Many inmates miss out on drug rehab
Study: Those out of jail are more likely than ex-prisoners to return to lockup

By PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

[For those of you who participated in 1993 in the creation of state jails, you know that the original purpose was to provide programming, including treatment, to low-level, nonviolent property and drug offenders. The Leg, though, stopped funding it and didn't follow through on its promise to make that new system work. Over a decade later, the media noticed. Welcome to the party.]

The Texas convicts who could benefit the most from drug treatment programs are the least likely to use those services, according to researchers who interviewed more than 350 inmates who recently returned to the Houston area.

As a result, that population faces a greater risk of relapse and is more likely to be reincarcerated, researchers found.

The findings are part of a forthcoming Urban Institute report based on interviews with 352 former prisoners and state jail inmates.

The surveys, taken immediately before the inmates were set free and again within the year after their releases, were conducted through 2005 and early 2006.

The study concluded inmates locked up in state jails � facilities reserved for those serving sentences of two years or less for nonviolent offenses � have less access to drug treatment and are less likely to take part in educational classes, job training and other self-improvement programs than those serving longer sentences at state prisons that typically house violent criminals.

Regardless of where the offenders serve their time, such programs are important for their future success, researchers say.

"People who did participate in those programs did end up faring better," said Nancy La Vigne, an Urban Institute senior research associate who worked on the project. "They were less likely to return to prison and typically more likely to find stable employment."


Money-saver

Such programs also save the state money in the long run, one advocate said.
"It's cheaper, and it's better law enforcement and better crime prevention to have good programs," said former Harris County District Attorney Carol Vance, a former Texas Board of Criminal Justice chairman who has done prison ministry work since 1992.

"Any way you can keep these people from going back (to jail), you really save a lot of money."

Inmates in state jails were more likely to have a history of frequent drug use before their confinement � 68 percent of those surveyed � compared with those in prisons, where about half reported such histories, the Urban Institute's research showed.

Yet, only 6 percent of those confined in state jails with substance abuse problems received treatment, compared with 34 percent of those in prisons, researchers found.

That's because substance abuse programs were eliminated from state jail facilities in 2003, when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, like most state agencies, faced drastic budget cuts, TDCJ spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

Legislators, however, have placed $5.8 million in TDCJ's budget � $2.9 million for each of the next two fiscal years � to bring drug treatment programs back to state jails, Lyons said.

How soon those programs will be restored is not yet known.

Drug treatment is especially important for state jail confinees, who typically are not subject to probation or parole when they are released, correctional officials say.

Without treatment, "they're just going to go right back out there into society and pick up where they left off," said Mark Hicks, assistant warden of the Kegans State Jail, which houses more than 600 male inmates in downtown Houston.

Researchers also found fewer inmates at state jails � 45 percent of those surveyed � take part in education and job training, compared with 68 percent of those who were in prisons.

Those released from prison also had greater success landing a job within the year after their release � 70 percent � compared with those released from state jails, where only 42 percent reported finding employment in that same time period.

Those with stable employment were less likely to be locked up again within 12 months, researchers found.


Supervision may help

The average sentence at state jails is just six to nine months, Hicks said, "so the offender population tends to look at this more as a vacation for them. They really don't see the consequences."
The report also shows that ex-prisoners reporting to parole officers are three times more likely to receive substance abuse treatment after their release than those set free with no supervision.

"We know one thing � for people who have substance abuse issues, incarceration without treatment almost assures they will recidivate," said state District Judge Caprice Cosper, one of three judges who presides over Harris County's drug court.

However, those who undergo treatment must be held accountable through supervision and drug testing for the concept to truly work, Cosper said.

"If you're not doing all those things, then you're putting people in programs who don't need to be there," Cosper said.

The Urban Institute � a nonpartisan center based in Washington, D.C., that researches and reports on issues facing America's cities � has also conducted studies of prisoners returning home in Maryland, Illinois and Ohio.