Barriers to Implementing Effective Correctional Drug Treatment Programs

AuthorM. DOUGLAS ANGLIN,MICHAEL PRENDERGAST,HARRY WEXLER,DAVID FARABEE,JEROME CARTIER,KEVIN KNIGHT
Published date01 June 1999
Date01 June 1999
DOI10.1177/0032885599079002002
Subject MatterArticles
THE PRISON JOURNAL / June 1999Farabee et al. / DRUG TREATMENTPROGRAMS
BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTING
EFFECTIVE CORRECTIONAL
DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAMS
DAVID FARABEE
MICHAEL PRENDERGAST
JEROME CARTIER
University of California, Los Angeles
HARRY WEXLER
National Development and Research Institutes, Inc.
KEVIN KNIGHT
Texas Christian University
M. DOUGLAS ANGLIN
University of California, Los Angeles
During the past several years, a number of aggressive federal and state initiatives
have been undertaken to expand substance abuse treatment within correctionalset-
tings. These efforts have been fueled by the high rates of substance involvement
among offenders and the growing body of research literature suggesting that inten-
sive,prison-basedtreatmentefforts can significantly reduce postprison substance use
and recidivism. However, the rapid expansion of these programs increasestheir vul-
nerabilitytocommon implementation problemsthat could lead to pessimistic, and er-
roneous, assumptions about their effectiveness. This article summarizes both the re-
searchliterature and the experiences of the authors regardingsix common barriers to
developing effective correctional treatment programs and offers potential solutions
for each.
Primarily as a result of increased vigilance and mandatory sentences, state
and federal criminal justice systems in the United States have witnessed sub-
stantial growth in the proportions of their populations who are serving time for
drug-specific or drug-related crimes. From 1980 to 1995, drug law violators
This work was supported in part by NIDAGrant No. DA11483 for the long-term evaluation
of the Amity Prison-Based Therapeutic Community, the California Department of Corrections
Contract C97.243 for the evaluationof the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, and a
NIDA-sponsored Research Scientist Development Award (DA00146) to M. Douglas Anglin.
THE PRISON JOURNAL, Vol.79 No. 2, June 1999 150-162
© 1999 Sage Publications, Inc.
150

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