Jail-based substance user treatment: an analysis of retention

Many jail inmates have a history of substance use and "abuse"; few, however, receive comprehensive treatment for substance use disorders while in jail. The authors offer a longitudinal reanalysis of data from five jail-based substance user treatment programs. Survival analysis was used to identify client characteristics associated with length of time in treatment. Survival curves for the five programs were compared, indicating which ones retained inmates the longest. Results from a model stratified by jail site revealed that inmates over 25 years of age and those already sentenced had significantly longer treatment stays. The Substance Abuse Intervention Division (SAID) program, a modified therapeutic community in a New York jail, and the Deciding, Educating, Understanding, Counseling, and Evaluation (DEUCE) program, a curriculum-based intervention, had the longest survival curves and were, therefore, most effective at retaining inmates in treatment.