concluded [that] inmates locked up in state jails — facilities reserved for those serving sentences of two years or less for nonviolent offenses — have less access to drug treatment and are less likely to take part in educational classes, job training and other self-improvement programs than those serving longer sentences at state prisons that typically house violent criminals.

Regardless of where the offenders serve their time, such programs are important for their future success, researchers say.

"People who did participate in those programs did end up faring better," said Nancy La Vigne, an Urban Institute senior research associate who worked on the project. "They were less likely to return to prison and typically more likely to find stable employment." ...

Such programs also save the state money in the long run, one advocate said.

"It's cheaper, and it's better law enforcement and better crime prevention to have good programs," said former Harris County District Attorney Carol Vance, a former Texas Board of Criminal Justice chairman who has done prison ministry work since 1992.

"Any way you can keep these people from going back (to jail), you really save a lot of money."

Inmates in state jails were more likely to have a history of frequent drug use before their confinement — 68 percent of those surveyed — compared with those in prisons, where about half reported such histories, the Urban Institute's research showed.

Yet, only 6 percent of those confined in state jails with substance abuse problems received treatment, compared with 34 percent of those in prisons, researchers found.

That's because substance abuse programs were eliminated from state jail facilities in 2003, when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, like most state agencies, faced drastic budget cuts, TDCJ spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

Legislators, however, have placed $5.8 million in TDCJ's budget — $2.9 million for each of the next two fiscal years — to bring drug treatment programs back to state jails, Lyons said.

How soon those programs will be restored is not yet known.

Drug treatment is especially important for state jail confinees, who typically are not subject to probation or parole when they are released, correctional officials say.

Without treatment, "they're just going to go right back out there into society and pick up where they left off," said Mark Hicks, assistant warden of the Kegans State Jail, which houses more than 600 male inmates in downtown Houston.

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