Baltimore County’s DWI Correctional Treatment Facility

Opened in 1994, this correctional treatment facility consists of a 28-day residential treatment program with 24-hour supervision and security, followed by a one-year aftercare program. All residents undergo an intensive drug and alcohol abuse assessment during the first 48 hours. An individual treatment plan is developed for the remainder of the resident’s stay and continues during the following year.

How Much Does It Cost?

The 100-bed, minimum-security facility, the largest such facility in the U.S. when it opened, operates on funds from residents and grants. The cost for treatment is between $1,500 and $2,500 for the initial 28-day phase of the program. The cost for a 28-day private residential treatment program ranges from $10,000 to $18,000, according to the Baltimore County Department of Health. The Baltimore County facility is inexpensive in comparison because: the county leased the space for the facility at a very reasonable rate; the county continues to pay for building maintenance; the project didn’t have the huge startup cost of constructing a facility from the ground up; and it is a no-frills program. In 2000, the cost per day was about $37 compared to $45 a day for incarceration.

Intensive outpatient treatment costs $40 per day, and the aftercare outpatient component of the program costs $25 per week. A court-imposed restitution fee is assessed to all participants.

Located in Owings Mills, the Baltimore County facility operates under a public-private partnership. Right Turn of Maryland, a for-profit organization, operates the facility under contractual agreement. The facility is monitored by the Baltimore County Bureau of Corrections, with the county health department’s bureau of substance abuse monitoring the treatment component.

How Effective Is the Baltimore County DWI Facility?

Statistics supplied by the county show the facility has had a substantial impact on reducing recidivism. One year after the first 213 people completed the 28-day program, only nine had been arrested again in Baltimore County, a 4 percent recidivism rate, compared to the normal 35 percent rate for drunk drivers. Among the 152 people who completed the program 18 months ago, only six offenders (4 percent) were re-arrested.

Program Pitfalls

The program continues to face a shortage of paying customers, with program directors citing the reluctance of judges to sentence those who can afford to pay their own way to the privately-run center. County officials say many defendants enroll in privately insured programs before they come to court, and others say they can’t afford the Owings Mills facility. Presently, about 25 percent of residents are full-paying DWI offenders, 25 percent are grant-funded, and about 50 percent are what they call "extended care" or "transitional" residents (non-DWI). These are people at the end of their jail sentences who have chemical/alcohol abuse problems. To remain viable, the program has opened its doors to non-DWI offenders and also to DWI offenders outside Baltimore County.