Addiction Treatment Program Targets Prison Recidivism

ALBANY, NY (04/22/2008)(readMedia)-- A new program to provide chemical dependence treatment to parole violators and decrease prison recidivism is being launched this week at Manhattan’s Edgecombe Residential Treatment Facility in a collaboration among four state agencies.

Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) Commissioner Denise E. O’Donnell, Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) Commissioner Brian Fischer and Division of Parole (DOP) Chairman and CEO George B. Alexander joined with Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Commissioner Karen M. Carpenter-Palumbo Monday to formally open the facility.

OASAS Commissioner Carpenter-Palumbo said, “We know that about 72 percent of state parolees have a substance abuse problem and effective treatment is the best way to help them return to their communities and not to prison. Addiction is a chronic illness that can be successfully treated so that people can lead full lives in recovery. We are extremely proud to partner with our criminal justice agencies to impact addiction in the lives of these men, their families and in the area of public safety.”

DCJS Commissioner O’Donnell said, “It would be easy to dismiss ‘re-entry,’ or efforts to transition released prison inmates back to the community, as a ‘soft on crime’ approach to criminal justice. The reality is precisely the opposite. If you accept the fact that we cannot and should not lock up every single criminal for life, and acknowledge the fact that nearly all of the offenders we imprison will eventually go free, it is incumbent on us to take whatever action we can to lessen the chances that an offender will re-offend. In short, re-entry is a public safety initiative. The Edgecombe project recognizes that we can reduce crime and victimization by employing smart re-entry initiatives.”

DOCS Commissioner Brian Fischer said, “A short-term, treatment-intensive program makes more sense than another stay in an upstate prison both for technical parole violators and State taxpayers. The conversion of Edgecombe will allow us, by partnering with the DOP and the OASAS, to provide the treatment these violators need in a controlled and closely supervised setting without unnecessarily tying up much more costly general population prison space for longer periods of time. The goal is to be able to get parolees back into their communities, where they can continue treatment and supervision necessary for their success.”

George B. Alexander, Chairman and CEO said, "Edgecombe is an opportunity for us to address technical parole violations without having to resort to sending a parolee back to state prison. The collaboration between Parole, DOCS and OASAS allows us to pool state resources and establish a drug treatment center which will divert these technical parole violators from the traditional violation process."

The Technical Violator Parole Diversion Program (TVPDP) is available to men released from prison who are under parole or post-release supervision within the geographic boundaries of New York City. It will house up to 100 men for 30-day treatment programs that will be administered by OASAS staff until a provider from the region takes over the treatment duties.

The TVPDP is designed to provide intensive services to parole detainees with the aim of returning them to their communities and engage them in further addiction treatment. Each detainee will receive a full evaluation for treatment and an individual treatment plan will be developed.

The Edgecombe facility and joint agency efforts will be a model for future prison rehabilitation and best practices discovery of discouraging the cycle inherent in chemically-dependent parolees.

OASAS, which oversees one of the nation’s largest addiction services systems with more than 1,500 programs, will be accepting proposals from certified providers to take over the treatment program at Edgecombe by this fall. The program is now being staffed by OASAS employees. DOCS security, program and administrative staff and facility parole officers are also staffing the facility.

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