According to The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, approximately half of the prison and jail inmates meet the DSM-5 criteria for substance use or dependence, and significant percentages of state and federal prisoners committed the act they are jailed for while under the influence of drugs.
When a crime is committed under the influence, an individual goes to jail, gets released and continues using, which results in more jail time.
One study found that many prisoners who are released relapse. Participants of this study included 29 men and nine women, between the ages of 22 to 57. Over half of the participants knew someone who had overdosed, three of the participants had overdosed after their release and 16 participants lived in shelters.
In this study, participants cited poor social support, lack of financial stability, exposure to drugs and social isolation as reasons for their relapse.
The courts are looking for a way to address this problem, and they know that jail is not the treatment. Ascension Recovery Services provides another option.
Whether or not a run-in with the law offered a wake-up call, legal intervention is often the first step toward recovery. Ascension offers addiction recovery legal services to support families and individuals in need of help when navigating the legal process associated with substance use issues.
Ascension has earned the respect of the courts because we scrutinize requests for legal services to ensure our clients possess a genuine desire for a healthy recovery.
Our addiction recovery legal services are a win for everyone involved:
We have a solid track record of managing the process to ensure treatment is the alternative to incarceration. The courts know that when Ascension is involved, treatment will be managed correctly through a proven, full-family approach:
For individuals and their families, going to treatment can save them money in the long term. Costs that a family could save on include:
There are many levels of care that can be provided to individuals rather than incarceration, including:
Depending on the client’s needs, typically we recommend residential or partial hospitalization treatment followed by appropriate aftercare, setting the client up for the best chance of long-term success.
If the court recommends an extended treatment period, our staff will work with the lawyer, family and client to find the proper treatment plan, and eventually, work to facilitate treatment updates with the lawyer and court.
At Ascension, we believe aftercare is just as important as the treatment. If the client was placed in a residential treatment center, partial hospitalization program or intensive outpatient program, after their treatment, we typically recommend that they live in a sober living home. A sober living home will help the client transition into an everyday lifestyle with the support of a group of people who are going through similar events, will hold them accountable for their actions and provide an additional third-party to report on their progress. Sober living in conjunction with continued outpatient treatment provides multiple levels of accountability and is often in the best interest of those we serve. Statistics show the longer an individual receives appropriate treatment often equates with an increased likelihood of sustainable recovery.
