The U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) presents the Performance Update Report on the activities of grantees in BJA’s Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) Program.
RSAT’s objectives are to improve the capabilities of state, local, and Indian tribal governments in providing residential substance abuse treatment for incarcerated offenders and prepare them for reintegration into a community through reentry planning for the delivery of community-based substance-abuse treatment and other aftercare services. Although states manage most RSAT-funded programming to adult males in correctional facilities, some programming is provided for juvenile residents and female inmates. In RSAT reports, juveniles who receive substance-abuse treatment are typically counted in the category of residential programs, which requires housing in a facility separate from the general correctional population. States typically distribute RSAT funds to state correctional facilities, juvenile facilities, local jails, and/or tribal governments through a competitive application process. The current RSAT report indicates the total funding awarded to states for FYs 2013-19 to be $103,624,522. The number and amount of grants is shown for each of the seven fiscal years. During these seven fiscal years, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories received RSAT funding. During this period, RSAT funding increased from about $10.6 million in 2013 to just over $26 million in 2019. Overall, approximately 116,000 offenders have participated in an RSAT residential-based or jail-based substance-abuse treatment program. New inmate enrollment peaked in FY 2014 and again in FY 2019 for combined jail and residential enrollment. The average successful completion rate is 73 percent, varying annually and by program type. BJA offers technical assistance in promoting medically assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction. States offering MAT increased from 19 in 2016 to 41 in 2019. 5 figures