NCJ Number
81764
Date Published
1980
Length
68 pages
Annotation
This report describes the Anoka County Jail Treatment Program (Minnesota) and analyzes its clients, service delivery, costs, and treatment effects. It covers the period from January 1, 1977, through March 31, 1979.
Abstract
Findings indicate that the number of effective treatment program staff have increased from 1.8 in 1977 to 2.6 in 1979. This increase has kept the program's staff-to-inmate ratios stable despite the increasing jail population. Overcrowding and the lack of adequate programming space at the jail have limited the types of treatment services available and the efficiency of service delivery. Driving-while-intoxicated and traffic offenses are the major reasons for incarceration among both program clients and the inmate population generally. Most program clients need chemical dependency counseling. Between one-fourth and one-third of all program clients also need education, vocational training, employment, and/or money management counseling. Sentenced offenders doing straight time and who are often unemployed have less access to treatment than work release clients. Expected operating costs for the treatment program amount to $2.71 per incarcerated offender day. The program is meeting its goal of having 80 percent of its work release clients employed or enrolled in educational programs full time at both the time of program termination and for the first year after release from jail. The program is falling just short of its goal of keeping 80 percent of the clients free of major rule violations. The program should be refunded, and its staff should expand their job placement and group counseling efforts. Footnotes and tables are included. (Author summary modified)