JAIL DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM EXPANDS TO MEET HIGHER DEMAND

The average cost of treating each jail inmate in Project Recovery is $457.

Imagine a waiting list to get into a program at the Collier County jail.

That's the case when it comes to Project Recovery, a drug treatment program
in the jail.

"We started having a 60- to 70-person waiting list," said Vickie Freeman,
director of Project Recovery in the jail with PHS/EMSA Correctional Care,
the jail's medical provider. "They were waiting weeks."

Since Oct. 1, the program has been expanded to help meet the demand. Now
there are 52 spaces for men, nearly double from the previous 28 slots, and
the waiting list is down to about 10 male inmates, she said.

"I'm very pleased the program has moved forward as timely and quickly and
positively as it has," said Collier County Judge Eugene Turner, who handles
many of the drug-related criminal cases in the county. He gives defendants
with substance abuse problems the choice of going into Project Recovery in
exchange for a reduced sentence if they successfully complete the program.

Next on the agenda is getting a Spanish-speaking program started for the
fast-growing Hispanic population in the jail with substance addictions,
Turner said.

Started in Collier in 1992, Project Recovery is a 45- to 90-day treatment
program involving a full day's schedule of counseling and group meetings
for inmates with drug abuse addictions. It is a comprehensive program
aiming to address the powerlessness and denial of addiction that has caused
many substance abusers to turn to criminal activity to support their habits.

The program, which includes sessions on anger management, coping skills and
other behavioral issues, runs seven days a week and inmates in the program
are housed in a separate area of the jail.

Funding for Project Recovery comes entirely from the Inmate Welfare Fund,
where state law says a percentage of money generated from inmates'
purchases at the jail's commissary and from telephone calls must be used
for the direct benefit of inmates' rehabilitation.

"It doesn't impact taxpayers," Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter said
regarding how the program is funded.

The average cost of treating each jail inmate in Project Recovery is $457.
With the expansion, the annual cost of the entire program this year will be
$175,000.

Hunter toured a jail drug treatment program in Manatee County in 1989 and
came back to Collier wanting to get a similar program started. In 1992,
Project Recovery was launched.

"What impressed me is when I went in the unit (in Manatee County) and asked
the inmates how many could bond out and be a free person, 80 percent raised
their hands and indicated they could be free (but) were choosing to stay in
the program," Hunter said. "I thought that was very telling."

In Florida, illicit drug activity accounts for as much as 80 percent of the
1.2 million personal crimes reported annually, according to the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement.

While the male program now has been expanded to 52 beds for men, it is
still limited to 12 beds for women.

"The female side isn't as needy as the male side," Hunter said.

The issue for the expansion has been space, and inmates had to be moved
around and now part of the jail medical unit is being used for Project
Recovery, said Capt. Scott Salley.

Freeman, of Project Recovery, said she is adding two counselors and one
clerical person to handle the increased number of inmates in the program.
One of the positions has been filled.

"We needed it," Turner said of the program expansion. "Our next effort (is)
we need an Hispanic Project Recovery for Spanish speaking inmates. The most
appropriate place would be (the Immokalee) stockade."

For many of the participants, Project Recovery is their only source of
treatment, Freeman said. Drug treatment programs in the community have
limited space and can be costly without insurance or without money in the bank.

"These inmates don't have money tucked away for services when they get
out," she said. "Project Recovery, for many of them, is the only way to get
help."

Participants who don't follow the strict regime of counseling will get
kicked out of the program, Freeman said.

Inmates who leave the jail but are re-arrested can re-enter the program at
another attempt at getting clean if there is space, Hunter said. Overall,
though, the recidivism rate has been low, he said.

Last year, the recidivism rate for men was 18.3 percent and 27.8 percent
for women, he said.