Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners

Goals:

1) Continue the identification, assessment, and referral of alcohol/drug offenders needing addictions treatment services who are presently incarcerated or who are entering the correctional system.

2) Maintain the continuum of treatment services for incarcerated individuals.

3) Maintain the continuum of care for incarcerated individuals completing addictions treatment programs within the correctional system and returning to the community through an appropriate range of aftercare services, improving coordination among agencies responsible for treatment, and increased information sharing.

4) Promote awareness by the general public and stakeholders for the need to provide intervention and treatment for the substance abusing offender. Type of Programs to be implemented/Strategies to be used: Funding will support three residential treatment units set apart from the general correctional populations in their respective facilities - one for male youthful offenders, one for female offenders, and one for adult male offenders. Participants will undergo treatment between six and twelve months in  a therapeautic community setting. The programs will focus on the substance use disorder of the offenders and develop the offenders' cognitive, behavioral, social, vocational, and other skills to solve the substance use disorder and related problems.

Major Deliverables: The overall purpose of the program is to promote and enhance public safety through the reduction of crimes committed by drug-involved offenders who have been released from state correctional facilities. A reduction in re-arrest rates and conviction rates, as compared to matched incarcerated individuals who did not receive this treatment, will reduce the number the victims in the bed spaces, and save tax dollars. Additional benefits include the promise of a better life for formerly incarcerated individuals and the potential for them to reconnect and support their families, as well as satify restitution and other financial commitments. 

Coordinated Plans: The South Carolina Department of Public Safety, acting as the State Administrative Agency, shall administer the RSAT funding to the sole subgrantee, SCDC. That department will operate two residential substance abuse treatment programs under the therapeutic community model, one for male youthful offenders and one for females. The SCDC will coordinate the release of offenders who have graduated from the ATUs into the community with the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, the South Carolina Department of Alhocol and Other Drug Abuse Services, and local drug treatment agencies.