Although weekly attendance was higher in 2008 than in any previous year, the therapy program continues to be one of the more under-utilized services provided at the Minimum Security Jail. This was the sixth year that probationers from the community were referred to this group.  It provides an excellent example of the utilization of the Minimum Security Jail as a service center for county probationers from each of the courts. 

 -Anger Management Education-

Service:                                    Anger Management Education

For:                                            All Minimum Security Jail inmates
When:                                        Wednesday afternoons/Wednesday evenings
Provider:                                  Western Reserve Counseling through ADAMHS Board grant 

As part of the grant from the local Alcoholism, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board mentioned above, the Western Reserve Counseling agency of Painesville provides weekly educational sessions for all of the residents of the Minimum Security jail on topics related to anger, its appropriate and inappropriate expressions, its impacts on individuals, families and society and on improving one=s management of anger.  This is a mandatory activity for residents of the jail.  Lectures are provided at two different times, enabling full participation for all residents regardless of the shift they are scheduled to work.  Unlike other services available at the Minimum Security facility, the Anger Management Education group is completely dependent upon the actual population of the jail rather than on referrals from outside sources.  In 2008, 388 different inmates attended the Anger Management Education program.

 -Chemical Dependency Continuing Care- 

Service:                                    Chemical Dependency Aftercare

For:                                           Inmates and offenders from the community who have completed the Jail Treatment
                                                  Program and/or NEOCAP.  Offenders on Intensive Supervision felony probation comprise
                                                 the target population.
When:                                      Monday and Thursday evenings, 6:00 – 8:00pm
Provider:                                 Lake Geauga Recovery Services, Inc.

            The Minimum Security Detention facility again provided continuing care services to offenders who successfully completed the Jail Treatment Program and/or NEOCAP in 2008.  The continuing care group was staffed once again by Lake-Geauga Recovery Services, Inc. through funds provided by the Ohio Bureau of Community Sanctions.  The Continuing Care Program lasts for 12 weeks and is based on a model developed specifically for the offender population.   The program reinforces the idea that addicts suffer from a chronic and progressive illness that requires continuous monitoring.  It promotes 12- Step Self Help groups as being integral to successfully managing this chronic condition.  The program explains in an easy-to-understand way how and why AA works.  It also explores relapse triggers and how to manage them.   The Continuing Care Group served one-hundred eight (108) offenders in 2008.  Of that number, seventeen (17) were carried over from a 2007 admission (16%) and twenty-three (23) were still active in the group as we entered 2009 (21%). Sixty-eight offenders (63%) were both admitted and discharged within the calendar year.  As in previous years, the great majority of probationers took advantage of the group on an Aout-patient@ basis, i.e., they came to the Minimum Security Detention facility from their homes and returned home when that day=s service was completed.    Of the 85 individuals who completed the program, 62 (73%) did so successfully.  About 18% (15 probationers), were unable to complete the group because of a probation violation charge.  Four individuals were terminated due to multiple absences from the group, while another four began the group but chose an alternative program before completing. These numbers reflect a substantial increase in participants from just two years ago.  More than 100 offenders participated in the Continuing Care Group in each of the last two calendar years, compared with sixty-two (62) in 2005 and seventy-one (71) in 2006.   The Community Corrections Act Prison Diversion Grant which funds this program has a target population of felony offenders who are eligible for our Intensive Supervision probation unit; we agreed to serve sixty (60) offenders in the last three fiscal years.  We reached that goal in FY07 and FY08 and will easily reach it in FY09, which ends on June 30, 2009.