Studies Show Prison Drug Treatments Work
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Of the 2.3 million inmates in the United States, more than half have a history of substance abuse and addiction, according to an article in Newsweek.
Not all those inmates are imprisoned on drug-related charges (although drug arrests have been rising steadily since the early 1990s; there were nearly 200,000 in 2007). Josiah Rich, a professor of medicine and community health at Brown University, is worried that, by refusing or neglecting to provide treatment to these addicts, many U.S. prisons are missing the best chance to cure them-and in the process to cut down on future crime.
The article points out that over the last few years, some in the justice system have warmed to the idea of treating drug addicts in addition to (or instead of) incarcerating them. In some states, most notably Ohio, almost all first—time drug offenders and many second-timers are offered treatment.
But many states are cutting back on such programs. According to a report released last year by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), just one fifth of inmates get some form of treatment. That number may be lower in the near future since tight budgets are forcing many states to cut back or close down their existing treatment programs. Kansas and Pennsylvania have already done so; California and Texas may follow suit.
What corrections officials and lawmakers fail to recognize is that by lowering recidivism, the programs themselves save money in the long run. The NIDA report released last year found that heroin addicts who received no treatment in jail were seven times as likely as treated inmates to become re-addicted and three times as likely to end up in prison again.
For every dollar spent, the programs save $2 to $6 by reducing the costs of re-incarceration, which could result in a savings of approximately $47,000 per inmate.
To read the article, click here.
For more information ways to reduce the number of nonviolent, drug-abusing inmates in U.S. prisons, visit Justice Fellowship’s Drug Policy and Mandatory Minimums resource page.
