NCJ Number
146288
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 73 Issue: 3 and 4 Dated: special issue (September/December 1993) Pages: 355-378
Date Published
1993
Length
24 pages
Annotation
In 1990, the California Youth Authority's Parole Services Branch implemented two postparole drug abuse treatment programs for relapse-prone youthful parolees, one of which was the Southern California Drug Treatment Program at El Centro.
Abstract
The Recovery Dynamics Program in El Centro, based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, teaches and reinforces drug abuse recovery skills. It has two components, orientation and drug abuse treatment (30 days) and community service (60 days), and is designed to reduce parole revocations for technical violations related to drug abuse and to offer parolees an alternative to revocation through voluntary relapse intervention. A total of 154 parolees who successfully completed the 3-month program were evaluated on a number of characteristics to assess their treatment success. During the 15-month evaluation period, 83 individuals (53.9 percent) were unsuccessful, 58 (69.9 percent) during the first 6 months of reparole. Drug abuse ratings by parole agents indicated that 83 percent of removals and 37.7 percent of those still on parole were current, habitual drug abusers. Because the findings are not totally encouraging, recommendations for program modification are offered. 34 references, 3 notes, and 2 tables