The Alabama Return and Recover Program

The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of people who are released from prison and jail and returning to communities, including resources to address the myriad needs of these offenders to achieve a successful return to their communities. Section 201 of the Second Chance Act authorizes the Second Chance Act Reentry Demonstration Program Targeting Offenders with Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders Program, which is designed to provide treatment and recovery support services to offenders during incarceration and after their return to the community. This section specifically addresses the treatment needs of offenders who have substance abuse disorders and authorizes grants to states, units of local government, territories, and Indian tribes to improve the provision of drug treatment to offenders in prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities during the period of incarceration and through the completion of parole or other court supervision after release into the community.

The term co-occurring disorders (COD) refers to co-occurring substance-related and mental disorders. Clients said to have COD have one or more substance-related disorders as well as one or more mental disorders. At the individual level, COD exist when at least one disorder of each type can be established independent of the other and is not simply a cluster of symptoms resulting from [a single] disorder. Projects will implement or expand offender treatment programs for re-entering offenders with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders. Programs should require urinalysis and/or other proven reliable forms of drug and alcohol testing for program participants, including both periodic and random testing, and for former participants while they remain in the custody, or under community supervision, of the state, local, or tribal government.

The Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH) has been awarded a Second Chance Act Reentry Demonstration Program Targeting Offenders with Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders Grant Award in the amount of $300,000. ADMH will use grant funds to provide pre-release mental illness and substance abuse relapse prevention skills training and intensive case management services for male juvenile offenders ages 12-18. Special focus will be placed on ethnic and cultural differences which are essential to the long term success and recovery of the minorities represented in the target population. Approximately 70 youth will participate in the Assertive Continuing Care evidence-based case management services, random and periodic urinalysis for drug/alcohol use, and the research based Robert Wood Johnson Innovative Recovery Model (R&R Program) use of cell phone technology to engage and support the juveniles' relapse prevention efforts. The goal of the R&R Program is to decrease the target population's recidivism rates, maintain continuous contact and support with the target population for at least one year post discharge, assist the participants to maintain a high rate of compliance with their continuing care plan, establish normative data in collaboration with university researchers on measures of impulsivity and assess the predictive validity of these measures with treatment and aftercare outcomes, and expand the existing continuing care/case management model to multiple organizations and providers.

CA/NCF