ISAP Research Projects
Name of Project: Criminal Justice - Drug Abuse
Treatment Research Studies (CJ-DATS), Pacific Coast Research Center
Principal Investigator: Michael Prendergast,
Ph.D.
Co-Principal Investigators:David Farabee, Ph.D.; Christine Grella, Ph.D.
Project Director: Elizabeth Hall, Ph.D.
Funding Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA)
Funding Period: September 2002-August 2007
Scope of Project: The Pacific Coast Research
Center (PCRC) is part of a nationwide network of research centers
involved in NIDA’s Criminal Justice – Drug Abuse Treatment
Research Studies (CJ-DATS). The goal of this important research
initiative is to establish a research infrastructure to test the
effectiveness of integrated treatment models within criminal justice
settings. A key feature of the project will be to promote collaboration
among researchers, clinicians, and correctional staff/administrators.
The CJ-DATS research system is designed to evaluate interventions
in multi-site studies that address systems-level issues related
to integrating public health and public safety approaches for
drug-using offenders.
The Pacific Coast Research Center has research partners in three states: California, Oregon, and Washington. They are: the California Department of Corrections, Office of Substance Abuse Programs, which currently offers prison-based therapeutic community treatment to nearly 8,000 inmates; the Oregon Department of Corrections, which provides treatment to approximately 500 prisoners; and the Washington Department of Corrections which treats approximately 1,000 prisoners. All three states have community-based treatment available to parolees as well.
The Pacific Coast Research Center is situated in UCLA’s Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP) in the Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital and part of the Geffen School of Medicine. ISAP brings to the CJ-DATS initiative three decades of experience in research on the relationship between drugs and crime and on program- and system-level interventions for drug-using offenders.
Dr. Michael L. Prendergast, PCRC’s principal investigator, has extensive experience in substance abuse research among correctional populations. He is currently involved in several evaluations of treatment programs in correctional settings in California: the Forever Free Substance Abuse Treatment Program at the California Institution for Women; the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility at Corcoran; and treatment programs at other prisons in California. In addition, he is Principal Investigator of two NIDA-funded studies of treatment within criminal justice settings: a five-year follow-up study of inmates who had participated in the evaluation of the Amity Treatment Program at R. J. Donovan Correctional Facility, and an evaluation of the use of vouchers within a drug court treatment program. Also with NIDA support he has completed a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment. He is currently Co-Principal Investigator of the statewide evaluation of California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (Proposition 36).
CJ-DATS includes seven Research Centers—at Lifespan Hospitals/Brown
University (Peter Friedmann, PI), University of Connecticut (Linda
Frisman, PI), University of Delaware (James Inciardi, PI), University
of Kentucky (Carl Leukefeld, PI), University of California at
Los Angeles (Michael Prendergast, PI), National Development and
Research Institutes (Harry Wexler, PI), and Texas Christian University
(Dwayne Simpson, PI)—as well as a Coordinating Center at
University of Maryland (Faye Taxman, PI) and a NIDA Collaborating
Scientist (Bennett Fletcher).
For more information, contact Michael
Prendergast.
Last updated - 07/31/2003
Last reviewed - 06/2003