Bill > S2614

Introduced Session

This bill creates the "Earn Your Way Out of Prison Into Supervision, Treatment, and Recovery Program" in the Department of Corrections (DOC). The purpose of the program is to address the needs of certain drug or alcohol dependent offenders through the combination of effective, clinical substance abuse treatment and strict supervision designed to reduce the health and social costs to the public of substance abuse and dependence and to increase public safety by reducing substance abuse related crime. The program is also intended to reduce the States spending on corrections by decreasing the length of jail sentences and curtailing recidivism. The program would be administered by a Director of the Earn Your Way Out of Prison Into Supervision, Treatment, and Recovery Program who would be appointed by the Governor. In the first year of implementation, DOC would allocate approximately $15 million to the program and would enroll 500 offenders. In subsequent years, DOC would allocate approximately $25 million to the program and would enroll an additional 500 offenders per year. Under the bill, an inmate would be preliminarily eligible for the program if it were determined that the person had a substance abuse disorder that was responsible for the underlying criminal behavior. Individuals convicted of certain violent offenses would be excluded. A person who made positive progress on a self-guided recovery and reentry curriculum for at least six months during incarceration would become eligible for the program two years before the date on which he would otherwise be eligible for parole. Before receiving a final determination about program eligibility, a person would submit to a psychiatric and medical examination. The psychiatric evaluation would include recommendations for future psychiatric care that would facilitate the persons successful completion of the program. While incarcerated, an inmate would have access to telephone services and video conferencing, such as Skype, to facilitate the inmates efforts to reach out to members of the community for continuing treatment and support and to reconnect with family members. The director would determine the number of hours an inmate would have access to these services and which person on the outside of the facility the inmate would be allowed to contact. A person accepted into the program would first complete a 60 to 90 day commitment at an approved Assessment and Treatment Center and would then be referred to a residential treatment facility. After a period of time to be determined by the director and the facility provider based upon the persons clinical progress and compliance with the programs requirements, the person would be assigned a parole officer with substance abuse treatment experience and would be released to a Halfway House Substance Abuse Treatment Center. The director, in cooperation with the treatment center and the parole officer, would decide when the person is ready to move into a Partial Care Substance Abuse Treatment Center and similarly when the person could be moved into a less restrictive Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Facility. The bill requires that all treatment facilities be licensed and approved by the Division of Addiction Services in the Department of Human Services. A person who: (1) has satisfactorily completed the treatment program, (2) has completed two years of treatment in the program; (3) has not committed a substantial violation of any term or condition of the program within the preceding 12 months; and (4) is not likely to relapse or commit an offense if supervision and related services are discontinued as determined by the parole officer and certified by the director would be considered to have completed the program. A person who successfully completed the program would be subject to the general laws governing parole for 36 additional months during which a community treatment center would provide additional counseling services. After the 36 months, the person would be discharged from the supervision of the State Parole Board. The Earn Your Way Out of Prison Into Supervision, Treatment, and Recovery Program created by the bill is modeled in part on a program known as the Mutual Agreement Program (MAP) which provides offenders with chemical abuse treatment at private facilities. The new program is intended to build upon the existing MAP program to provide recovering offenders with effective treatment and a gradual reduction in criminal justice supervision as the person masters the skills necessary to thrive outside of the States criminal justice system. The Department of Corrections estimates that it costs the State $49,000 per year to house a State sentenced inmate in one of the States prison facilities. In contrast, the cost to the State is $11,162 per year for offenders who participate in the States drug court. Drug court diverts non-violent offenders from prison by placing them in treatment and supervised community release situations. It is the sponsors expectation that the cost to the State of the post-prison and residential treatment phases of the Earn Your Way Out of Prison Into Supervision, Treatment, and Recovery Program would be similar to the annual per person cost of drug court. The savings generated from diverting 500 inmates from the State prisons into the Earn Your Way Out of Prison Into Supervision, Treatment, and Recovery Program may save the State more than $8.5 million dollars in the first year, and nearly $17.5 million over two years.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Christopher Bateman (R)*,  Sandra Cunningham (D)*,  Raymond Lesniak (D)*,  Andrew Ciesla (R),  John Girgenti (D),  Nicholas Sacco (D),  Loretta Weinberg (D), 

Referred to Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee (on 03/03/2011)