WING FOR METH RECOVERY OPENS AT STATE PRISON

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana's battle against methamphetamine use is expanding
to its prison system, where inmates hooked on the powerful stimulant can
now get help staying clean at a new unit devoted solely to treating meth
addicts.

A 204-bed meth-treatment wing at the Miami Correctional Facility, about 60
miles north of Indianapolis, opened yesterday as a pilot project.

Gov. Mitch Daniels, who toured the wing, told inmates that he hopes it can
be expanded to Indiana's other prisons.

"You can't help but have hope that this thing just might work. It has to
work for the people involved; it has to work for our state," he said.

Inmates who take part in the voluntary, nine-month program will be immersed
in it for 15 hours a day, seven days a week. Those who complete it can have
up to six months shaved off their sentences.

J. David Donahue, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction,
said more than 900 of the state's 22,140 inmates qualify for the program
because their convictions are for meth use or production, or for related
crimes.

"The meth problem is pervasive at this point. We're seeing a lot of it in
the penal system, but it's just a reflection of what's going on in our
communities," he said.

Only inmates who are within 24 months of release and not in
maximum-security units can participate. If they qualify, they will be
transferred to the Miami facility if space is available.

Donahue said the correction department will closely track the post-release
relapse rate of inmates who finish the program.

Although substance-abuse treatment programs are common in the nation's
prisons, Indiana's program may be the first specifically for meth addicts,
said Harry Wexler, a principal investigator with the National Development
and Research Institutes in New York City.

"It sounds tremendously exciting because meth is such a powerful drug --
one of the most powerful drugs," said Wexler, who has studied drug
treatment in prisons for more than two decades.

Unlike drugs such as crack cocaine, which produce a relatively brief
"high," meth's high can last up to eight hours and is often associated with
sexual activity and violence, he said.

According to the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 12
million Americans have tried methamphetamine.

Daryl Hall, the state corrections department's director of programs, said
about 80 percent of Indiana's inmates have a history of substance abuse.
The department is screening all inmates to identify those who are eligible
and willing to take part in the new program. The 204-bed unit should be
filled next month, he said.

The three-phase program focuses on the importance of lifestyle and behavior
changes needed to avoid a relapse when inmates are released. They must
develop their own relapse-prevention program and also learn skills such as
filling out job applications.

"We want to get them hot on the trail and with the right mind-set when they
hit the streets. We want those skills to be fresh in their mind," Hall said.