Citing numerous statistics, Western Missouri Correctional Center (WMCC) Functional Unit Manager Jessica Barnett says Therapeutic Communities have been proven to lower recidivism rates. Barnett has spent the past year gathering information about WMCC's Therapeutic Community, and the "Journal of Groups in Addiction and Recovery" plans to publish her research in the fall of 2009.
"I want to share this information with other people," Barnett told the Horizon. "More institutions in Missouri and elsewhere could do this."
WMCC in Cameron is a male prison housing minimum to high-medium custody level offenders. WMCC began its Therapeutic Community in December 1999. The mission of the Therapeutic Community is to provide participants with an opportunity to change criminal behavior, attitudes and thinking. No tax dollars are used for the program. Funding for the program material and equipment comes from the offender canteen fund.
"The Therapeutic Community program established at WMCC represents a very promising correctional program that is having a positive impact on participating offenders," Division of Adult Institutions (DAI) Director Tom Clements told the Horizon. "Jessica Barnett and other WMCC staff have demonstrated exceptional initiative and professional commitment to develop and nurture this program with existing resources."
"Institutionally, from 2000-2005, the 104 Therapeutic Community offenders received 309 conduct violations and the other 96 offenders in their Housing Unit received 1,027 conduct violations," Barnett wrote in her research report. "The Therapeutic Community offenders received 24 percent of the conduct violations for this time period, but were 52 percent of the Housing Unit's population."
Barnett's research also found that there have been 311 offenders who have participated within Therapeutic Community for at least six months and were released from prison between 2000 and 2007. Of the 311, 103 have returned to prison. Thirty-two of the returning offenders have new convictions. These offenders have a lower recidivism rate than that of the Department as a whole. An offender who has been in the program for at least six months and has been on parole for two years has a 26 percent recidivism rate. That's 12 percent lower than the Department as a whole.
"The offenders enjoy working with the program," Barnett told the Horizon. "It gives them an environment to be around other offenders who want to change their lives."
Barnett also discovered that offenders who complete Therapeutic Community and go directly to parole/discharge have the most success. She also found that the longer an offender participated within the program, the lower the recidivism rate.
"There have been 79 offenders who have completed Therapeutic Community and have been released to direct parole/discharge," Barnett wrote. "Of those offenders, 15 have been returned to the Missouri Department of Corrections. Five of those offenders have received new convictions. On average, these offenders have a 20 percent recidivism rate after two years on parole. This is 18 percent lower than the Department as a whole."
The Therapeutic Community was established at WMCC to provide like-minded offenders a place to live and work together. It has been effective in reducing drug use and a return to criminal behavior. The main goal of Therapeutic Community is to develop a responsible, drug-free lifestyle. Offenders apply for the Therapeutic Community, and must submit an application and essay expressing interest in the program. The program is offender-driven.
"That's very important because it becomes their program," Barnett said. "They feel more accountable to it. It's theirs."
Department Director of Research and Evaluation David Oldfield said the research unit had compared the recidivism rates of the WMCC Therapeutic Community against the Department's institutional long-term drug treatment programs, and the results supported Barnett's findings. After three years from release the recidivism rates of the WMCC Therapeutic Community graduates with substance abuse were 37 percent compared to an average recidivism rate of 48 percent of graduates from the 12 month drug program, the Board six month program and the Offender Under Treatment six month program.
The study also found the populations completing the WMCC Therapeutic Community and the institutional long term treatment programs were similar in terms of intensity of substance abuse and prior criminal history (salient factor). Explanations for the success of the program could be the voluntary nature of the program, the greater duration of the program and the greater selectivity of the program. Successful program completion rates for the program have averaged 39 percent and the graduates have much lower recidivism than offenders who are incompletes or program failures.
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