(PI: K. Knight; Task Leads: W. Lehman, J. Lux, J. Pankow, R. Proffitt, Y. Yang, & G. Joe)
As a national crisis, substance use (SU) among people in the criminal justice (CJ) system requires effective intervention. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) provides substance use treatment in federal prisons through a number of different programs designed to assist participants in examining the impact of substance use on their lives, committing to and maintaining recovery from substance misuse, and leading more productive lives when released from incarceration back into the community. Delivering effective intervention programs is needed to mitigate the problems associated with this targeted population.
BOP Drug Abuse Programs (DAP) Contract (base year plus four subsequent option years)
The First Step Act (FSA) of 2018 is a major bipartisan prison reform act designed in part to reduce prison overcrowding by providing credits for early release for low-risk, non-violent inmates earned by participating in positive, evidence-based programming. The BOP contracted with TCU’s Institute of Behavioral Research (IBR) to conduct a five-year evaluation of four BOP Drug Abuse Programs (DAP): Drug Education (DE), Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), Non-Residential Drug Abuse Program (NRDAP), and Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT), as well as evaluating patterns of program participation and outcomes for people who have participated in two or more of these programs.
- Drug Education (DE): A psycho-educational program required of all inmates who have a drug history, are sentenced for drug crimes, or where it is required by the sentencing judge. It generally consists of 12 hours of programming providing basic information about different drugs of abuse and information about other BOP drug treatment programs.
- Non-Residential Drug Abuse Program (NRDAP): Typically includes 12 to 18 hours of programming in 12 group sessions incorporating cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) concepts.
- Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP): The most intense treatment program offered, consisting of 500 hours of programming during the nine-month course, utilizing a modified therapeutic community model also incorporating CBT principles. Participants in RDAP are housed together in the same cell block and progress through three 90-day phases.
- Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT): Provides medications for opioid use disorder to inmates in order to reduce drug cravings and drug-seeking behaviors.
Evaluation activities include three distinct phases:
- Ongoing Analyses: Data is being analyzed from every inmate in federal custody who participated in any of the four programs between 2014 and 2018. Outcomes include institutional adjustment (e.g., infractions committed while incarcerated) and recidivism indicators such as rearrest following release and return to federal custody.
- Qualitative Interviews (2023–2024): Interviews were conducted with 263 inmates and 80 staff from 10 facilities representing all of the BOP’s security levels and geographical regions. Feedback focused on program strengths, barriers to success, and potential areas of improvement. Data includes inmates held in federal correctional facilities operated by the BOP or staff working at these facilities and employed by the BOP.
- New Data Collection (Planned):
In order to examine more proximal indicators of program impact, plans are being developed to collect new primary data by administering surveys to a sample of program participants and those on waiting lists and brief interviews with program staff. Goals of the surveys are to assess knowledge about program concepts, ratings of the treatment process for participants who have completed the program (e.g., counseling rapport and treatment satisfaction as well as ratings of program content), use of key program concepts in their daily life and interactions, and program impact on areas expected to change as a result of program participation, including criminal thinking and decision-making.
Expected Impact
These analyses are expected to have significant impacts for BOP programs:
- Help satisfy Congressional mandates built into the FSA requiring evidence-based programs.
- Assist the BOP in determining the impact of programs and identifying areas for improvement and barriers to participation.
- Provide a model and tools for continued program monitoring and evaluation.
BOP Anger Management (AM) Contract (base year plus two subsequent option years)
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) provides a number of evidence-based recidivism reduction programs for inmates incarcerated at BOP facilities. The BOP’s cognitive-behavioral Anger Management (AM) intervention is one such program provided in all of the BOP’s 122 institutions intended to reduce anger and violence. The BOP contracted with TCU’s Institute of Behavioral Research (IBR) to conduct a three-year evaluation of their AM programs mandated by the First Step Act (FSA) of 2018, which was a major bi-partisan prison reform act designed in part to reduce prison overcrowding by providing credits for early release for some low-risk, non-violent inmates who participated in positive, evidence-based programming. Prior to the IBR’s AM evaluation, the BOP indicated that their program had never been evaluated. A final report on the IBR’s AM evaluation has been submitted to the BOP, which was the first program evaluation under the FSA to be completed.
Evaluation Overview:
The AM evaluation had two key components. The first was quantitative analyses of data from all federal inmates across the federal system who participated in BOP AM classes between 2014 and 2018 to assess the relationship between completion of the AMcurriculum and disciplinary infractions before and after AM, rearrests after release from federal custody, and return to federal custody after having been released.Complementing these data were qualitative interviews collected between 2023-2024 from 45 inmate participants and 9 AM facilitators from nine BOP facilities who provided feedback on the Anger Management curriculum—focusing specifically on program strengths and areas of improvement. All data involved inmates held in federal correctional facilities operated by the BOP, or staff working at these facilities and employed by the BOP.
Quantitative Analysis Results:
To examine the relationship between AM program participation and program outcomes, we compared inmates who competed AM with those who enrolled in AM but did not complete the program. We also compared participants with low program exposure (6 hours of AM programming or less) with participants who had higher exposure (more than 6 hours). Outcomes of interest were infractions committed while incarcerated(comparing infractions prior to AM participation to infractions following AM participation), rearrests after release from incarceration, and return to federal custody after being released. Classification and predictor variables included demographics, sentence type, mental health classification, and facility type.
Overall, about 68% of AM participants completed the program, and compared to participants who did not complete AM, they were more likely to be older, female, Asian or Hispanic, in lower security facilities, or having the least severe mental health status classification. Participants who completed AM and those with higher exposure to AM programming were less likely to have had any infractions before or after AM participation when compared with non-completers. When controlling for the number of infractions prior to AM participation, the impact of the program on post-program infractions was small although positive. There were also positive but small relationships between AM completion and being rearrested after release from incarceration both in terms of likelihood of being rearrested and time to first rearrest. Similar results were found for return to federal custody, with positive but small relationships between AM program completion and likelihood of returning to federal custody as well as more days on average before reincarceration.
Qualitative Analysis Results:
Focus groups and interviews were conducted between November 2023 and June 2024with 45 AM participants and former participants, and nine AM program facilitators in nine different BOP facilities representing all five of the BOP’s security levels (camps, medical facilities, low, medium and maximum security) and all BOP geographical regions.
Program Strengths. Staff and participants reported strong, positive reactions about the AM program and curriculum. Participants reported AM to be very helpful in identifying and managing anger, allowing them to respond more rationally to those emotions. They found the AM program to be a therapeutic experience in which they were able to share their own experiences and learn from the experiences of others. Staff echoed these positive sentiments, sharing that the program is well-rounded and its foundation in psychoeducation gives participants the knowledge and tools to manage anger in their daily lives. The primary strengths identified by both participants and staff include the hands-on curriculum and the program’s group setting
Potential areas for improvement. While participants and staff both overwhelmingly reported that AM had a positive impact, they also shared frustrations with the duration and frequency of the programming, noting that infrequent programming inhibited their motivation to participate. Frequent lockdowns, especially in maximum and medium security faculties, disrupted continuity and lowered motivation. They also shared that that while the program was beneficial, participating earlier in their sentence could improve their ability to navigate the prison setting. Staff also shared the need for more resources, including personnel, space, and more evaluative information to assess the benefit of the program.