This message was originally posted on the Addict-L list but is probably of interest to the EFTC list also
Rowdy Yates
Senior Research Fellow
Scottish Addiction Studies
Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology Section
Department of Applied Social Science
University of Stirling
W: http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/sections/scot-ad/
T: +44(0)1786 - 467737
M: 07894- 864897
NOTE: EFTC Conference, 6 - 9 June 2007, Ljubljana, Slovenia
W: http://www.eftc-europe.com/conferentie/
-----Original Message-----
From: Academic and Scholarly Discussion of Addiction Related Topics. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of DON PHILLIPS
Sent: 23 April 2007 14:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Prison offers a new lease on life for inmates battling drugs
Hi Listmates,
An updated definition for therapeutic communities -- and making a real effort to do it right. I'm really impessed by:
~~how prison staff have embraced the effort ~~how a therapeutic system has been put together that follows the person into the community ~~gangs have accepted it and sent out clear messages that this is no place for gang behavior
I am going to search out info -- if available on -- on the therapeutic elements of the program. I'm also curious about any effort they may be making to deal with co-occurring disorders since that will be the rule rather than the exception. I'll forward to you if I can locate program elements and strategy. Thanks Deidre.
Don
The News-Gazette
Prison offers a new lease on life for inmates battling drugs
By Mary Schenk -- Champaign, Ill
Sunday April 22, 2007
John Dixon
Lt. Charles Truitt, left, a longtime employee at Sheridan Correctional
Center, says the reopened prison has made an impact with its focus on
drug-addicted inmates.
When Charles Truitt began working in the Illinois state prison system in
1992 after more than seven years as a military policeman, he described
himself as assertive and eager.
"I wanted to come to work. I have never been a quitter," he said.
But he was also living on edge.
"When I started in 1992, at the beginning of my day, I was not certain I
would depart the facility in the same way I entered," Truitt said.
His first assignment was at Stateville in Joliet as a guard. In 1995, he
transferred to the Sheridan Correctional Center.
"In the early years, the gang control in these facilities was overwhelming.
From 1992 to 2006, the Department of Corrections has overcome by leaps and
bounds," he said.
Truitt, now 40 and a lieutenant, said he "absolutely" likes coming to work
now. That's because he's part of a unique team that is putting into practice
a concept that they hope will keep men from ever returning to prison. It's
called the therapeutic community concept. While not new in psychology
circles, it is a relatively new concept in prisons.
"I've seen the worst and now the best," Truitt said.
'We are Sheridan'
Nestled in northeastern LaSalle County, not far from the Fox River and the
town of Sheridan, population 2,411, is the Sheridan Correctional Center.
The medium-security prison sits on about 270 acres - 95 acres inside a fence
and 175 acres outside. The nearest big city is Ottawa, about 15 miles to the
southwest. Chicago is about 70 miles to the northeast.
Formerly a traditional medium-security prison, it closed in August 2002
after budget cutbacks.
But not long after his November 2002 election, Gov. Rod Blagojevich decided
something had to be done about the highest recidivism rate in state history
- nearly 55 percent - and the record number of inmates being released from
prison.
"That is not a good combination," said Deanne Benos, assistant director of
the Illinois Department of Corrections and a former policy director for
Blagojevich's election campaign.
It was decided to reopen the Sheridan prison - as the only Illinois prison
whose entire population is being treated for the drug and alcohol addictions
that prompted them to commit crimes.
"This is politically brave because everyone knows it's a long-term thing,"
Benos said.
In the planning stages for about a year, the prison reopened in January 2004
with many of its former staffers. Working alongside them now are drug
counselors, vocational educators and job placement experts whose goal is to
reshape the men sentenced there into productive members of society. There
are no women at Sheridan.
"All too often, people forget that today's inmates are tomorrow's citizens.
They are going to come back to my neighborhood," Benos said. "We're all
better off knowing they've gone through some sort of program to reduce their
risk to society."
And for local judges dealing with repeat offenders with entrenched
addictions, Sheridan is a welcome option.
"Most of the sentencings I do are after someone's probation is revoked and
they've not been able to successfully complete (drug) treatment. Having
(Sheridan) as an alternative certainly helps out. It is the form of
treatment they really can't walk away from," Champaign County Judge Tom
Difanis said.
Statewide, there are about 45,000 inmates in Illinois' 28 adult prisons.
Sheridan houses about 770, and the hope is eventually to accommodate as many
as 1,300.
Officials also hope that by late 2008 the prison will have a separate unit
to deal with the system's growing number of methamphetamine addicts.
Of those present now, most are from Cook and the collar counties. Their
average age is 31.5. About a third of them abuse cocaine and heroin; about a
quarter abuse marijuana. Almost half, despite numerous prior prison
sentences, have not had professional help dealing with addiction.
At the helm as warden since November 2003 is Michael Rothwell, an expert on
chemical dependency treatment in prisons who has worked with juveniles and
adults in five states in 32 years.
Rothwell said the overall philosophy behind Sheridan is to treat the
inmates' substance abuse at the same time as the inmates are beefing up
their education and being trained in a vocation they can pursue when
released. All those factors combine to make it less likely for an inmate to
return to prison.
"You just don't treat the addiction," Rothwell said, noting there is the
disease itself, the need for inmates to change their unhealthy thinking and,
finally, education and training for a vocation. "If you pull any one of
those legs out, the whole stool is going to fall over.
"We can't guarantee you won't come back, but we can guarantee you're less
likely to come back."
While incarcerated, the inmates are getting drug treatment provided by
Fresno, Calif.-based WestCare. They get ongoing support for their addictions
and other life needs from the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities -
TASC - program while in and out of prison. And they get help finding jobs
suited to their skills once they're out from the Chicago-based Safer
Foundation.
Representatives of all those agencies work side by side with Department of
Corrections employees at Sheridan. There are about 400 workers - 287 are
corrections employees; the others are contract staff.
"Everybody is involved as part of the treatment team. We are the Sheridan
project," said John Nunley, assistant warden for operations. "It's unique in
that we communicate with the vendors. We are all part of the same team.
Everybody in every area has seen the benefit of that. It's a really good
place to work."
Not cheap
Running Sheridan is more expensive than the average cost of housing an
inmate in a medium-security prison.
"Annually, it's about $10 million more a year to operate this than when it
was opened previously as a prison," said Benos, who said about 80 percent of
the department's $1.2 billion annual budget is spent on staff.
The annual cost per inmate is about $38,250. That figure, Benos stresses,
includes the costs for services provided to inmates after their release such
as finding jobs, housing and continued drug counseling.
By comparison, Tamms Correctional Center - the southern Illinois prison that
houses the worst of the worst population, most of them in segregated cells -
costs about $55,424 a year per inmate.
Lincoln Correctional Center, a medium-security prison, lists an average
annual cost per inmate of $20,846. East Moline Correctional Center, a
minimum-security facility, runs $20,209 per inmate.
But Rothwell said programs like Sheridan do pay off.
"The bottom line is whether you are Democrat or Republican, if you're a
realist and you're concerned about saving taxpayer dollars, there is a cost
savings to reducing recidivism," he said. "Regardless of what party is in
power, it makes sense to continue this."
Department of Corrections officers who work there earn about $45,600 a year.
Truitt said many of the officers who worked at Sheridan before it closed in
2002 came back, but they had to accept a new way of doing things, working
alongside addiction counselors.
"IDOC has its own discipline system in place for inmates who violate the
rules. The (drug treatment) program has its own rules in place for those who
violate protocol. Officers had a hard time transitioning from DOC standards
of discipline to the programmatic form of discipline," he said.
"What we had to do was find some form of trust between security staff and
program staff when it came to issuing discipline to see if the discipline
was consistent."
Truitt admits to being initially skeptical about the program, but "I've
noticed a definite demeanor change in the inmates from when we were open
before versus the way inmates are today.
"The majority want to be here," he said. "There are some who sign up, come
and find out it's not for them because it's a very stressful environment."
And correctional officers who have seen the value are also cross-training.
Lt. Rebecca Worth, who's been at the prison 13 years, is studying to be
certified in the substance abuse area. Wardens, parole officers and other
security officers also are taking the classes.
"When we first opened, there was such a gap between the treatment and
security. The more I can learn, the more we can start working to jell
together," she said, adding that because of the low pay of the drug
treatment counselors, she has no desire to switch roles.
It's working
David Olson is an associate professor of criminal justice at Loyola
University in Chicago who is under contract with the Illinois Criminal
Justice Information Authority to evaluate the Sheridan program. Olson has a
doctorate in political science and public policy analysis and 20 years of
experience in the criminal justice field.
In May 2006, he wrote an evaluation with three others based on Sheridan's
first two years of operation. An update is in the works.
"The bottom line is it's working," Olson said. "It, like most things in this
field, is not a magic bullet. It is reducing criminal behavior by the
traditional measures we have: rearrests, returns to prison. Not everybody is
a success story, and that's something that some people don't want to accept.
"This is not a program that is trying to pick the best of the best and
provide them with services and know they'll do well. This is clearly a
population of individuals, who, while not the worst of the worst, are the
ones that the criminal justice system has continuously struggled with how to
address the ... needs that they have."
Olson said Sheridan inmates are not ones who got picked up for their first
DUI and ended up in prison. Most have been in prison more than once, and
some have never held a job.
"Being arrested hasn't deterred them," he said. "Going to prison hasn't
deterred them.
"You're really trying to address 20 to 30 years of lifestyle and experiences
that have led them to this point within a relatively short period of time."
Rothwell points to other measures of success.
At a June 2006 job fair at the prison, 12 employers were present - and 41 of
95 inmates were offered jobs on the spot, he said.
"We tell employers, when you hire someone off the street, what are you
getting? With our guys, you know you're getting a drunk or an addict, but
they have been through the program and are more likely to succeed than those
off the street," Rothwell said.
Although Rothwell concedes his staff is working with a "drug-seeking
population," the instances of drugs in the prison have been rare.
"We've only had one instance where we found somebody brought something in
through visitation. We search very thoroughly at visitation," he said. "We
have dogs search visitors' vehicles as they come in. We've been very
fortunate that our officers really stay on top of that. It boils down to
staff being vigilant and thorough in doing their jobs. We randomly drug-test
inmates. We listen to calls, read mail. We know guys try to plan things.
"We have 200 to 300 gang members, but (the gangs have) leaders who have told
the younger guys this is not the place for that," he said, adding that a
high-ranking member of the Latin Kings reported upon his release that there
is no gang activity at Sheridan.
Rothwell reminded that the inmates at Sheridan are there because they want
to beat the addictions that led to their imprisonment and have a huge stake
in succeeding.
"About half of our population doesn't earn good conduct. They're here
because they want to be here," he said, explaining that good time is spelled
out by statute. Not everyone is eligible depending on several factors,
including whether they've received it on previous prison sentences.
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