Integrated services plus drug treatment as a system alternative to crime control and parole

Integrated services have the potential to facilitate recovery in drug offenders as well as reduce criminal recidivism. This is significant given that prison overcrowding has led many drug offenders to be released from custody into society via the "reentry movement." Offenders incarcerated for many years often return to society with medical, mental health, behavioral, and drug abuse issues. These issues have been found in similar populations, including those with severe mental illness and the homeless, for which integrated services has shown to have a significant impact on improving functioning. Thus the argument of this article is that because integrated services have shown to be effective with somewhat similar populations, integrated services can be effective in treating paroled drug offenders. These benefits are expected to be to a greater degree than that achieved by current system policy regarding paroled drug offenders being supervised by parole officers rather than case managers facilitating integrated services.