MORE DRUG TREATMENT URGED FOR INMATES

OKLAHOMA CITY -- For a drug- addict or alcoholic in prison, it can be a
long wait before help arrives, if ever.

"It is fairly common knowledge that up to 85 percent of people in prison
get there related to substance abuse," said Ben Brown, deputy commisioner
for substance abuse of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and
Substance Abuse Services.

They steal to get money for drugs or commit a crime while on drugs or
abusing alcohol, said Brown, who also is a former state senator.

Despite that, former inmates and inmate rights advocates say drug and
alcohol programs inside state prisons are few and far between.

A recent report indicates many of the programs are ineffective.

"The waiting period can be years long," said Tulsan Lynn Powell, president
of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants. "When an addict needs
help and he is willing to admit he needs help, there is no reason there
shouldn't be a drug program at every single facility."

Inmates have complained that substance abuse treatment requirements imposed
by the state parole board as conditions of release are difficult to meet
because of the lack of programs or the waiting list to get into the program.

Former Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director James Saffle recently
approached the parole board, asking them to impose the treatment conditions
after release, forcing the inmate to take the program in the community.

The board has tried to comply, said parole board Executive Director Terry
Jenks.

One unacceptable alternative would be for inmates to go untreated in prison
and serve out their sentence, meaning they would go back on the streets
with no supervision and no treatment, he said.

Now the board receives more updated information and pays attention to the
projected release date of the inmate, Jenks said.

Inmates with a parole board stipulation to complete a program as a
condition of release are moved to the top of the list, said Mary Smith, the
department's programs administrator.

"I think we are going to have a waiting list in our programs," said Smith.
"We don't have sufficient programs to handle the numbers coming in."

Saffle and his successor Ron Ward have said prison drug and alcohol
programs aren't where they should be.

Both have stressed the need to concentrate on effective programs.

In 1999, Dr. Edward Latessa, of Cincinnati, Ohio, evaluated the
department's programs. He used what is called the Correctional Program
Assessment Inventory to look at effective treatment and rate programs.

His findings showed that nine of 22 programs scored unsatisfactory,
according to a department report to the Board of Corrections.

Dixie Pebworth is director of New Wings of Freedom, a transitional living
house for women and children. He is also a minister at Cavalry Temple
Assembly of God in Tulsa. He is a former inmate.

Pebworth said it was a prison drug program that helped him admit he had a
cocaine problem. But it was a religious affiliation that made him stop
using drugs. He has been clean since October 1987.

Powell said some inmates go into prison without a drug problem and develop
one on the inside.

The department used Latessa's evaluation to make improvements in programs,
Smith said.

The corrections department is working with the mental health department to
improve the programs it offers, she said.

"No, we are not satisfied," Smith said regarding the effectiveness of
programs. "I hope we never get to point were we are satisfied. I want to
constantly be improving. But I think we are moving in the right direction."

The amount of money spent by the department of drug and alcohol abuse
programs has been increasing. In fiscal year 1997, the department spent
$423,863 in state funds and $19,725 in federal funds on substance abuse
treatment. In fiscal year 2001, it spent $3.9 million in state funds and
$539,583 in federal funds.

"In the past, there hasn't been the emphasis placed on treatment in our
state," Brown said. "The trend nationally has been more on the punishment
side and locking them up. Now, there is an increasing awareness of the need
to provide treatment to deal with the causes that get the people there."

Drug convictions accounted for the largest category of incarceration at the
end of fiscal year 2000, representing 26 percent of the inmate population.
Another 4.5 percent were locked up for driving under the influence.

For the entire inmate population, the recidivism rate was 9 percent at the
end of the first year, a figure which rose to 43.7 percent by the 10th
year, ac cording to the department.

The recidivism rate for drug possession was 28.4 percent and 7.8 percent
for drug trafficking.

Powell looks at the lack of drug treatment programs behind bars as an
economic issue, as well as a humanitarian issue.

"We should try to do something before we send them to prison," she said.
"They should have programs at every prison. It would save the taxpayers an
awful lot of money."

Barbara Hoberock, World Capitol Bureau reporter, can be reached at (405)
528-2465 or via e-mail at barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com.