presented by Avraham Hoffmann at the Addictions 2000+1 conference, Jerusalem, September 2001

Introduction

In genesis (32:7) it says, “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.” Rashi explained that the use of synonym signifies that Jacob was afraid of both killing and of being killed. This is the kind of pressure the drug dependant delinquent lives under.

The drug dependant delinquent can be characterised by a twofold circle: A circle of hostility and violent attitude toward his surrounding, and a self-destructive circle, a kind of prolonged suicide caused by a lack of courage to commit actual suicide. Since the foundation of the Israeli Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority (PRA) in 1984, we recognized the junction of these two characteristics as a disrupting factor in the rehabilitation of released inmates. According to the Prison Services, in some years the rate of inmates that have a drug dependency can amount to 80%. The 1999 statistical report of the Prison Services showed over 50% of drug abusers.

From its outset, the PRA has realised it did not have the necessary tools to treat drug addicts. Back then, the PRA turned to the Ministry of Health, then responsible for drug detoxification for help. The Ministry of Health, made it clear that the only existing facility to treat drug addicts was the Hospitalisation Unit in Jaffa, with 12 beds, directed by Dr. Reiter. A lack of sufficient detoxification facilities obliged the PRA to take action: Nationally, the Anti-Drug Authority was founded and the PRA had to find original ways to deal with drug dependent released inmates.

Characteristic of the drug addicted delinquent

Delinquents ascribe their needs for drugs to few reasons:

1. As a way to go on living by blunting traumatic childhood memories of severe abuse in their own family and surrounding; memories that prevent them from learning and developing.
2. The drugs provide them with a sense of strength and self-confidence they lack;
3. Their initial association with the delinquent world introduced them to drug abuse. As a consequence crime became a way of getting drugs, obtaining a sense of confidence and excitement. Thus, these released inmates are characterised by multiple problems that can be traced in their early childhood.

Most of these inmates show a major disability to share their difficulties with their parents. They strongly feel they have “no one to trust,” whether in their family or among professionals. Verbal expression of anger is not enough for the delinquents who wish to express their anger in deeds, a way of lessening their own sense of dead end (no way).

The released inmates’ records show numerous offences from a young age. As youngsters they were treated under the Youth Law: in the beginning under the Treatment And Supervision Law, later under the Youth Judgement, Punishment And Treatment Law, the Youth Probation Service, and the Juvenile Detention Centres, the Adult Probation Service, and eventually by the imprisonment.

It is striking out that the education and treatment system have failed to treat appropriately problems such as dyslexia and hyperactivity. As a result these youngsters have dropped out from the educational system at a young age, or have been moved from class to class without resolving their real problem.

As the number of incarcerations increases the degree of aggression toward the society escalates. As mentioned before, the drug dependency and addiction to crime achieve a kind of blindfolded suicidal process.

Many criminals have a low frustration threshold that causes a loss of control. Hence they need to calm down and they succeed only through drugs.

The incarceration and life in the criminal world, isolates the inmate from society, but is also an external expression confirming his inner feelings of not belonging to the society. His sense of not being able to integrate society rises from his belief that society rejects him as his family does. Hence harming the society is an expression of feeling unable to change reality or approach it.

The recidivism may be viewed as an expression of weakness and despair caused by the inability to integrate society. Instead of falling apart from the inside, the aggression is directed outward. Drugs help suppress the life and death dilemma. After stopping the drug abuse, this dilemma surfaces and the angers rise again. Hence the vicious circle of drug abuse is perpetuated.

As aforementioned, rejection engenders estrangement. The feeling of alienation toward the family and society is an exterior expression of alienation from oneself and of not controlling ones own life. Hence, committing a crime, do not cause any guilt feelings because of the estrangement toward the victim. The victim is the punching ball on which you can take out all your frustrations. The drugs freeze the feelings and allow blunting any humanity left in you and ease the way to committing a crime.

The Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority’s response to the crime and drugs – drugs and crime – relation in developing rehabilitation programs:

In searching ways of responding, the Authority has set some rules:

1. “And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” ” [Isaia 57:14] The Authority has realized that the expression of estrangement and aggression occur in each encounter of the released inmate with society. Therefore, the society must be prepared to integrate the released inmate, thus denying him an additional proof and self-justification of his feelings toward society.

2. Giving hope to a hopeless man and decreasing his sense of dead end via openness and acceptance.
3. Offering respect to those who live with a low self esteem. Namely, the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority operates believing that at the heart of the doing must be the basic reason that caused that man to turn to drugs and crime. While the physical withdrawal from drugs and crime is the preliminary condition to the rehabilitation process, the principal of the rehabilitation process is the need to overcome the past by acknowledging his ability to start over his life. Hence the booklet that the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority distributes to inmates toward their release from prison is called: “Every Man Has A Right To A New Beginning.”

The Authority believes that a set of goals should be set for each inmate. But to each released inmate only intermediate, simple and short-term goals should be presented. Achieving completely these “small” goals and proceeding to more advanced levels. The use of partial goals is meant to fulfil the inmates’ need for success: these man whose life is a succession of failures. “In this school” he succeeds for the first time ever. When he succeeds, he starts trusting a little his therapist and the establishment. Now with the help of those he believes he can trust he is willing to listen and observe anew his way. Therefore, gaining the released inmate’s trust is an essential condition to the success of the therapeutic systems and to accomplishing the necessary therapeutic methods in the modern social work and psychology practices.

What does the Authority do to resolve the problems characterizing its patients, such as: Trauma, fears, aggression, parents’ rejection, and social pressure? The PRA has developed several programs to address these problems:

• The peers program creates hope by creating success (role-) models for the desperate inmates.
• Presenting successes of released inmates in the employment field by distributing diplomas of perseverance at work by the mayors.
• Students-Prisoner Shared Housing Program. This program is a way of proving they are capable of running a normative life style.
• The authority’s Hostels provide the skills needed to deal with trauma, fear, fear from success and failure. These skills are taught through intensive group therapy. They learn skills to deal with anger and aggression, self-control, interpersonal communication and to take the decision to treat the emotional abscesses left by their tough childhood (including: physical, emotional and sexual abuse, rape and incest). An abscess that is uncovered for the first time in their life in the Hostel or in community therapeutic groups (Groups that are operated by the Authority’s prisoner rehabilitation community counsellors).

In my opinion some basic theories must be viewed when dealing with the drug-delinquency link:

1. The differential bonding (?) theory of Cressey & Sutherland (1960), according to which the chances of a delinquent to rehabilitate increases the more he is in contact with the normative society. Since the delinquent behaviour is learned through the intensive contact with the criminal society  – many normative contacts are needed to achieve a change. This is done in our different programs: in the Hostels; with “Friendly employers: – employers that are willing to employ released inmates and help them rehabilitate through contact with the PRA employment coordinators; The Students-prisoner shared housing program – also called the 3-in-1 apartment program, in which 2 university students share an apartment with a released inmate; the leisure time club for released inmates; volunteers; peers – successfully rehabilitated released inmates tutor newly released inmates; kibbutz and Yeshiva.

All of these programs allow intensive contacts with the normative society promoting a change.

• The Social Control Theory of Hirschi mentions that delinquents have grown up in families in which the limits are blurred, families characterized by enmeshment pattern. They need a corrective experience.
• The triangular program that helps treat the released inmate’s family. It allows strengthening the family that can become the source of social support and supervision in a tutorial system.

From its outset the Authority has learned to recognize that without the obligatory employment policy the therapy fails. Therapy with no work does not succeed; work with no therapy fails. Hence the obligation to combine these 2 crucial elements achieves 2 additional social goals:

1. Allowing the rehabilitated to get to know a new society.
2. Allowing the society to realize he has no horns – thus the stigma is shattered.

We have learned to realize that the main problem in the employment revolution is not placement in work position, but the intensive accompaniment of those that have been absorbed in new jobs, to ensure their perseverance at work: Through individual and group therapy, and through dealing immediately as pressures at work occur.

We believe one should extinguish the cigarette near a wheat field as it starts burning, for fear that one has to use fire-fighters vehicle to extinguish the burning field. Availability, quickness and vigour of the practitioner on the one hand, and his patience and tolerance on the other hand, are conditions to succeeding in rehabilitating the released inmate from both crime and drugs.

To achieve change in the treatment of released inmates that are drug addicts, the Authority has initiated some administrative and legal operations whose essentials are to create a new partnership with the released inmate. Thus the released inmate shall perceive the Authority as the home he never had. Hence, the Authority’s “gates” are opened with no doorman at their entrance. The idea is: “we are with you although we are not on your side.” Hence the Authority’s employees are defined as “counsellors”, as opposed to “officers” and “inspectors”. The counsellors reach out their hands saying “hold my hand and with shared strength we will get you out of the mess.”

However, the openness of the practitioners will be for nothing if the society rejects them and their patients. Hence, the Authority sees a crucial importance in the participation of quality groups of the Israeli society in absorbing the released inmates and their families. The Prisoner-students shared housing program. The intensive contact with employers that are also friends. We value the importance of adopting successful programs that preceded the creation of the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority, such programs are the rehabilitation of released inmate in kibuttz and Moshavim that are considered quality societies, and in Yeshiva for those interested in religious programs. All these programs offer the released inmate a contra-response to his feeling of estrangement. He is accepted with love instead of rejection, with openness instead of rejection, with understanding instead of alienation.

The inmate’s family:

A third of the released inmates are family men. In prison they find out that the only people to care for them are their family members. Hence, since its foundation the PRA has developed the Triangular Program: the first side being the inmates’ children who are tutored by university students. The inmates’ wives are the second side of this triangular – they participate in support groups and treatment. The third side being the inmates themselves. Close to their release from prison they attend a program where they learn how to become “real” fathers – and not just biological ones. They learn new ways of getting close to their children and family.

We found out that a great number of the inmates that agreed to go through a detoxification process, have done so to allow their children to accept them again as their fathers. There is no greater pain for the neighbourhood bully then his young daughter turning her back to him saying, “I don’t want you to be my father.” This could cause a burst of violence, but could also push him to make some efforts for the sake of the only normative remainder: the child.

Development of knowledge and proficiency to realize the conceptual change:

To achieve these goals the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority has recruited highly qualified, proficient, and experienced employees. The Authority allowed her employees to attend an advanced study in Pittsburgh, to learn with Professor Twerski how to treat delinquents that are drug addicts. The employees should also be willing to devote themselves to this domain, seeing it as their mission.

With no proficiency it is impossible to help the inmate, but it is no less impossible without a sense of devotion. The thoughtful professional perception is not striving at an absolute achievement. The perpetual failure in each challenge the released inmate had in his past, have brought him to the “depths” of prison. Hence, a great deal of patience is needed in the rehabilitation process. The rehabilitation process is accompanied by ups and downs that should be perceived as natural in this process. Released inmates need quick solutions, not in the conventional established ways, since through their life they experienced a lot of difficulties with the establishment. However the PRA works at changing the establishment to accept their population including their special needs. For example: special working hours at the employment service. PRA employment counselors accompany the released inmates to the employment service after they have prepared them for the appointment; PRA co-ordinator in the social services departments meet with the inmate immediately upon their release – that is, without the usual conventional process of the department. This gives a response to the low frustration threshold of our target population, along with teaching them how to use the help of the general bureaucracy.

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