CLIFF
From Drug Rehab Wiki
The CLIFF: Clean Living Is Freedom Forever program is the first prison-based intensive substance abuse recovery program to specifically treat incarcerated methamphetamine abusers. The program began in 2005 in Indiana, where methamphetamine use is rampant. The first residential CLIFF program opened at the all-male Miami Correctional Facility on April 11, 2005, followed by the all-male Wabash Valley Correctional Facility on June 9, 2005, and the all-female Rockville Correctional Facility on Sept. 1, 2005. Each program is still in effect and has demonstrated positive results.
Law enforcement considers methamphetamine to be the most dangerous illegal substance in Indiana since it became so widespread among the working class population due to the importation of crystal meth from the west and southwest. In the early 2000s, the U.S. federal government came down on Mexican drug trafficking of crystal meth in the Midwest region, and posed harsh restrictions on the importation of pseudoephedrine in the area as well as its exportation to Mexico, where crystal meth is mass-produced for distribution in the U.S. Yet, because pseudoephedrine is still accessible in the form of some cold tablet medications, and because meth can be made just about anywhere, local meth addicts have resorted to making meth themselves in recent years. Meth is unlike any other drug in this sense because it can be man-made as opposed to being grown, smuggled, and illegally sold. Indiana state law enforcement discovered a total of 1,113 meth labs in 2004; in Elkhart County alone, more than 100 meth labs were discovered in 2009, a 75% increase from 2008.
According to Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, $467.7 billion is spent annually by local, state, and federal governments for substance abuse-related criminal activity, including police staff, criminal investigation, incarceration, foster care, and health care. Only 1.9% of this amount ($7.2 billion) is spent on prevention and treatment programming. Even though scientific research has proven the efficacy and cost-efficiency of intervention and prevention programming, the government still spends $59.83 on public programs for every $1 spent on prevention programming. Due to the recession, obtaining further assistance for these much-needed prevention programs has been even more difficult.
According to the RAND Corporation, methamphetamine use alone is believed to cost the U.S. over $23.4 billion annually. Meth use costs the state of Indiana $100 million due to production loss, health care, and criminal justice. The Department of Corrections in Miami, Rockville, and Wabash Valley have all demonstrated just how effective prevention programs are with the statistical data gathered from the CLIFF program. These facilities all believe that educating inmates about the harmful effects of methamphetamine benefits not only the inmates, but also the economy, government, and population as a whole.
Participants in the CLIFF program are completely separated from the general inmate population to help them focus on their treatment. CLIFF participants take part in 15 hours of daily therapeutic activities. The CLIFF program not only provides recovery, psychological therapy, and substance abuse education, but it also prepares these offenders to return to society with valuable life-skills and positive behavioral adjustment.
Inmates are eligible for the CLIFF program if they have 14–36 months remaining on their sentence, pass an examination that screens their level of involvement with methamphetamine, and compose a written statement expressing their desire to participate. Participation is entirely optional and can help reduce an inmate’s sentence if he or she successfully completes the program. Inmates must sign a contract promising to adhere to the program’s rigorous rules and activities while in the program, yet they are also allowed to leave the program at any time, although this is discouraged.
The CLIFF program is composed of three phases. The first phase is the pre-treatment/orientation stage and lasts about one month. During this phase, CLIFF participants are taught how to become active members of the program, and facilitators help them realize the toxic dangers of meth and other substances and how addiction negatively affects their lives.
The second phase is the treatment stage and lasts three months. This is the therapeutic stage in which inmates apply the knowledge they learned about addictions and relate it to their own lives. CLIFF helps participants realize the damage meth has caused in their lives and understand how their viewpoints on life was altered by their addictions, such as how they stopped caring about things that were once important to them and were willing to go to any length to chase their high. Participants are taught the skills and tools needed to become contributing members of society and to build a sober, positive lifestyle.
The final phase of the program is the re-entry stage and lasts about two months. Participants continue therapeutic treatment while being educated on how to remain clean and sober. The program educates them about relapse triggers and how to prevent them. The ultimate goal of the program is to prevent recidivism in these inmates. They are informed where they can go for help and must agree to seek aid if they believe they may relapse into substance abuse. Participants are educated about counseling, support groups, and other community resources that are available to help facilitate prevention.
Once an inmate graduates from the program, they are encouraged to remain in the program as senior mentors to other incoming participants. To be permissible for graduation, CLIFF participants’ eligibility must be approved by a consensus board, which evaluates their progress, attitudes, and responses. At the beginning of the program, participants are required to take the Client Evaluation of Self at Intake (CESI) exam, and then the Client Evaluation of Self and Treatment (CEST) exam upon completion. These tests measure the participants’ criminally minded thought patterns such as cold- heartedness, self-entitlement, immoral rationalization, and personal responsibility in order to evaluate their progress and the effectiveness of the program. These statistics are compared to the participants’ chances of relapsing and being incarcerated again as they are monitored for three years after their release into society.
So far, the program has proven successful in keeping recidivism rates significantly lower than that of inmates from the general population who have been released from prison.
