PUBLIC SAFETY THE BEST GUIDE

The official and proper response to drug-addicted and alcoholic felons in
California's prisons who don't want treatment for their addiction is:
"tough - get treatment or lose privileges."

Faced with a worst-in-the-nation recidivism rate and studies that show
treatment - even forced treatment - can reduce criminal behavior; California
corrections officials aren't taking "no" for an answer. Good for them. ...

While it would be nice if all inmates sought and welcomed treat-ment when
they needed it, it's not inmate acceptance, but public safety that ought to
guide prison drug treatment policy. The public, which spends on average
$20,758 per inmate each year, is entitled to expect that reasonable efforts
have been made to ensure the inmate does not leave prison just as addicted
and, consequently, just as likely to commit crimes as when he entered.

Without treatment, a staggering 70 percent of all inmates commit new crimes
after their release. For inmate addicts treated in tough "therapeutic
community" models, followed up with an out-of-prison aftercare program, the
return-to-prison rate dropped dramatically, to just 16 percent.

Some treatment experts question the validity and efficacy of forced
treatment. As with any program where tax dollars are expended, there is
reason to continue testing assumptions and studying results.