Preparing Communities for Re-Entry of Offenders with Mental Illness: The ACTION Approach

Presented by: Andradene Lowe & Kris Wilson

Oh No!! We’ve got a Problem • “ Approximately 900,000 people with active

symptoms of serious illness are booked annually into U.S. jails– and three quarters of them have a co-occurring substance use disorder.”

• However, when the offenders are released into community with “multiple, complex, and interrelated treatment needs”, the community is not prepared for the offenders’ needs.

Objective

• The aim was to have cross- system collaboration among the criminal justice, mental heath and substance abuse system to promote recovery of incarcerated people with co-occurring disorders re- entering into the community through education, facilitated strategic planning and follow- up technical assistance.

Main Criminologist

• J. Sacks, S. Sacks, G. De Leon, A. Bernhardt, G.L. Staines : modified therapeutic community for mentally ill, chemical “abusers”.

• H.K. Wexler, G. Melnick, L. Lowe, J. Peters: three year re-incarceration outcomes for amity and prison, therapeutic community and after care.

ACTION Plan

• The action approach, a product of the Adult Cross-Training Curriculum (AXT) Project is a proven approach to improving clinical practices for justice system-involved individuals in jail and in the community by promoting positive changes through cross-system collaboration.

Experiment

Experiment

• Table 1 explains the steps for the professional training process

• Table 2 were the sites where the AXT took place

• Table 3 explains the 12 month steps the people with the mental illness had to take

Data Analysis

• They use study sites which include nine beta pilot test sites(52 participants were selected)

• AXT facilitation: They do system mapping exercise and action planning (educational modules)

• Research and design which is a methodology evaluation via “customer satisfaction” survey I.E. the Kirkpatrick module

Results and Conclusions• The therapeutic communities for those with mental

illnesses are one of the few evidence base treatment strategies that has been successful adapted

• Sacks and colleagues reported 236 males inmates in Colorado with co-occurring illness have randomly assigned to a MTC or traditional mental health program.

• MTC programs has lower rates of re-incarceration as compared to those who received traditional mental heath services ( 9% vs 33%)