VERY interesting story, here. A drug rehab center located in California, allows those who have been through the legal system for drug-related crimes to enter the facility for 6½ months, rather than serve a 12-month sentence in the County jail. This has proven to be less expensive overall.
The County in California that is doing this has “reserved” a certain number of beds in the center for about $35 per night. This is a much lower amount than would be spent if the time was being served in the County jail.
The word “served” does not really apply here, in that one is not actually “sentenced” to the drug rehab center. It is a court-ordered thing, and certain restrictions apply (sounds like a commercial, doesn’t it?) but patients who went through the program at the facility all said they felt as if they were there because they WANTED to be, rather than because they HAD to be.
The approach to the treatment and recovery process is different, too. Rather than being “preached at” about the evils of drugs and how bad drugs are, attention is focused on the criminal activity that caused the person to be there in the first place. Many patients said that looking at the situation from that perspective actually made them see the whole picture, not just the “drug” part of it.
Sounds like a pretty good place, with a fairly good success rate. Perhaps more counties in more states should consider such a facility. It certainly couldn’t hurt to look into something like this.