Is substance abuse treatment actually ‘treating’? The effectiveness of pre- and post-release substance abuse programming within the reentry process

The process of reintegrating back into society can be a difficult time for formerly incarcerated individuals in desisting from substance use. Although prior work has shown that experiences like securing employment or abstaining from criminal peers can help individuals desist from substance use, one aspect about which criminologists know considerably less concerns the role of substance abuse treatment programming during reentry. Using the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative data, we explore the role of substance treatment programming on substance use through multiple avenues. Namely, we investigate the impact of substance abuse treatment during prison, during reentry, and over time. Results of longitudinal models demonstrate that individuals who participated in pre-release substance abuse treatment programming report significantly lower levels of substance use than those who did not participate in pre-release substance programming. Yet, we find that individuals who participated in substance treatment programming post-release reported significantly higher levels of substance use than those who did not participate in post-release programming. Finally, we find no evidence that substance use treatment programming relates to decreases in substance use across time.