Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) for State Prisoners Program FY 2022

The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority’s (ICJIA) most recent Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the RSAT program was released in October of 2019. The NOFO solicited proposals from state and local agencies for corrections and detention-based treatment and aftercare programs to be supported with RSAT funding.  Four applications were received from state agencies, and one was received from a local agency. The applications were scored by a team of Authority grant and research staff, following our state’s Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) compliant, merit-based review process. We were able to select four of the five applications for funding, including one application from a local jail. 

The selected substance abuse programs began on October 1, 2020, and will end on September 30, 2023.  Two state prison facilities through the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) are administering combined mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. The dual diagnosis program has been designed to treat mental illness, criminal thinking, and substance abuse disorders in one setting at the same time.  IDOC has established and implemented a comprehensive continuum of care that effectively provides substance abuse services to those IDOC offenders who are assessed in need of and amenable to treatment. The continuum includes standardized screening, assessment, treatment/ancillary services, and case management.

The overall goal of this project is to reduce disruptive behavior, drug use, and criminal behavior through effective intervention programs. Services include assessments, individualized case treatment planning, gender-specific individual and group counseling, and mental health services. 

Our local partner, the Cook County Department of Corrections (CCDOC) jail facility serves a large and diverse jurisdiction with thousands of detainees who are victims of substance abuse and who are at a moderate to high risk of recidivism through either re-arrest, reconviction, reincarceration, or revocation due to lack of sufficient and efficient resources to treat and manage their substance abuse directly, as well as underlying reasons behind the substance abuse, which prevent them from entering successfully into their communities.

CCDOC is one of the few jails that offers a program to assist with many of these common mental health disorders detainees face, including assessment, self-help, educational resources, enrichment, counseling, employment, job readiness, etc. The Sheriff and CCDOC recognized the need to expand the program offerings to include substance abuse treatment for the diverse detainee population. With these funds, the CCSO develops and implements a substance use disorder treatment program for men in CCDOC custody.

 
ICJIA will be issuing another NOFO in the spring of 2023 with the hopes of potentially adding more substance abuse treatment programs in prison facilities in Illinois.