Comprehensive Care Adds Juvenile Justice to Corrections-Based Substance Abuse Treatment Programs.

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 20, 1999--

Comprehensive Care Integration, Inc. (CCI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Comprehensive Care Corporation (OTC BB:CHCR), announced today that it has widened its array of highly successful, corrections-based substance abuse treatment programs to include a program for male juvenile offenders in Idaho.

"Through its not-for-profit affiliate CCI, Comprehensive Behavioral Care is bringing to the criminal justice system its unsurpassed expertise in managing and treating behavioral health problems," according to Mary Jane Johnson, CEO of Comprehensive Behavioral Care, Inc. (CBC). "This launches a major effort to expand into this growing market." CBC, the principal managed behavioral health care subsidiary of Comprehensive Care Corporation, administers and operates behavioral health and substance abuse programs for public- and private-sector clients throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

With recent U.S. Department of Justice statistics indicating that 60 percent of the nation's convicted jail inmates committed their current offense while using drugs or alcohol, the need for effective, treatment-based alternatives to incarceration has never been clearer. Left untreated, substance abuse problems contribute to offender recidivism rates as high as 95 percent.

In partnership with Idaho corrections officials, CCI is changing the way prisons and jails deal with habitual drug offenders. CCI's "Juvenile Corrections Center (JCC)-Nampa Fast Track" program for drug- and alcohol-dependent juvenile offenders offers effective, facility-based treatment. Intensive substance abuse education, treatment, testing, and individual and group counseling are complemented by a cognitive self-change program that helps participants recognize and avoid criminal thought and behavior.

The JCC-Nampa Fast Track program is just one in a continuum of substance abuse treatment services that CCI provides in partnership with Idaho corrections officials.

The Boise-based operation also offers prison-based Receiving Diagnostic Unit (RDU) services that evaluate inmate substance abuse and develop treatment recommendations at the time of booking. CCI's Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) units provide intensive, facility-based treatment programs for male offenders. Another outpatient treatment program, Day Reporting Services, targets offenders in violation of their parole or probation, whose continuing substance abuse puts them at high risk for return to a correctional facility. "These clients are generally hard-core drug offenders on their last stop back to prison, yet 75 percent of those who enter Day Reporting complete the program successfully," according to John Southworth, executive director of CCI's substance abuse treatment programs for the state of Idaho.

Yet another innovative CCI program - "Drug Court" - is a unique diversionary approach for drug- and alcohol-dependent repeat offenders, replacing incarceration with effective, court-supervised outpatient treatment. Intensive substance abuse treatment is supplemented by cognitive self-change and "therapeutic community" programs that enable participants to learn and practice social skills that promote successful reintegration into the community. Also provided are referrals for vocational training, education, and job placement services.

"These programs offer a clinically effective alternative for adult and juvenile substance abusers," says Southworth. "Studies show that as many as two-thirds of all inmates are alcohol- or drug-dependent. In most cases, failure to treat addiction results in a continuing cycle of substance abuse, associated criminal behavior, and eventual re-arrest and incarceration."

Preliminary results of the Drug Court program, which was initiated in April 1999, are promising. "Everyone benefits from this approach - the client, the community, and the taxpayer," says Southworth. "It is far more cost-effective to treat the source of the problem than to ignore it and lock up drug offenders over and over again."

In all its corrections-based programs, CCI works closely with social workers, case managers, and other health professionals - as well as with prison, parole, and probation officers - to coordinate offender services and ensure the most cost-effective treatment possible.

Comprehensive Care Corporation, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, administers and operates behavioral health, substance abuse, and employee assistance programs for governmental agencies and managed care companies throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The company has more than 900,000 members and a network of approximately 5,000 behavioral health practitioners.