These facilities, dedicated to DWI offenders, offer a sentencing
alternative for multiple DWI offenders and help ease overcrowding at traditional
correctional facilities. They provide confinement in conjunction with supervised
alcohol treatment services that can include DWI driver education and individual
counseling. Detention usually ranges from two weeks to 90 days.
Some judges have shown reluctance in the past to sentencing offenders to
costly privately run programs, such as Right Turn in Maryland. With time
the program converted to a sliding payment scale for offenders, easing the
financial burden and appeasing judges’ reluctance to sentence offenders
to the program.
Additionally, many states operate substance abuse treatment programs within
the prison system. Details on these programs vary, and most are not limited
to drunk driving offenders, but target treatment for offenders with drug
and alcohol dependencies.
Here is a brief look at five dedicated detention centers, in Maryland,
New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania
and New Hampshire. Each operating facility has shown
a reduction in recidivism. |
