NCJ Number
159206
Date Published
1995
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This review of the methodology used by the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council in evaluating the first Texas correctional therapeutic community drug treatment program concludes that improving the selection of offenders who can benefit from treatment and developing the necessary procedures are both needed to increase the success and cost- effectiveness of these programs.
Abstract
The evaluation compared 591 males and 91 females who participated in the program with 321 males and 74 females who met the selection criteria but were released from prison prior to program completion. Results indicated that inmate drug treatment using the in-prison therapeutic community approach can reduce recidivism. However, retention in treatment poses a significant problem that can affect the program's success and cost-effectiveness. The analysis of the evaluation indicated that treatment advocates did not emphasize or anticipate several critical facts related to inmate drug treatment at the time they were proposing such a program. Analysis of all the available data indicated that the high dropout rates and infrastructure issues confronting the program merited a slowdown in the expansion of the treatment initiative. The program demonstrated that all offenders will not benefit from one program and that not all programs will reduce recidivism. Therefore, identifying the programs that can reduce recidivism and holding them accountable for demonstrating reductions in recidivism is the first step in developing a realistic system of rehabilitative efforts in the criminal justice system. Figures, table, and 16 references