By RONNIE ELLIS
CNHI News Service
September 30, 2008 11:28 am
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Kevin Pangburn, director of the Department of Corrections’ Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, says about 80 percent of the state’s inmates have substance abuse issues.
Four years ago the state had treatment programs in six of its prisons and two in county jails providing a total of 475 beds. But with 21,700 state inmates, 80 percent works out to 17,360 inmates needing access to those 475 beds.
“We were certainly overpromising and underserving,” Pangburn told the Criminal Justice Council Monday.
The council is looking to make recommendations to Gov. Steve Beshear and the legislature for ways to reduce prison costs and populations.
There’s some help on the way, Pangburn said.
There are now programs in 15 county jails and the General Assembly – in its two-year budget, House Bill 406 – provided funding for 10 more that should be ready next spring. That means, Pangburn said, the state can serve between 1,800 and 2,000 inmates a year.
Each inmate is now evaluated upon entering the system and the information is immediately downloaded to the University of Kentucky Center for Alcohol and Drug Research.
“This is the best way that a person who comes into the Department of Corrections goes out differently,” Pangburn told the council.
Pangburn couldn’t provide a precise cost of the program – the data is being collected now to determine how much it costs on top of the usual costs of incarceration. (Usual estimates put the cost of housing a state inmate at more than $20,000 a year.) But Pangburn said most of the cost for the treatment program comes from either federal programs or from money specifically appropriated by the General Assembly. It does not come out of the DOC budget.
It’s clearly a savings in the long run, Pangburn said.
“For every dollar spent, I think we’ll save $4.75 or $5,” he said.
Studies routinely tie substance abuse problems to criminal behavior. Those treated in long-term, residential treatment programs typically have much lower rates of relapse – or recidivism.
Another program through 10 Kentucky Recovery Centers offers help, too. Originally conceived as a response to homelessness during the administration of former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, the centers now make 33 beds available to DOC for parole violators with substance abuse problems. And that number might increase to 50.
Republican senators Dan Kelly and Robert Stivers have previously sponsored legislation to create more such treatment programs as an alternative to imprisonment, but the measure has died in the House. The money for the extra programs in county jails was inserted into the budget during negotiations between the Senate and House.
The council is expected to deliver recommendations on ways to cut costs and reduce prison populations to Beshear by the first of December.
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