NCJ Number
167797
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 58 Issue: 5 Dated: (August 1996) Pages: 118,120-123
Date Published
1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJD) implemented the Amity/Pima County Jail Program, a national demonstration drug treatment program for inmates, and it has proven cost-effective.
Abstract
Under the program, 200 men live in a housing unit and share a yard with 800 other inmates; program space is isolated, however. Twenty Amity staff, mostly ex-addicts and ex-offenders trained by Amity to work in prison, participate in security training for correctional officers. All participate in a minimum of 40 hours per year of Amity immersion training to keep skills current. Six "lifers" work with Amity staff as credible role models. Forty program participants (inmates) work 1 week on and 1 week off, supporting staff in delivering the Amity program. A written and videotaped curriculum specifically designed to reach habitual offenders with chronic drug abuse histories involves encounter groups, seminars, video playback, psychodrama, and written and oral exercises. The program's success in reducing recidivism among participants is due largely to the commitment of administrators and staff to making the program work, a well- managed and stable correctional facility, and the use of a proven treatment program that was experienced in working with offenders and committed to a joint-venture/collaborative approach to corrections. Another important factor is the assignment of a parole agent to work with corrections and treatment staff in supporting program graduates in the community. 9 references