CDCR Launches Offender Mentor Program
A new rehabilitation program has been launched at the California State Prison in Solana. It is a program that could
“revolutionize the way we provide rehabilitation in this state’s prisons,” says Sol Irving, Correction Counselor III. The first class of 50 long-term inmates, most of them “lifers,” will soon complete the Offender Mentor Certification (OMC) Program. Those who pass a national exam in June will be certified as alcohol and drug counselors by the California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (CAADAC), and assist fellow inmates with recovery. California is believed to be the first state in the nation to launch an in-prison substance abuse counselor certification program.
Some OMC program graduates will be transferred to work in other prisons in the state. Program graduates who are eventually released can use the certification to obtain a job. The program is administered by the Orange County Department of Education, which provides
certified alcohol and drug counselors to facilitate the program workshops, under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).This “extremely innovative, cutting-edge program” is “a major innovation in criminal justice rehabilitation,” says Terence T. Gorski, an internationally recognized expert on substance abuse, violence and crime, and among the top experts in the recovery field who are teaching Solano’s first OMC class. “It is a way to bring a sense of meaning and purpose into the lives of long-term offenders and also to expand by multiples the availability of addiction treatment within correctional facilities without increasing costs,” he says. He predicts that the program will make “a tremendous difference” in reducing recidivism.
There is a great deal of detail in the special edition of the CDCR Rehabilitation News.
Uncategorized