NCJ Number
138293
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1992) Pages: 48-55
Date Published
1992
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The characteristics and inprogram adjustment of participants in the CHOICE program, a 500-hour comprehensive residential drug program for Federal offenders, are examined to determine whether the program is attracting inmates with problems in both the criminality and drug abuse areas and whether these participants are learning to deal with their problems more effectively while enrolled in the program.
Abstract
In only 1 year of operation, the CHOICE program has attracted 132 participants, and these individuals mostly are appropriate for inclusion in such a program by virtue of a past history of serious criminality and/or drug abuse. The disciplinary adjustment of active CHOICE program participants was significantly superior to that of matched controls sampled from the same general population of inmates. Initial indications suggest that the CHOICE program may have something to offer in terms of what works with drug-abusing criminal offenders and that the founding principles of choice, responsibility, cognitive/life skills, and lifestyle are key to the program's potential success. Several issues emerge as critical to the program's ongoing growth and continued success: the intensive demands the CHOICE program places on staff, the considerable support the program requires from prison administration to remain viable, recruitment and retention demands, and public perception of the program. 5 tables and 8 references