Process Evaluation Assessing the Gender Appropriateness of the KEY/CREST Program, Final Report

• NCJ Number: 195788
• Date Published: April 2002
• Length: 132 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1999-RT-VX-K016
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This document discusses the KEY/CREST program at Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution (Delaware) and whether it is appropriate for drug treatment services for female inmates.

Abstract

The goals were to assess what the participants thought about the program, and to determine if the women thought the program met their needs specifically based on gender. Data analysis included individual interviews with women currently participating in the program, curriculum analysis, and focus groups with the participants. The program is based on the Therapeutic Community Model, which, in prison environments, is based on the concept that the addict must be removed from the general population and placed in a separate area in which the negative influences of prison are removed. The profile of the typical participant in this program is a woman who is Caucasian or African-American, with less than a high school education, between the ages of 31 and 50 years old. She has children and has suffered some level of abuse in her past; has suffered depression, anxiety and/or an inability to concentrate; participated in drug treatment prior to Baylor; and her drug history began during her adolescence. She is a multiple drug user with the most common drugs used being cocaine and heroin. Four factors will have the most impact on whether she will succeed: a psychiatric history, contemplated suicide, attempted suicide, or difficulty in controlling temper or hostile/violent behavior. The first 5 weeks are critical at Baylor. If she fails, it is likely that she will do it during the orientation of the treatment. If she remains in the program through the 49th week, she is most likely going to remain in the program and be successfully discharged from KEY. Overall, program clients considered the program gender appropriate and the women did not feel unsafe or threatened by the presence of males in the program. Concerns included the need to reduce the level of hostility in encounter groups, more focus on the nature of addiction and the various types of addiction rather than behavior modification, and more direct access to counselors. They found the program rules fair, although some complained that there was favoritism in the enforcement of those rules. 20 tables, 167 endnotes