2022 Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Program Formula Grant

The State of Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC), the State Administering Agency, is pleased to submit this application for the FY 2022 Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Program Formula Grant. CJCC is requesting funding to support and promote the reduction in recidivism for a greater proportion of the offender population on both the state and local levels. CJCC will partner with the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) and Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice (GDJJ), as well as local agencies, as subgrantees to appropriately expend these funds on evidence-based substance abuse and opioid abuse programs for incarcerated adults and juveniles across the state.  

In 2012, the State of Georgia embarked on a series of aggressive and longitudinal criminal justice policy reforms to revolutionize the treatment of juvenile and adult offenders. The State of Georgia makes a concerted effort to align federal funding streams to statewide initiatives, including a multi-facility juvenile RSAT program at DJJ, an expansion of the adult RSAT program at GDC, and multiple local level adult RSAT programs. The focus of this grant funding will be geared towards assisting agencies with lowering recidivism rates by continuing to provide and enhancing services available to offenders who have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder. Programs modeled after best practices, with adequate amounts of treatment, have been found to reduce recidivism by up to 40 percent.

Funding will be used for state and local correctional facilities to continue to support and improve their RSAT programs.  GDC is seeking to implement a pilot program for the use of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for individuals diagnosed with an opioid use disorder at three state prisons: Coastal State Prison, Johnson Prison, or Pulaski State Prison.