NCJ Number
186121
Date Published
1999
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This document summarizes phases of the Comprehensive Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment (CASAT) Program of New York State's Department of Correctional Services and program highlights as of June 1999.
Abstract
The first phase involves participation in an alcohol and substance abuse correctional treatment annex where the focus is on drug education, counseling, and the development of skills and coping mechanisms to facilitate recovery. The second phase, community reintegration, involves moving phase one graduates to work release facilities, with selected participants later placed in the community. The third phase, aftercare, is the first year of release to parole supervision and the focus is on relapse prevention. As of June 1999, seven treatment annexes were in operation. Between 1990 and 1999, the number of inmates assigned to CASAT facilities on a daily basis doubled, from 786 to 1,537, and 26,643 inmates participated in phase one of the CASAT program; 20,141 inmates successfully completed the first phase and moved to community reintegration between 1991 and 1999. As of June 1999, 8,535 participants who successfully completed community reintegration were released to parole supervision. As of June 1999, 1,113 inmates were participating in phase one. Of CASAT program participants, 69 percent were from the New York City area, the average age was 35 years, and 85 percent were convicted of a drug crime. Between 1990 and 1999, 5,389 individuals were removed from a phase one annex, 67 percent due to program failure or custodial adjustment and 33 percent due to program ineligibility. Of 20,141 CASAT participants who entered phase two by June 1999, 1,300 (6 percent) were still in phase two, 10,306 (51 percent) had been removed from phase two, and 8,535 (42 percent) had been paroled. Female participants were more likely to complete initial phase two placement than male participants. Of 3,987 participants who entered the CASAT relapse program by June 1999, 2 percent were still active in the program, 5 percent were paroled, 81 percent were returned to community reintegration work release, and 12 percent were removed from the program. Of the 8,535 cases entering phase three, 7,126 (84 percent) had been released to supervision for a period of 12 months or longer as of June 1999. An estimated $165 million in cost savings resulted from the operation of the CASAT program from its inception through June 1999, $117 million in operational cost savings and $48 million in capital construction cost savings.