Evaluation of the Indian Creek Therapeutic Community (ICTC) Program: Final Report

• NCJ Number: 168069
• Author(s): J G Schuiteman; T Bogle
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 39 pages
• Corporate Author: Virginia Dept of Criminal Justice Services
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; Virginia Dept of Criminal Justice Services
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC.

Annotation

This evaluation of Virginia's Indian Creek Therapeutic Community (ICTC), an inmate substance abuse treatment program, presents methodology, findings, and recommendations.

Abstract

The ICTC will eventually operate within all 10 residential dormitories of the Indian Creek Correctional Center (ICCC), a medium-security prison near Chesapeake, Va. Designed as a therapeutic community, ICTC is a highly structured program based on the value of "self-help" and the application of rules and incentives that promote individual accountability. Evaluation data were obtained from records of the Department of Corrections, the ICCC, and the ICTC. Evaluators also conducted a survey of ICCC staff and tracked program implementation. The original implementation plan anticipated that 10 ICCC dormitories would be converted to treatment-community programming by February 1, 1996; however, only five dormitories are operating as therapeutic communities, with enrollment at about 400 inmates. Four of the remaining five dormitories are scheduled for conversion by April 1997. No date for the conversion of the 10th dormitory, the dormitory reserved for nonsmoking inmates, has been scheduled. The evaluation identified the reasons for the slower than expected pace of implementation. Still, significant progress has been and continues to be made. Staff have been retained, and the skills and abilities of the staff have increased. The quality of staff training has remained high, and specialized classes have been developed as needed. Efforts to increase cooperation and the sharing of treatment responsibilities among the ICTC clinical and ICCC security staffs are succeeding. Policy for handling resistant inmates has been established, aftercare planning has begun, and groundbreaking for the new program-activities building has been scheduled for early December 1996. Eight recommendations pertain to assessment of the adequacy of the current staffing plan, the admission of non-volunteer inmates, aftercare planning, program access to expertise, the lack of assessment instruments, the lack of program-based record keeping, and planning for future program evaluations. 9 tables