Colorado Women's TC Project

"The experimental condition, the modified TC, was a 6- to 9-month program located in a separate 72-bed housing unit within the prison. Inmates progressed through four program stages with upper level inmates functioning as peer mentors for newer members. The modified, comprehensive TC treatment program focused on increasing awareness and understanding of female roles and relationships as they relate to addiction and drugs used and abused, and emotional and behavioral coping skills. Program elements addressed issues of substance abuse, relapse prevention, mental health, criminal thinking and behavior, coping with trauma and abuse, and parenting skills. All treatment staff received special training related to working with women exposed to trauma and abuse, making the program trauma informed and trauma sensitive."

The control condition, known at the prison as the Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), was designed to address substance abuse and criminality, with a focus on prevention of relapse and recidivism. The IOP substance abuse treatment curriculum, designed for delivery over 15 weeks, consisted of a 90-hour manual-driven course (Strategies for Self-Improvement and Change, Wanburg \& Milkman, 1998), which employed a cognitive behavioral format to address underlying issues of substance use/abuse and criminal behavior.