Boston Men?s Reentry Program

The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of people who are released from prison and jail and returning to communities, including resources to address the myriad needs of these offenders to achieve a successful return to their communities. Section 201 of the Second Chance Act authorizes the Second Chance Act Reentry Demonstration Program Targeting Offenders with Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders Program, which is designed to provide treatment and recovery support services to offenders during incarceration and after their return to the community. This section specifically addresses the treatment needs of offenders who have substance abuse disorders and authorizes grants to states, units of local government, territories, and Indian tribes to improve the provision of drug treatment to offenders in prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities during the period of incarceration and through the completion of parole or other court supervision after release into the community.

The term co-occurring disorders (COD) refers to co-occurring substance-related and mental disorders. Clients said to have COD have one or more substance-related disorders as well as one or more mental disorders. At the individual level, COD exist when at least one disorder of each type can be established independent of the other and is not simply a cluster of symptoms resulting from [a single] disorder. Projects will implement or expand offender treatment programs for re-entering offenders with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders. Programs should require urinalysis and/or other proven reliable forms of drug and alcohol testing for program participants, including both periodic and random testing, and for former participants while they remain in the custody, or under community supervision, of the state, local, or tribal government.

The Homeless Services Bureau of the Boston Public Health Commission will use the 2010 Second Chance Reentry Demonstration Program: Targeting Offenders with Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders grant to fund the Boston Men's Reentry Program. This program seeks to increase public safety and reduce recidivism by expanding and enhancing residential treatment and support services for adult men re-entering the community after incarceration at the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston or at other county and state facilities. The program will serve a total of 110 individuals over the 24-month project.

The Homeless Services Bureau will enhance identification, assessment, and pre-release planning for men with co-occurring disorders in the Suffolk County HOC and other correctional facilities. In addition, the project will add 15 beds to the Homeless Services Bureau's Wyman Reentry Center and add a 25-bed stabilization and transition program for substance-using men reentering the community after incarceration. Located on the Long Island campus in Boston Harbor, the Wyman Reentry Center provides short-term transitional residential services. The project will enhance the capacity of the Wyman Reentry Center to provide treatment for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. Key enhancements will include: discharge plans from the correctional facility to ensure that individuals have all needed medications, mental health and substance related records, where available, and a plan in place for their follow-up mental health care in the Reentry Center, including scheduling an appointment with the Mental Health Clinician within 24 hours of their admission to reentry. Funds will also be used to employ a new full-time licensed mental health clinician at the Wyman Center and new mental health services, such as on-going group counseling, improved medication management capabilities, and clinical supervision.

CA/NCF