Offenders And The Need For Treatment Case Study

“Recidivism “is as to relapse in behavior; typically, in criminal behavior. Department of Justice Measurements of recidivism include new arrest, new convictions, returning to prison with a new sentence or reincarceration for rest of sentence. Astonishingly enough, with in a 5-year period in 2010 ,70% of offenders that were released had been reincarcerated, due to rescinding back to the life of crime.

Community Based Corrections programs, also known as halfway houses or Residential Reentry facilities, were established as an alternative for prisoners to complete their term of incarceration in a community setting. Residential Reentry facilities provide a structured environment for low, minimum, and high-risk offenders while allowing them to integrate back into society. Specifically, Residential Reentry facilities provide offenders the opportunity to gain employment, establish financial responsibility, and obtain suitable housing. With the overcrowding of prisons, the ability to participate in Community Based Correction programs enables the convicted criminals as well as prison staff to lessen the loads that come with working in a prison as well as improve the lifestyle that comes with incarceration. As with all things in life, there are positive as well as negative outcomes to the participation of these convicted criminals in community-based programs. In viewing the positive and negative outcomes, the end

With California jails and prisons still struggling with finding a reform for non-violent drug offenders the states recidivism rates continue to reach unprecedented numbers. Between 1983 and 1998, drug admissions to state and federal prisons increased sixteen-fold, from over 10,000 drug admissions in 1983 to almost 167,000 new prison entries for drug offenses in 1998 (Worrall et al, 2009). This has been a direct result of our legal system incarcerating offenders who have substance abuse related issues instead of providing a way for treatment or rehabilitation outside of incarceration. Through public policies regarding criminal justice interventions that address drug use and crime, an initiative was created to provide treatment services

The prison population in the United States has been growing steadily for more over 30 years, a great portion of this population are returned offenders. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, each year more than 650,000 offenders are released into communities with at least 5 million of the ex-offenders being under some form of community-based supervision (James, 2010). In an attempt to curtail the rate of recidivism, the Bureau of Prison contracts with Residential Reentry Centers (RRCs) to assist inmates approaching release. RRC’s provide safe, structured, supervised environment, as well as employment counseling, job placement and financial management assistance (Prisons, 2017).

There are over two million offenders incarcerated in the United States creating a strain on correctional institutions (Williams, 2014). The costs of incarcerating the full seven million offenders alone would deplete budget allowances into the red. The annual costs for one incarcerated offender is over thirty thousand dollars. The math is incomprehensible, housing over seven million offenders annually would require a budget of over two hundred billion dollars just for incarceration. In some cases, the costs are even higher, as noted from the text, in a maximum-security prison the costs could exceed one hound thousand dollars a year (Latessa & Smith, 2011).

Until as recently as the 1970s, the focus of criminal justice professionals revolved around rehabilitation of offenders (Cullen & Jonson, 2012, p. 27). Dating back to when the first American penitentiary was constructed in 1820, the idea was that by creating a system that mimicked the concept of a well-developed, law-abiding community within the prison atmosphere,

The number of people incarcerated in America has steeply risen since the beginning of the War on Drugs. In 1980, about 300,000 individuals were in jail. (Alexander, 2010) In 2000, the number rose to over one million, and at the start of 2008, there were 2.3 million adults in prison in America (Pew Center on the States, 2008). These increases in the rate of incarceration are traceable to the War on Drugs (Nunn, 2001). “Convictions for drug offenses are the single most important cause of the explosion in incarceration in the United States (Alexander, 2010).” Drug offenses account for two thirds of the rise in the federal prison population between 1985 and 2000 (Nunn, 2001).

In order to evaluate the program, a quasi experiment was conducted which comprised of a treatment group, individuals participating in the Going Home project, and a control group, individuals who did not participate in the program. The assumptions were that lower recidivism rates would be observed among individuals who participated in the program. This assumption was based on the program’s objectives in assisting the offender and community with reintegration efforts. Together, the offender and community were given resources that assisted in alleviating transitional issues experienced by offenders. The goal of the project was to refer offenders to resources as they transition into the community; prepare communities for an offender’s return; and increase Department of Corrections staff communication to prepare

In this article, the information is pulled from a study of inmate self-report surveys from 2002 and 2004 to examine characteristics of the prison and jail populations in the United States and assess why so many drug-involved offenders are incarcerated. After the U.S “war on drugs” in the 1980s, a large number of drug-using offenders were sent to prison and jail for long periods of time. As with this influx of addicted offenders, interests also grew in community-based drug treatment with justice system oversight as an alternative to incarceration. Overall, drug courts were implemented on a national scale and operate in a wide area of the U.S. Empirical research conducted over the past two decades indicates that, on balance, drug courts are more effective than conventional correction options at reducing the drug use and criminal activity of drug-involved offenders.

There are several approaches to integrate substance abuse treatment into the criminal justice process such as treatment while under drug court supervision, while in prison followed by community-based treatment, or as a condition of parole or probation. The Florida State prison system offers four types of treatment during incarceration, intensive outpatient, residential therapeutic community, transitional re-entry programs, work release center outpatient and after-care services, and outpatient, non-secure and secure community corrections SUD treatment programs (FDLE, 2013). However, due to lack of availability and limited financial support program efficacy remains highly questionable (FDLE, 2013). In general, currently

A hard line stance by law enforcement to treat addiction with a criminal justice approach rather than with a public health approach has resulted in over-crowded prisons and offenders in need of treatment. The rise of the prison population began with enactment of the federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (Olson & Lurigio, 2014). Highlighting the escalating prison population, Olson and Lurigio (2014) noted from 1990-2000 the state prison population had almost doubled. Additionally, Taxman, Perdoni, and Caudy (2013) indicated of the approximate 7 million adults being supervised by the United States correctional system, almost 70% have been diagnosed with a substance use

Prison-based drug treatment programs benefits the criminal justice systems, inmates, and the community in several aspects. Treating drug abuse and/or addiction in the criminal justice field can improve public safety and health. Instituting prison reforms such as re-entry programs and substance abuse treatment; can result in a reduction of recidivism and cost saving. The main goal for drug treatment programs in prison is to transform the lives of those inmates that are suffering from addiction.

This paper will explain similarities and differences between juvenile and adult offender treatment approaches and programs. It will explain tow similarities and differences related to treatment approaches and treatment programs. It will also include an insight gained as a result.

Rydell Correctional Facility has a public mission statement that encompasses upholding staff safety while providing meaningful opportunities for offender success. Rydell Correctional Facility houses the highest custody level of offenders, officially termed extended restricted housing. Offenders at this custody level have killed or seriously assaulted staff or other offenders and not out of their cell more than an hour a day. The director of prisons for the state department of corrections, Mr. Calhoun, is revising the current extended restricted housing policy based on current trends that it is inhumane. Allowing all offenders the opportunity to be out of their cell for four or more hours

However, with such little access to post-secondary education in prison, it is questionable how seriously prisons want to see change. While incarcerated, most people would be lucky to see any kind of GED (General Education Diploma) classes, but even those are lack-luster and irregular (Ross & Richards, 2002). While the completion of a GED is important, post-secondary education is truly the best step to take for education while incarcerated, because the higher education a person can get, the less likely they will recidivate (Hall, 2015). The American criminal justice system generally acknowledges a problem when it comes to mass incarceration and overcrowding in prisons, yet as the years pass, we are cutting these kinds of helpful programs rather than initiating more of them due to continued political and public rhetoric to be tough on crime. Re-incarceration is not working as a form of rehabilitation presently, yet that is the only method we use. It traps people in a never-ending cycle of re-arrest, which increases the likelihood of re-conviction, and that immediately places someone in prison again (Hall,