UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 22, Page 3
March 5, 1992
Building bridges; New drug rehab program opens for prison releasees

     Dan grew up with an abusive father. At the age of 11, he was
sexually assaulted by a neighbor and, by the age of 13, he started
drinking alcohol. By the time he reached 21, he was using cocaine.
Dan told his story Monday to government officials, University of
Delaware administrators and state corrections leaders.
     They were gathered in Wilmington to celebrate the opening of
an experimental, federally funded research program on drug
rehabilitation for prison releasees operated by the University. Dan
is one of the program's first participants.
     Directed by University sociologist James A. Inciardi, the new
therapeutic community work release program, known as the CREST
Outreach Center, is the largest drug rehabilitation program in the
state and the first to combine a three-stage approach involving
behavior modification and counseling both in and out of prison.
     Funded by a $4.8 million grant from the National Institute of
Drug Abuse (NIDA), the project is based on a model in which inmates
would receive primary treatment while in prison, secondary
treatment including counseling and job training at a work release
center and outpatient counseling and continued group therapy upon
return to the outside community.
     At Monday's ceremony, Delaware Gov. Michael N. Castle said,
"We probably have a better opportunity in the CREST program than in
any program that's been conceived in this country yet. The eyes of
this country will be on this program....If it does work, then
hopefully there will be other grants and there will be permanent
funding, and indeed we will have started to discover a solution to
the problem.... So, my fingers are crossed, my hopes are high, my
trust in the people who are working on this problem and this
program are great, and I believe that if we stay together and we
continue down that road we are going to meet great success."
     U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden noted that the University "has been
involved in the community for a long, long time in many different
ways," calling it the state's "intellectual center of gravity."
     But even with this record, he said, this new initiative for
the University is unusual. "With the leadership of the governor,
the president, the University's commitment and the personnel and
staff that have been assembled, this is one of the best hopes we
have for putting together the kind of bridge that is needed between
prison, addiction and society, and I compliment you all," he said.
     U.S. Rep. Thomas R. Carper quoted Nikita Khruschev, who once
said, "Politicians are the same all over-they will build bridges
where there aren't any rivers." "Folks, we have rivers," Carper
said. "We have rivers of misunderstanding, we have rivers of
despair, we have rivers of crime, we have rivers of abuse that need
to be bridged....This facility will provide the kind of bridge to
bridge those gulfs to make sure that people on the other side do
get across to join the rest of us in a productive life."
     University of Delaware President David P. Roselle extended a
welcome to the participants in CREST. "I'm delighted to welcome you
to be students of the University of Delaware," he said. "Set your
sights high. We deal in success at the University. After you've
succeeded in this program, we have lots of other programs available
as you go about setting your life's goals, and we look forward to
playing that role for you and with you. First, succeed in this, and
then, on to other successes!"
     The program concluded with presentations by three CREST
residents who described their experiences and what they are gaining
from their participation.
     Located at 3202 North Market St., Wilmington, the CREST
Outreach Center will offer individual counseling, group therapy,
job preparation training and housing to at least 360 work-release
inmates over the five-year life of the study. More than $200,000
was spent to renovate and equip two buildings next to the Plummer
House work release center to provide a kitchen, meeting rooms and
offices. Residents of CREST Outreach Center are housed on the
second floor of the Plummer House, but have a separate entrance
from the general work release population housed there.
     Sixty subjects with a history of substance abuse can be housed
at CREST at a time. The population includes men and women from the
general prison population and some from the state's prison-based
therapeutic community program called the Key. All CREST clients are
eligible for work release via the Department of Correction.
     The state provides housing, food and medical care for clients
involved in the project, but security, building maintenance and
treatment are provided by the residents themselves and by
University of Delaware treatment personnel. "As part of going
through the therapeutic community program, every client is trained
as a counselor," Inciardi said. "Therefore, anyone who sticks with
the program has the basis for a career in this type of counseling."
     The treatment regimen at the center lasts approximately six
months. Urine monitoring is conducted at unscheduled intervals, and
evidence of drug use can result in expulsion from the program.
     CREST clients also are participating in a research project in
which the center is the treatment component. As part of the
research design, CREST clients and a control group of regular work
release inmates are interviewed prior to release from prison, and
again six, 12 and 18 months after release. They also participate in
urine and HIV testing. All research respondents, including CREST
clients, participate voluntarily and are paid.
     Inciardi, who has been on the University's faculty since 1976,
has conducted drug abuse research at numerous sites in both North
and South America, and he has been involved with research on AIDS
since 1986. Director of the University of Delaware Center for Drug
and Alcohol Studies, he also is a member of the South Florida AIDS
Research Consortium and is affiliated with the Department of
Oncology at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
     Dorothy Lockwood, associate scientist at the center, is
project director, and Bruce M. Wald is CREST clinical director.