"Presentation at the 1995 conference on criminal justice research an d evaluation."

The proportion of people in the criminal justice system who are subs tance abusers is very high and has grown larger in recent years. Rehabi litation and treatment offered to prison inmates has had a checkered hi story in this country, however. This paper interweaves a number of them es related to these facts: the relationship of drugs to crime, the curr ent overcrowded situation in correctional facilities, and state-of-the- art treatment approaches used with substance-abusing offenders who are in custody. The paper presents the findings of studies that have demons trated that in-custody treatment, particularly the therapeutic communit y (TC) model, can be effective in preventing rearrest and in other outc omes. Moreover, with this approach, successful outcomes are positively related to the amount of time spent in treatment. Several successful pr ojects - notably Stay'n Out, Cornerstone, Amity Prison TC, Key-Crest, K EEP, and TASC - are highlighted. The CDATE project, a 25-year update of the author's study of the effectiveness of correctional treatment, is also described.

"November 1995."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-64).