Community Residential Treatment and Institutional Treatment

In this chapter, the origins and growth of residential treatment facilities in the United States are discussed. Many of the first facilities to open, such as Dismas House, continue to operate up to the present time. However, the scope of the treatment programs and the types of offenders admitted to the facilities have expanded. Several organizations that started as a one-facility center housing 10–15 residents now have numerous facilities located throughout the United States. Although some of the community residential centers serve as all-purpose treatment facilities taking in a wide range of offenders, the majority now serve as facilities that provide housing and treatment for offenders with a specific problem. Several of the programs in specialized residential treatment facilities are considered in this chapter. In addition, the facilities that are administered by private profit or nonprofit organizations are compared with community residential facilities that are under the auspicious of a local or state government. The characteristics of programs designed to treat offenders incarcerated in state or federal treatment facilities are explained and illustrated in the chapter. Special problems relating to providing treatment in a secure facility are given attention in the chapter, and the methods used by state and federal agencies to address these problems, such as developing separate facilities for the mentally ill, are considered in the chapter.