By Robert Simels
Originally published in amNewYork on
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Using news about Sean Combs' participation at FCI Fort Dix as a starting point, Robert Simels explains the Bureau of Prisons' Residential Drug Abuse Program, known as RDAP. It is a voluntary program of about 500 hours, usually completed over nine to 12 months, that teaches the dangers of addiction and relapse prevention. Congress funds it with more than $100 million a year, and 71 of 122 federal prison locations offer it.
To qualify, a person needs a documented history of drug or alcohol abuse in the year before arrest or indictment, usually shown in the presentence report. Simels writes that this history is often self reported and seldom verified. People with serious violent convictions and some sex offenses, ICE detainers, serious disciplinary problems, or too little time left are generally not eligible. Completion can bring a sentence reduction of six, nine or up to 12 months, but the person must also finish community treatment after release or lose the credit.
Drawing on what he saw himself while in federal prison, Simels describes the program from the inside: participants live together, attend daily groups, are required to report on one another in sessions called "call ups," and must disclose the reasons for their crimes. He writes that many drop out, that drugs and alcohol still circulate, and that admission is sometimes manipulated.
He returns to Combs, who was disciplined for an unauthorized three way phone call and later found with prison made alcohol, and argues that well connected inmates are often treated as above the rules. His suggestion for improving RDAP is to ask people who have been through it.
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This page is a summary prepared for robertsimels.com. The full commentary was published by amNewYork and remains on amNewYork's site.
Robert Simels. Robert Simels hosts the podcast Injustice for All and serves as a consultant on criminal justice matters. He is no longer practicing law.
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