Indiana Steps Up Efforts to Treat Meth-Addicted Offenders
By Meghan Mandeville, News Research Reporter
Submitted by Cherie Wood, District 8

A clean lifestyle is freedom forever.

That is how the new therapeutic community - C.L.I.F.F. - at Indiana's Miami Correctional Facility got its name. And that is also what the methamphetamine -addicted inmates who are living there will, hopefully, learn in less than a year's time.

The C.L.I.F.F. Therapeutic Community began at the Indiana prison on April 8, with the goal of treating offenders who have abused meth and giving them the skills they need to remain drug-free and crime-free when they return to the community.

"We have a booming methamphetamine problem in Indiana that has been growing over the past several years," said Daryl Hall, Director of Programs for the Indiana Department of Correction.

In response, the DOC has created this program to address the unique needs of meth-addicted offenders, Hall said.

"You've got guys that have potential organ damage, particularly with the liver, lungs and heart," said Hall. "We tend to see guys that are malnourished [and] have mental problems due to the chemicals that are involved in the making of meth."

Additionally, people who have abused meth may have some memory impairment and suffer from a feeling of bugs crawling under their skin - known as meth bugs. This sensation can cause people to dig at their flesh and injure themselves, Hall explained.

The widespread use of meth in Indiana combined with the growing number of inmates throughout the state who are incarcerated for reasons related to the drug prompted officials to create the C.L.I.F.F. Therapeutic Community.

All staff working on the unit, including the corrections officers, have been specially trained to effectively manage this population, Hall said. They understand cognitive behavioral and social learning approaches, as well as issues that are specific to meth addiction, he added.

The program is geared toward inmates who are within 14-24 months of being released and is voluntary. Substance abuse counselors are presenting it to inmates at facilities throughout the state to see if they are interested in it, Hall said.

"We keep generating names on a daily basis of more folks [who] are interested in being involved with the program," said Hall. "We'll have no problem keeping those beds full."

The two-tiered C.L.I.F.F. unit has space for 204 offenders. So far, 30 inmates have been transferred into the program, but Hall expects it to be at capacity by mid-May, with inmates participating in its three phases before they are released.

According to Hall, one of the strengths of the program is how busy the inmates are kept throughout the phases of the program.

"[A] real important piece to this unit is the intensity of the program," said Hall. "There's a set schedule that has offenders active in treatment-related activities up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week. There's very minimal to no idle time."

The program starts off, in its first phase, by orienting the inmates to C.L.I.F.F. and educating them about meth and how it impacts their lives.

"The guys are going to get some real basic information," said Hall. "It's kind-of the pre-treatment phase. We are working on readiness for change."

During phase two, inmates will begin the treatment phase of the program, Hall said.

"We are going to be focused really on the nuts and bolts of substance abuse treatment," said Hall, noting that inmates will receive both individual and group counseling and life skills education during this phase. "The focus of that whole phase is really to start building and developing some skills and making some changes in terms of their attitudes and their beliefs [about] their [drug] use," he said. "We are starting to challenge their cognitive processes."

According to Hall, the second phase lasts for about three months, with the end goal of producing some type of behavioral change in the inmates. Then, the program focuses on the offender's reentry to the community.

"That is where we focus heavily on relapse prevention issues," said Hall.

He added that, in the third phase, which typically lasts for two months, the inmates learn how to apply the skills they developed during the beginning of the program to the real-life situations they will face in the community. Additionally, the offenders will finalize their reentry plans at this point, he said.

"We'll be working towards hooking them up with the community resources where they can continue their recovery efforts once they return home," Hall said.

According to Hall, the DOC intends to monitor offenders' attitudes and values to see if the program is having an effect in that area. He said the agency will also be tracking recidivism data once the first group of inmates are released back into the community.

For now, though, the program is in its infancy, with only a couple of weeks under its belt. But still, Hall said, the response from inmates has been positive so far.

"[The reaction from the inmates] was very, very pleasantly upbeat and supportive," said Hall. "We had a press conference on April 11, which involved the Governor and the Commissioner and, bar none, every single offender was excited to the point that they were anxious for all of the dignitaries to leave so that they could get down to the business of the day."

The business of the day for these offenders in the C.L.I.F.F. unit is kicking their meth addiction and developing the skills they need to remain clean and sober in society when they are released. Officials in Indiana hope they will be able to achieve that goal through this new program.