PROBLEMS INVOLVING METH IMPACT ALL DETENTION FACILITIES

Maj. Leon Wilmot of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office said Yuma County
jail does not have any specialized programs to deal with
methamphetamine addicts who are incarcerated.

"Unfortunately, because they are not in here long enough, we do not.
We can give them resources so they can get into those programs once
they're out."

But Wilmot said problems involving methamphetamine affect all of the jails.

"A lot of your narcotics crimes are integrated into other crimes,
like burglary, assaults, thefts. A lot of your crimes are associated
with meth. They spend all their money and when they run out of money,
they need to steal things to sell."

Wilmot said lately there has been a spike in theft of aluminum water
sprinkler pipes, because meth addicts are trading them for cash at
salvage yards.

"They break into residential and commercial structures to find
anything of value they trade or pawn for money for drugs."

He said 12 percent, or 69 inmates, of the total current jail
population were incarcerated for dangerous drugs. Not all of those
were meth arrests, but, he said, many other people were arrested for
violating probation, which may have been for meth use.

In Arizona Department of Corrections facilities located in the Yuma
area, roughly 6 percent of those incarcerated are or have been
methamphetamine users, according to ADC statistics.

The ADC has decided it needs a targeted program to help
methamphetamine users kick the habit to help save taxpayers' money by
keeping them from committing the same crimes over and over again and
ending up back in the system, according to ADC spokesperson Katie Decker.

"Because meth is such an incredibly powerful drug, and because it's
growing so rapidly ... we need to get special help to deal with this
situation. There's no research on how to deal with meth in prisons.
It's a new problem."

After seeing the pattern, ADC began recent tracking of meth users.
Decker said detox programs do not solve the problem, because they
only make the inmates able to function, not cure them of the addiction.

So ADC is asking the state for $233,000 to fund a methamphetamine
pilot program.

Of the ADC inmates admitted statewide since April 2006, 13.1 percent
were admitted meth users.

Decker said half of all the meth offenders admitted to prison
officials that they were self-proclaimed addicts who were under the
influence of meth when they committed the crime that landed them in jail.

"They have gone through detox at the county," Decker said. "When they
get here, they still need to be treated. We need to target
specifically meth users - to reduce the likelihood of them returning
and costing more (for the) taxpayers."

--
In The Works

Proposed Arizona Department of Corrections Methamphetamine Pilot
Program - Fiscal year 2008

- - Target population: 300 inmates (1 clinician per 100 inmates)

- - Treatment environment: Correctional therapeutic community

- - Treatment mode: Group format

- - Group size: 16 inmates

- - Sessions per week: 3 sessions, a total of 60 group sessions in 3 phases

- - Length of session: 2 hours per session

- - Length of program: 6 months

- - Treatment modality: Cognitive-behavior

- - Treatment content: Early recovery skills, recovery skills, relapse prevention

- - Clinical components: Therapy groups, psycho-educational groups,
support groups

- - Other program components: Basic education/GED preparation,
part-time work, peer mentoring, peer tutoring

- - After-care: Step-down support services for 6 months after program completion

Source: ADC Counseling and Treatment Services - Addiction Treatment
Services Program