Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) for State Prisoners Formula Grant Program FY 2024

The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority’s (ICJIA) most recent Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the RSAT program was released in June of 2023. The NOFO solicited proposals from state and local agencies for corrections and detention-based treatment and aftercare programs to be supported with RSAT funding. Five applications were received from state agencies, and one was received from a local agency. The applications will be reviewed and 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.

The selected substance abuse programs began on October 1, 2023, and will end on September 30, 2024, with an option to renew the agreements for an additional 24 months. Our current RSAT program supports three state prison facilities through the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and two local partners, the Cook County Department of Corrections (CCDOC) jail facility and the Kane County Sheriff’s Department Adult Justice Center (KCAJC).

The program administered through IDOC combines 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 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. 

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 the 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 treatment program for men in CCDOC custody.

The KCAJC implements its substance use disorder program in conjunction with a community-based outpatient substance abuse treatment program that is licensed by the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. KCAJC created a recovery pod for women providing similar services as the male recovery pod and opened up the substance abuse treatment program to incarcerated women in surrounding counties.

The project will assist detainees with substance abuse treatment as well as provide access to medically assisted treatment. Services are targeted toward the identified historically underserved and marginalized population. These individuals include those who are incarcerated, who lack minimum health insurance, suffering from mental illness, and individuals who because of their substance use disorder are unable to maintain a minimum income to support basic living necessities.