Among the prison programs on the chopping block because of the $1.2 billion cut in the budget of the California prison system are those dealing with substance abuse. The $250 million slash in rehabilitation programs will translate to an estimated 30 to 60 percent reduction in substance abuse-related staff positions. The cut in this area is especially ominous given the commonly held belief that substance abuse is a huge contributing factor to criminal activity. Prisoners themselves fear that any reduction in the already inadequate substance abuse treatment will result in unsafe prisons and unsafe communities.
According to California’s Little Hoover Commission, an estimated 80 percent of parolees are substance abusers. Therefore California’s prison population of some 160,000 would require at least 128,000 treatment slots. The plan, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) Fact Sheet, is to reduce the current number of treatment slots from 12,000 to 2,000 and to streamline in-prison substance abuse treatment services.
Robert P. Morales is a certified California Association of Alcohol and Drug Counselors (CAADAC I) who has taken the 255 hours of training for the practicum, passed the written exam and spent well over 4000 hours as an intern in a substance abuse treatment program called ACT.
Although ACT is not directly affected by the budget cut, Morales is deeply concerned about the effect of the cuts in state-funded programs. He believes that California’s citizens, incarcerated and free, will feel the impact both among prisoners remaining in prison and those being released from prison without adequate treatment.
“People become a part of their environment,” Morales said, “Prisoners come in damaged. They get involved in programs and make progress. Taking away treatment creates idle time that can revert the individual to criminal and addictive thinking.”
The streamlined version of in-prison substance abuse treatment will cut the current 6-36 months of substance abuse treatment to three months. According to James Houston, another prisoner who is also a certified CAADAC I counselor, “Drugs and alcohol are life-long issues for the long term user. It takes about a year after the person has stopped using for his brain to start back functioning normally.”
Information provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse notes, “There is no predetermined length of treatment. However, research has shown unequivocally that good outcomes are contingent on adequate lengths of treatment… participation for less than 90 days is of limited or no effectiveness.”
Public safety depends on expanding programs that work. The CDCR fact sheet noted, “The return-to-prison rate after two years for offenders who complete both in-prison and community-based substance program is 35 percent compared to the 54 percent for all offenders.” Drug counselor Houston believes strongly that substance abuse treatment slots should not be reduced, the streamlined substance abuse treatment approach should not be pursued, and those who need treatment should get it. Houston said providing prisoners the help they need before they are released is the key to safer prisons and safer communities.
