Implementing the 'Integrating Continuum of Care' Model for Severely Addicted Addicts: The Key Maine Experience

摘要

The State of Maine Department of Corrections (hD0C) and the Office of Substance Abuse (OSA) at the Maine Department of Mental Health. Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services opened the Key Maine Therapeutic Community (TC) in March I999 and its Transitional Treatment Program (TTP) in January 2000. Spectrum Behavioral Services, Inc. (SBS) was subcontracted to implement the program that was located at the Maine Correctional Facility in South Windham and the Pre,-Release Center in Hallowell. The U.S. Department of Justice Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) funded the initiative. The following report summaries findings from a process evaluation of the program. The specific aims of the evaluation were (1) to describe the programs implementation, including how successful MDOC is in implementing the therapeutic community (TC) model in a prison-setting. how consistent TC staff and inmate attitudes are with the TC perspective and whether or not counselors are utilizing the TC methods: (2) to profile the drug use, treatment, and background characteristics of the inmates in the Maine correctional facilities who are eligible for admission to the Key Maine TC; and (3) to examine treatment process among clients who entered the Key Maine TC during the fifteen months of treatment. The evaluation was based on (1) quarterly site visits conducted by the principal investigator, (2) a survey of treatment-eligible inmates, client assessment collected from treatment records, and a survey of correctional officers was conducted to examine how they view the drug treatment alternatives for offenders and to collect comparative environmental data on non-TC units at Windham.