offenders. Furthermore, the criminal justice system can coerce offenders to remain in treatment longer. The longer they stay in treatment the better they do later, and those who are coerced do as well as comparisons who volunteer for treatment. One advantage of Drug Courts is that the court can oversee and supervise the coordination of the treatment and the community restraint."
"As with Drug Courts, the prison-based substance abuse programs appear to be a promising way to reduce the drug use and associated criminal activities of offenders, once they leave prison. In General, the studies of in-prison therapeutic community programs demonstrated that such programs reduced the recidivism rates of offenders once they were released."
The CURE-NY recommendations on Alcohol and Drug Treatment are part of the seven recommendations included in the What Works page.
The nation's state and federal prisons held nearly 107,000 sex offenders in 1995, according to respondents in the Corrections COMPENDIUM survey on sex offenders. Sex offenders may include exhibitionists, child molesters, and rapists.
A 1996 Ohio study indicates tht only 5.3% of sex offenders are recommitted for a new sex crime within 5 years of release. No data was available on any extended addiction treatment. ("Five Year Recidivism Follow Up of 1989 Sex Offender Releases," Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Correction, August 1996).
A comprehensive analysis (Margaret Alexander, "Sex Offender Treatments ...", presented at ATSA conference Nov. 11, 1994) found that recidivism rates after treatment drop to an averagte of 10.9%. She found that recidivism rates in recent years to be 8.4%. However, (Eric Lotke, "Sex Offenders, Does Treatment work?") treatment cuts the recidivism rate among exhibitioners and child molesters by more than half, yet cuts recidivism among rapists by just a few percent. Moreover, offense rates tend to increase over the years and, around the ten year mark, reoffense rates among untreated offenders is nearly the same as among untreated offenders. Hence, there is an urgent need for sex offenders to be in booster sessions and maintenance groups for many years after release.
An analysis on child molesters (Robert Prentky and Ann W. Burgess, Am. J. Orthopsychiat. Jan 1990) estimated that the failure (or reoffense) rate for treated offenders was 25%, whereas that for untreated offenders was 40%. Based on these estimates, for every 1000 child molesters released from prison, the cost to society over a five year period would be nearly $68 million greater for offenders who received no treatment prior to release.
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