The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has squandered $1 billion on ineffective drug treatment programs that have done nothing to reduce recidivism, the state's inspector general said in a scathing new report, "Special Review Into In-Prison Substance Abuse Programs Managed by the Ca. Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation" (PDF).

The Los Angeles Times reported Feb. 22 that Inspector General Matt Cate said that while successful treatment programs have the potential to "change lives and help relieve the state's prison overcrowding crisis," state corrections officials have "squandered that opportunity" by failing to manage programs properly and investing in in-prison programs where participants were destined to fail.

Cate called spending on in-prison treatment since 1989 "a complete waste of money," and said prison officials kept expanding programs even though more than 20 reports said that the programs were failing.

Reacting to the report, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs director Kathryn Jett to oversee a shakeup of the prison treatment program. Cate said that Jett's appointment was the right move, while Jett called the inspector general's report "an excellent blueprint for change."

California spends $143 million a year on addiction treatment for inmates, including on 38 privately operated programs in 22 prisons. Among the problems cited by Cate were that prisons rarely followed the therapeutic-community guidelines of separating treatment participants from the general prison population, that frequent prison lockdowns often disrupt treatment, and that group counseling programs put too many inmates with each counselor.

Cate added that the corrections department repeatedly funded studies of the programs but never took corrective action based on the reports' findings.

"Saying it's a billion-dollar failure is really a mischaracterization of what's happened, because there have been some very successful programs that have delivered amazing reductions in recidivism," said Rod Mullen, chief executive officer of Amity Foundation, which runs some of California's in-prison treatment programs. However, Mullen agreed with the report's contention that lack of followup care hurt treatment effectiveness. "That's the key, and we've known that for 10 or 15 years," he said. "What's been missing is a commitment by the department, the Legislature and the governor to make sure it happens."