Process Evaluation of the Wisconsin Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program for Female Prisoners: The Women in Need of Substance Abuse Treatment (WINSAT) Program

• NCJ Number: 183647
• Author(s): Kit R. Van Stelle; D. Paul Moberg Ph.D.
• Date Published: April 2000
• Length: 116 pages
• Grant Number(s): 98-RT-VX-K003
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

This process evaluation report covers the development and initial implementation of the Women in Need of Substance Abuse Treatment (WINSAT) Program at the Robert E. Ellsworth Correctional Center in Union Grove, WI.

Abstract

The WINSAT program is an intensive, extensive, and comprehensive substance abuse treatment program for female offenders. It has a capacity to serve 30 female inmates in a minimum-security environment. It is structured as a modified therapeutic community and is designed to provide a minimum of 7.5 months of treatment. The evaluation research identified and documented important aspects of treatment program implementation. It documented project progress in implementing the treatment program and offender participation in treatment; and it developed the data design for future impact evaluation. WINSAT has accomplished a variety of activities since its inception. Treatment staff have been hired and received extensive training. A 30-bed wing of the institution has been renovated into a clean, comfortable, and secure treatment center. WINSAT staff developed a program mission statement and goals, as well as the treatment model and concepts. Staff selected participant assessment instruments and developed a format for treatment planning. Project data collection forms were developed to describe the participants, to document project services, and to assess intermediate outcomes. Two separate outcome evaluation designs were developed as part of the current process evaluation study. Some challenges encountered in developing and opening the program included both institutional-level barriers (delays in staff hiring, difficulties in staff recruitment, delays in passage of the State Budget, and parole board policies) and program-level challenges (staff communication, development of the aftercare component, and lack of staff training in implementing a therapeutic community). 9 tables and appended program documents and evaluation instruments