Treatment preparation in the context of system coordination serves inmates well

A large percentage of jail inmates suffer from substance abuse problems; however, providing treatment in jail is difficult. Multnomah County's In Jail Intervention Program (IJIP) demonstrated an effective alternative. Finigan, Barron, and Carey (In press) and Barron and Finigan (1999) demonstrated that inmates with substance use problems, especially women, participating in IJIP experienced fewer rearrests and reincarcerations. To address the question of what led to these outcomes, quantitative data were abstracted from program, jail, and state administrative databases and were supplemented by face-to-face interviews with key informants, including program participants and former participants. In addition to their substance abuse problems, IJIP participants were chronic offenders who were more likely to be diagnosed with mental health problems. Results suggest that treatment preparation together with coordination of jail release and entry to treatment increased numbers enrolling in treatment and helped former inmates engage in treatment more quickly. Quantitative data suggest that the longer inmates stayed in IJIP, the more likely was completion of community treatment.