Prison unit addresses abuse

By Catherine Robertson Souter
January 1st, 2015

According to N.H. Corrections Department officials, nearly 85 percent of prisoners in the state’s penitentiary system are dealing with substance abuse issues. While not all have been incarcerated as a direct result of addiction, it is a problem that does not go away, even under secure lockup.

“It is an issue all prisons have to deal with,” says Jeffrey Lyons, public information officer for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections. “Drugs come in behind postage stamps or on envelopes or thrown over walls or passed through a kiss by a visitor or hidden in a body cavity. They will find ways to get it in.”

A recent rise in drug use across the state has raised concerns for law enforcement and corrections officials, who called it an “epidemic of addiction” during a meeting of the Governor’s commission on alcohol abuse, prevention, intervention and treatment earlier this year. The state’s medical examiner said that at least 61 people had died of heroin overdoses in 2013, up
from 38 in 2012. Meanwhile, the state had its prison population double over the past two decades, although the state’s residential population has gone up by only about 20 percent.

A decision made last year by Department of Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn to alter the way the system addresses substance and alcohol abuse has led to the creation of a new residential block, the “Focus Unit,” to provide intensive treatment in the state’s Berlin prison.

“Drug and alcohol treatment used to be considered an educational program,” says Heidi Guinen, LICSW, the administrator of the New Hampshire Department of Correction’s Forensic and Medical Services Division, “but in a brilliant move by the Department of Corrections, it is now under forensics, so we can use a more clinical approach and pull resources together to provide this program.”

The 65-bed unit opened in August and will provide treatment for inmates with diagnosed addictions as well as those with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. The curriculum will emphasize skill development including motivational strategies, refusal skills, relationship repair, communication, anger management and long-term abstinence and recovery.

“Inmates will live within the Focus Unit for a period of treatment and then be moved out based on their individual treatment plan,” says Guinen. “The curriculum is approximately six to eight months long but it could take longer for some. They will then go into aftercare off the unit.”

The hope is that the treatment will help prisoners avoid common pitfalls once they are released and remain drug and alcohol free for the long-term.

“Substance abuse is one of the most serious public health and safety challenges facing our state and it frequently co-occurs with mental illness, thus addressing these issues is critical to the safety of our communities,” says Gov. Maggie Hassan. “Substance abuse and mental health challenges are prevalent in our inmate population and mental health and addiction disorder treatment will reduce recidivism and help men and women transition back into society when they have served their sentences, which is critical to the health and safety our communities.”

Designed as a pilot program, the Focus Unit was funded within the Corrections Department’s current budget. Plans are to apply for further funding and expand the program to other state prisons if successful.

“We have seen significant changes so far,” says Guinen. “When we opened the unit, 92 percent of the inmates tested as active users and last month the population came back as using at a 35-40 percent rate.”

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