Drug Treatment

Despite New Strategy, Few Federal Inmates Receive Treatment Gao ID: HRD-91-116 September 16, 1991

Drug treatment in federal prisons is reaching only a small fraction of inmates with serious substance abuse problems. The Bureau of Prison's new strategy to provide treatment seems generally well designed, but implementation falls far short of meeting federal inmates needs. As of April 1991, only 364 inmates were receiving treatment in the intensive residential programs, and less than half of the treatment slots were filled. For inmates who complete the intensive program, aftercare services to prevent inmate relapses are not in place. The Bureau did not aggressively encourage more inmates to participate in these programs and did not hire an aftercare coordinator until recently. For inmates with less serious substance abuse problems, needed services are not available in all prisons. Largely due to its failure to hire needed prison staff, the Bureau has fallen behind in meeting its own timetable for standardizing drug education and counseling for inmates. Despite these difficulties, the Bureau plans to expand its treatment program. The cost of this expansion is expected to triple from an estimated $7.2 million in 1990 to $21.8 million in 1992.

GAO found that: (1) BOP estimated that 27,000 of its 62,000 inmates, about 44 percent of the prison population, have moderate to severe substance abuse problems; (2) only 364 of those inmates are receiving treatment within the BOP intensive treatment program, primarily due to a lack of federal inmate volunteers and an ineffective outreach strategy; (3) although BOP had planned to implement the aftercare component of its program, BOP did not ensure aftercare for inmates completing the intensive treatment program, due to an inadequate implementation strategy; (4) services for inmates with less serious substance abuse problems were not available in all prisons; (5) BOP has fallen behind its own timetable for standardizing drug education and counseling for inmates; (6) BOP plans to expand its treatment program to provide a standardized 40-hour drug education program in each prison; and (7) BOP anticipates that the expansion of its drug treatment strategy will triple its original program costs, from $7.2 million in 1990 to $21.8 million in 1992.

Recommendations

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