EL SOPORTE DEL PROGRAMA ESTARÁ CONSTITUIDO POR:

After providing treatment to drug abusers, it became evident that drug use did not stop at the prison gate; rather, it was widespread and had to be curtailed. Reports of such activity had circulated, but a urine testing program begun on all intakes after the consolidation into a single treatment center proved particularly revealing. Inmates arriving at the center from institutions throughout the State were showing 25- to 30-percent positive rates. In 1984, a receptive administration agreed to do a blind random sample across the entire inmate population. Nearly 13 percent of all inmates were tested, with a system-wide positive rate of 26.9 percent. Institutions ranged from as low as

14 percent to as high as 43 percent. Once baseline data had been collected, a system-wide urinalysis program was implemented, and the rate of positive urines has been reduced to less than 4 percent (Vigdal and Stadler 1989). Drug Education

In a further effort to reduce demand beyond treatment and urine testing, drug education courses have been offered at three major institutions over the past several years for those who are assessed as having either no or minimal substance abuse treatment needs. The DOC is revising and broadening the scope of these services. Drug education soon will be offered to every inmate at both reception and release. Drug education at reception will focus on self- assessment of how drugs have caused difficulties in the inmates’ lives, what they can do about it while incarcerated, and the necessity for a drug-free prison environment. The drug education for all offenders being released will focus on relapse prevention, services offered in home communities, and the importance of relationships with parole agents.

Female Offenders

The treatment of drug-abusing female offenders has presented unique difficulties. Attempts to adopt the male-oriented programs described above proved both ineffective and problematic. Placements in a community-operated TC, after legislative changes made it possible, were met with dropouts and failures. Programing coeducationally with male inmates at the treatment center on a day basis was equally unsuccessful. In 1985, a program was initiated at the women’s prison, which departed from prior treatment efforts by using a feminist model, based on empowerment and consciousness-raising and focused on women’s issues. In 1988, a similar program was established under a Bureau of Justice Assistance grant (87-DD-CX-0008) at a minimum security facility for female offenders. This program is being evaluated as one of six model State programs.

Continuity of Care

A comprehensive system requires continuity of care with a majority of inmates involved in treatment just before release. However, the absence of meaningful community drug abuse treatment has been a tremendous liability. Generally, lacking funds to purchase services and encountering a treatment model to which they cannot relate, many offenders find themselves without treatment even when they are willing to accept it. The parole agent often has been the single link the offender has to the treatment system. However, access to continuing community care has been impeded by lack of training for prison personnel in supervising and treating drug-abusing offenders as well as by limited funding. In the past, agents could confer with treatment staff and the inmate to develop preparole plans or make contact by telephone; but without training and resources, these efforts often were “paper” exercises. With the recent availability of the “war on drugs” money, corrections in Wisconsin moved decisively to address both areas of weakness and enhance continuity of care. Intensive Supervision Specialists

In April 1988, 10 Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) positions were authorized to supervise the most serious drug offenders. These specialists began operating in teams of two with a combined caseload of 40. Supervision standards were developed to hold probationers accountable for their drug use, either through a series of escalating sanctions or to ensure the delivery of treatment services. Contacts were made as often as necessary with the assurance of two contacts per week. Urinalysis was done twice per week to avoid continued use while on intensive supervision. Initial data indicate that even within this serious drug-using population, drug use is declining.

Year-end data for 1989 (Wisconsin Correctional Service, unpublished data, May 1990) in the Milwaukee metropolitan area showed that 25.3 percent of new probationers tested positive, whereas only 12.8 percent of ISP clients were positive. Since its inception, five additional ISP drug agents have been added. Day Treatment

To develop programs that are compatible with institutional programs and specifically designed for offenders, the DOC opened its first full-time day treatment program in early 1988. Day treatment is a 90-day program, contracted to a nonprofit corporation with previous experience working with offenders. This program was modeled after institutional programs with a dual focus on drug use and criminal thinking. Monitored by local probation and parole staff who are immediately involved in its direction, this program has

become a catalyst for community action. The program recently provided training for the entire staff onsite at a minimum security prison on drug abuse and criminal thinking. That minimum facility now serves both as an aftercare facility for inmates who have completed the institution program but are not yet released and as a pretreatment facility for offenders who are to enter day treatment after release.

Since the establishment of the first day treatment program, 12 others have been created. Each program will operate with a similar model and eventually will coordinate activities with a minimum security facility in its area. One facility is devoted to female offenders. This model will create the final step in “closing the loop” with drug-abusing offenders. If an offender is using drugs in the area where this coordinated approach is in place, a referral can be made to a community-operated, corrections-based treatment program. If failure occurs or offenses continue and the client is incarcerated, continued institutional programing is assigned. If the inmate refuses treatment while incarcerated, treatment is mandated upon release after placement in the minimum security facility where treatment then begins. Other release options include 15 halfway houses, also under contract for offender treatment; the majority are directed at drug abusers. Currently, there are four facilities for females and two exclusively for Native Americans. To ensure communication and continuity across the system, joint meetings are held between ISP agents and institutional treatment staff and day treatment providers and institutional treatment staff.

As additional funding is secured, more components are being added to the system. A bill passed in a special session of the Wisconsin State Legislature in December 1989 not only funded the new day treatment programs described above but also funded, as of July 1, 1990, an expansion of the original women’s program, a shock incarceration program for young offenders, a 50-bed preprogram in medium security for inmates entering the TC, and a 50-bed unit for low-functioning offenders. The same bill supported electronic monitoring for offenders in the community who repeatedly test positive for drugs and the initial implementation of the assessment process for all new probationers upon reception from the courts-the first step in making the assessment process uniform across the entire DOC.