NCJ Number
227244
Journal
Addiction Science Clinical Practice Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: April 2009 Pages: 24-30
Date Published
April 2009
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes two Kentucky projects that address high risks for recidivism and relapse into drug abuse for ex-inmates re-entering the community.
Abstract
One project brought together justice and treatment providers and other stakeholders in a joint development of guidelines for facilitating successful reentry. The resulting Kentucky Re-Entry Guidelines for Drug-Abusing Offenders will serve as a framework for reentry activities in Kentucky. The process by which these diverse collaborators were able to integrate their expertise in a consensus document may be useful to other States and communities. The effort involved 40 individuals, including wardens and deputy wardens, prison-based and jail-based substance abuse treatment providers, probation and parole officers and supervisors, transition case managers and supervisors, and community treatment administrators and counselors. In order to facilitate eliciting, evaluating, and merging the perspectives of these collaborators, a formal Delphi process was used. Delphi processes are designed to generate consensus analyses of complex issues in which multiple viewpoints and types of expertise count. In the second project, the University of Kentucky Central States Research Center (KCSRC) is conducting trials of an intervention it developed to reduce HIV acquisition and transmission among women re-entering communities from prison. Preliminary data suggest that the intervention alters assumptions and reduces risky behaviors. The intervention, which is called Reducing Risky Relationships-HIV, counters the thinking myths with facts and builds skills to promote safe behaviors with intimate partners and guard against unsafe behaviors. In each of five sessions in prison in the weeks before release, the women examine the presence and impact of one of the thinking myths in their own relationships. In a sixth and final session conducted with each individual by phone 30 days after reentry, the contents of the earlier prison sessions are reviewed and reinforced. 23 references