#diversion programs

Yes, there are numerous accounts of people being abused in these settings. Even dying.

Despite decades of advocacy, America’s jails and prisons remain the largest providers of mental health care, a reality that underscores systemic failure. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that about 37% of people incarcerated in jails have a diagnosed mental health disorder, but correctional facilities are neither designed nor staffed to provide adequate psychiatric care. The criminal…

Instead of offering substance abuse treatment, diversion/rehab program Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery (CAAIR) offers factory work for one of America’s top poultry companies. 

Across the country, judges increasingly are sending defendants to rehab instead of prison or jail. These diversion courts have become the bedrock of criminal justice reform, aiming to transform lives and ease overcrowded prisons.

But in the rush to spare people from prison, some judges are steering defendants into rehabs that are little more than lucrative work camps for private industry, an investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.

The programs promise freedom from addiction. Instead, they’ve turned thousands of men and women into indentured servants.

The beneficiaries of these programs span the country, from Fortune 500 companies to factories and local businesses. The defendants work at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Oklahoma, a construction firm in Alabama, a nursing home in North Carolina.

Developed in 1972, the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime approach tries to divert drug offenders from the criminal justice system and into rehabilitative treatment. According to TASC’s website, the program’s success comes from “ capitalizing on the leverage of the criminal justice system to achieve maximum benefits from treatment.” TASC represents a precursor to Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, King County’s program which redirects offenders prior to booking or arrest.