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Game plan for reducing recidivism for addicts

The Enterprise - 2/7/2017

In the ongoing battle against opioid addiction and overdose deaths, one population that has largely been overlooked are inmates who inhabit county correction facilities where sentences are shorter and the ability to deal with their addiction issues is thus more difficult.

More than 80 percent of these inmates arrive addicted to alcohol or drugs; increasingly the drugs of choice are opioids and heroin.

In the county system, where average sentences are just six months, offenders may make little progress in combating their addictions before their release and likely a return to their past behaviors that led to their incarceration.

What we do know, based on a five-year long study conducted for the Norfolk County sheriff's office by Northeastern University, is that offender treatment and education programs employed at the Norfolk County Corrections Center are helping to reduce recidivism rates in Norfolk County which - while still high-are markedly lower than the statewide average.

The study, conducted by a team of faculty and graduate students from Northeastern University'sSchool of Criminology and Criminal Justice, started tracking inmates in 2011 while they were incarcerated at the house of correction in Dedham and after they were released to learn how many of these men would reoffend and end up back in the criminal justice system.

The statewide average for house of correction inmates being re-arraigned after their release was 66 percent, with 44 percent of them being re-incarcerated.

The corresponding averages in Norfolk County were 58 percent and 30 percent, according to the final report by the Northeastern University team.

The sheriff's office has long focused on inmate re-entry programming and the Northeastern study provided the opportunity to be measured by an impartial team of researchers. The office has shifted much of its programming to the pre-trial population in order to give the programming more time to take root.

The goal of re-entry programming is to address the issues - such as substance abuse, tendencies toward violence, lack of impulse control, inadequate educational achievement - that brought offenders to the house of correction in the first place.

Often, an inmate's term of incarceration is the only extended period of sobriety he has experienced in years and while generally receptive to making changes while they are with us, the real test is being able to resist old urges after their release back to their - and our - communities, but they often cannot do it on their own.

The sheriff's office used a U.S. Department of Justice grant to develop a mentoring program that matches experienced community volunteers with inmates while they are incarcerated and after they are released to help them with resumes, rides to medical appointments, housing and employment.

The sheriff collaborates with the Gavin Foundation in South Boston on our HOPE (Heroin and Opioid Education) program, which includes the use of the medication, Vivitrol, to help opiate and alcohol addicts kick their habits.

The office is by no means the only correctional agency that runs inmate re-entry programs, but it is our clear focus.

More than 80 percent of the 642 inmates tracked by Northeastern took part in our programming, including studying for the state's high school diploma equivalency test to give them a fighting chance to find gainful employment and take them off the criminal track.

The Northeastern study provided encouraging findings, but much work remains. Increased post-release supervision of inmates would allow the sheriff to keep them on track. Vivitrol treatments, which eliminate the euphoric effects of alcohol and opioids, only work if the inmate continues taking the Vivitrol after he leaves the jail.

Post-release supervision would greatly improve the effectiveness of those treatments. Additionally, sentencing reform would allow for greater flexibility in preparing inmates to reenter society successfully.

With these changes and enhanced involvement with human service partners in the community, we can make our cities and towns safer places to live and work while also taking aim at the addiction crisis in our communities.

Michael G. Bellotti is the sheriff of Norfolk County. Natasha A. Frost, associate dean for graduate students in the College of Social Sciences and associate professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, led the Northeastern research team at the Norfolk County sheriff's office.