National Evaluation of Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) Programs in the United States, 1995-1999

The Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) for State Prisoners 
 Formula Grant Program, created by Title III (Subtitle U of the Violent Crime 
 Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994), was designed by Congress 
 to implement residential substance abuse programs providing individual and group 
 treatment for inmates in residential facilities operated by state and local 
 correctional agencies. Under the Corrections Program Office of the Office of 
 Justice Programs of the United States Department of Justice, state and local 
 correctional agencies received funds to develop or enhance existing programs 
 that: (1) lasted between six and 12 months, (2) provided residential treatment 
 facilities set apart from the general correctional population, (3) were 
 directed at the substance abuse problems of the inmate, (4) were intended to 
 develop the inmate's cognitive, behavioral, social, vocational, and other 
 skills in order to treat related problems as well as the substance abuse, and (5) 
 continued to require urinalysis and/or other proven reliable forms of drug 
 and alcohol testing of individuals assigned to treatment programs during and 
 after release from residential custody. The National Development and Research 
 Institutes, Inc. (NDRI) entered into a cooperative agreement with 
 the National Institute of Justice wherein NDRI would evaluate the extent to which the goals of the RSAT program 
 were being accomplished and the problems that were encountered by the 
 participating states. The methods of this national evaluation were: (1) 
 an initial state survey to ascertain the RSAT programs and program directors 
 in each of the 50 states plus five territories and the District of Columbia 
 and to collect basic information on the aggregate impact of the RSAT-funded 
 programs in each state or territory (Part 1, State Data), (2) a follow-up state survey to 
 collect more detailed information on the aggregate impact of the RSAT-funded 
 programs in each state (Part 1, State Data), and (3) an initial program survey to describe 
 the separate RSAT programs as they came on line and to assess whether a few of 
 the programs might serve as model programs which could undergo subsequent 
 intensive evaluation (Part 2, Program Data). The sampling method used was a census of all the existing RSAT-funded 
 programs and all of the state RSAT officials. Part 1 variables include the 
 amount of RSAT funds received by the state in fiscal years 1996 to 1998, 
 amounts from other sources of funding, and amount spent on salaries, training, 
 drug tests, other supplies, and facilities, as well as number of residents, number of 
 staff, reasons why funding was delayed, RSAT award date, and RSAT end date.
 Part 2 variables include the number of clients in the program, number of beds 
 available, number of staff by gender, race, age, education, profession, and 
 years of experience, admission inclusion criteria, reporting procedures, treatment 
 type and duration, type of drug testing and number of tests, annual budget, 
sources of funding, and cost per capita.

Tags: correctional-facilities, drug-testing, drug-treatment, grants, inmate-programs, program-evaluation, substance-abuse
Organization: Department of Justice