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date of program admission and discharge, and reason for discharge (successful v.
unsuccesshl). This database will provide critical information for program monitoring and
evaluation. Program admission decisions can be better informed by information about the
inmate’s previous participation in treatment, as well as the inmate’s assessed need for
treatment and other program eligibility criteria (e.g., type of offense, minjmum release
date). The same data are vital for setting up valid comparison groups for outcome
evaluation (e.g., matching designs).
Limitations
As noted, the major limitations in the present study were the brevity of the follow-up
periods so far and the attendant sample sizes available for multivariate outcome analyses. Inmates
were not released &om prison as quickly as we had expected based on program eligibility criteria
such as minimum release date. As more inmates are released, and as average time at risk
increases, we will revisit the analyses and conclusions formulated in this report.
The sample reduction between the first, second and third administrations of the REST and
CRC instruments also placed limits on the types of analyses we were able to conduct. Too few of
the inmates who completed repeated measures on the REST and CRC instruments had been
released fkom prison at this time, precluding some analyses of interactions between treatment
process and outcome. Again, our ability to conduct such analyses will increase as we follow
released inmates over greater periods of time.
More research on how prison-based drug treatment interfaces with critical post-release
mechanisms such as parolee supervision, employment and aftercare treatment would be valuable,
Over the past twenty years, concern about prisoner re-entry has been heightened by the growth in
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imprisonment rates, the fkagmentation of sentencing philosophy, the weakening of parole
supervision, and the concentrated return of offenders to disadvantaged communities (Clear, Rose
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This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.