FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AG
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1996                      (202) 616-2777
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AWARDS $90 MILLION TO HELP STATES BUILD MORE
   PRISON SPACE AND SET UP DRUG TESTING AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice today said it
will award more than $90 million in grants to help states provide
drug testing and treatment to inmates and build additional prison
space to lock up violent offenders longer.  

     "We must make our communities safer by breaking the cycle of
drugs and crime," said Attorney General Janet Reno.  "If released
offenders go back to using drugs, they will go back to prison."

     The grants, to be awarded through two separate programs, are
authorized by President Clinton's 1994 Crime Law.

Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Program

     As part of the Administration's effort to fight crime, the
Justice Department will award $27 million to 49 states, five
eligible territories and the District of Columbia to fund drug
intervention programs in state and local correctional facilities. 
The grants, provided under the Residential Substance Abuse
Treatment for State Prisoners Program, range from $100,000 to
$2.6 million.

     In announcing the grants, the Justice Department noted that
approximately two out of every three adults arrested for felonies
test positive for drugs.  If a prisoner has a history of cocaine
or heroin use, and is released without treatment, 60 to 75% go
back to drugs within three months of release and return to a life
of crime.  Yet, almost 90% of all prison inmates receive no
treatment.  

     Recent studies show that cost-effective drug testing and
treatment programs consistently reduce recidivism rates for
offenders.  Offenders who are tested for drugs and are subject to
appropriate intervention in prison and upon release are nearly
twice as likely to stay clean and not be rearrested, as those not
tested or treated.       

     In Delaware, for example, 71% of the convicted offenders
that received drug treatment in prison and after-prison work
release assistance remained arrest free.  By comparison, only 30%
of a control group of offenders not receiving any drug treatment
were not rearrested.

     In California, the State Department of Corrections has
referred 188 parolees since 1991 to a substance abuse program. 
As of this year, less than 28% of those who completed the program
returned to custody, compared with more than 61% of those who
dropped out of the program. 

     Offenders must be tested for drug use throughout all phases
of the program funded by the grants.

            Violent Offender Incarceration Program

     The Justice Department today also said it was awarding $1.2
million to each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
to help build or expand correctional facilities and jails.  The
formula grants--made under the 1994 Crime Act's Violent Offender
Incarceration Program--will help states lock up violent and
repeat offenders longer. 

     "These new prison grants will ensure that no criminal is
released because there's no room to house them," said Laurie
Robinson, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice
Programs.

     The prison grants can be used to expand correctional
facilities to house more violent offenders.  Or the funds can be
used to build or expand facilities to house nonviolent offenders
and criminal aliens so that more space is made for violent
criminals.

     Under the grant program, states must establish truth-in-
sentencing laws that ensure violent offenders serve a substantial
portion of their sentences; impose severe punishment for violent
offenders, including juveniles; and sentence violent offenders to
prison terms that adequately protect the public.

     Tier 2 and Tier 3 grants will be awarded in November of this
year.  Approximately $130 million remains to be distributed in
the next phases and every state can benefit.  About $195 million
will also be awarded to the states in November under the Truth-In-
Sentencing grant program.  Under Tier 1, the Virgin Islands,
Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands will receive $83,230.
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