State of Wisconsin 2023 Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Program

The State of Wisconsin FY23 Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program will focus efforts on two programs. The first is a state program at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ Taycheedah Correctional Institution. This project is housed in a separate section of the state’s female prison and provides 20 weeks of residential services to women prior to their release from prison.  The second is a Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) project located in Dane County, Wisconsin and functioning in the Dane County Jail and in partnership with community-based treatment service providers. 

More specifically, funds will be used by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections at Taycheedah to implement a Dual Diagnosis Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program for female residents that meet criteria for both substance abuse disorders and mental health diagnoses. The Dual Diagnosis RSAT program will use a multidisciplinary approach to address residents' substance abuse and mental health issues through the use of medication-assisted treatment, mental health education, group and individual therapy with licensed psychological associates, and other forms of trauma-informed care. The goal of the Dual Diagnosis RSAT program is to implement a long term, community-based program of maintenance, rehabilitation, stabilization and recovery.

Dane County will provide jail based in-reach services to current offenders in the Dane County Jail. Inmates who were identified as having a substance use disorder will be eligible for this project. Treatment services will begin as soon prior to the inmate is released from Dane County Jail. These services will include case management and medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder.

Both projects are well positioned to develop expertise on working with these difficult client populations and could be influential in efforts to develop more effective treatment approaches throughout the state and nation.  While strategies need to be developed to better evaluate these efforts and share the results with similar efforts statewide, RSAT funding provides a starting point for this analysis.