Program after prison may help addicts.

• Position: Delaware's substance abuse rehabilitation program for prisoners

Prison-based drag treatment "rarely reduces post-release criminal recidivism and drug use relapse," according to the Institute of Medicine.

A number of studies have established that 75 percent to 80 percent of all criminals have alcohol or other drug problems. And, left untreated, they have a three to five times greater recidivism rate.

Inmates need treatment, but what treatment works? The answer seems to lie with small groups involved in intense therapy sessions designed to change the negative patterns of behavior that led to drag abuse. The programs showing the most promise extend beyond a criminal's release from prison.

One such program in Delaware was recently lauded by the U.S. drug czar, retired General Barry McCaffrey. He called it "a role model for the nation for turning lives around and reducing crime." He said the program demonstrates the importance of continuing treatment for inmates when they return to the community.

Delaware sponsors intensive, three-stage substance abuse rehabilitation that begins in prison with a program that pulls 105 convicts into a separate facility and away from the rest of the inmate population. Once there, they undergo three kinds of therapy - behavioral, cognitive and emotional.

Treatment continues through work release with a six-month program at an outreach center. At the start of the program, each resident is assigned a primary counselor. Addicts then join group...