Program Phases/Components—Serious Offender Program

The program lasts for 3 years and has four phases. The length of each phase depends on the offenders’ progress. Phase 1 includes house arrest. Phase 2 may involve house arrest also, depending on offenders’ performance. While under house arrest, offenders may go to work and attend treatment. All phases include treatment, with both individual and group counseling. Offenders are required to keep interlocks on all vehicles to which they have access. Offenders may be required to provide BACs at home using home breath-testing equipment. The SOP began

using the SCRAM™ on a few offenders starting in late December 2006. They will likely be using it more in the future. Table 12 shows the requirements for house arrest and treatments in each program phase.

Table 12. Elements of Program Phases

Treatment

Group Therapy Individual Therapy

Phase Approx. Time House Arrest Frequency Frequency

1 7-10 months Yes Twice weekly Once weekly 2 6-8 months Possibly Once weekly Once weekly 3 3-24 months No Every other week Every other week 4 6-8 months No Every 4th week Every 4th week

Movement through phases is not unidirectional. Offenders who move from one phase to the next can be sent back for poor performance. Participants who do not get to level 4 can still graduate from the program, provided they have served their 3 years in the program. The majority of clients do not make it to level 4, due to noncompliance, relapse, or other problems. Still, participants are motivated to progress from one phase to the next due to decreasing levels of supervision.

In rare instances, clients will not feel ready to end their treatment at the end of 3 years and will want to continue with the program. The cost of treatment includes up to 1 year of aftercare free of charge. The SOP staff believe that returning clients can be helpful to those still in the early stages of treatment by providing support (e.g., through relating lessons learned) and by representing examples of lives improved by successful completion of treatment. D.1. Treatment—Serious Offender Program

Treatment most often takes the form of visits to an outpatient facility for both individual and group treatment sessions. In some cases, an offender will be admitted to an inpatient treatment facility. Treatment begins with assessment using standards set forth by the American Society of Addiction Medicine Patient Placement Criteria (ASAM PPC-2R), and using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) for diagnosing alcohol/drug abuse/dependence disorders. Treatment providers may also use the Nevada Health Information Provider Performance System (NHIPPS), which is a secured Web site that can be used as a screening tool, evaluation program, and case management system. The course of treatment is guided by the assessment results, and reassessment is ongoing.

Group treatment lasts 75 to 90 minutes. Group sessions include a maximum of 15 people comprised of SOP clients only. The SOP staff feel that isolating its clients benefits participants because relatively less-violent SOP clients are not exposed to clients whose problems may be more severe and because group members have more in common (e.g., the SOP program). They are therefore better able to provide each other with moral support. During the program, SOP clients reportedly come to know fellow group members well, and support from other SOP clients in the group treatment environment is important to the successful completion of treatment for

many clients. Groups are gender specific. Based on experience, the SOP staff feels that members of mixed-gender groups become distracted by socializing, and that differences in communication styles and approaches to treatment between males and females lead to better results if groups are of one gender.

Individual treatment sessions last about 50 minutes. One-on-one counseling allows treatment providers to address the unique problems of each client and allows offenders to discuss personal issues that they may feel uncomfortable discussing with the group. Staff members who provide individual therapy have master’s degrees and some training in mental health.

D.2. House Arrest

Participants are under house arrest during the first phase of the program. House arrest officers visit at any point in the program. Participants must sign a house arrest inmate contract that stipulates house arrest conditions. Offenders must register their residence and telephone number with house arrest officers. Without first notifying and getting consent from the house arrest officers, offenders may not change residence or their telephone numbers. Offenders must also have an operational landline-based telephone for house arrest and for alcohol-monitoring equipment.

Officers gather information about aspects of offenders’ daily lives that may affect or reflect sobriety, such as relationships with family and significant others, orderliness of the household, and signs of substance use by others in the household. Officers receive training in identifying attempts at deception. Offenders are instructed to ensure their households are free of illicit drugs and alcohol. Offenders sign a waiver of their right to privacy, which allows house arrest officers to search the premises for drugs, alcohol, or other signs of noncompliance. Officers may extend their search to household trash. House arrest officers also telephone offenders to listen for speech indicating drinking or drug use. They also may visit offenders at work.

Officers will look for signs that an offender has access to a non-interlock-equipped vehicle. Officers may conduct surveillance to determine whether offenders are driving noncompliant vehicles.

House-arrest equipment (which includes ankle bracelets, receivers, telecommunication devices, and sometimes in-home breath-test equipment with cameras) is leased by the county jail from a local house-arrest equipment provider. Use of home breath-testing equipment has made it possible to include offenders on the program who live farther away than would have been practical previously.