Many of the female offenders at Oregon's Coffee Creek Correctional Facility have substance abuse problems.  But, a good number of them have another addiction that may have been a factor in their criminal activity as well: gambling.  A new program at the facility is targeting these offenders and helping them see how gambling affects their lives.

"It gives them an educational background on this behavior that, for some, can be very addictive," said Lory Humbert, Assistant Superintendent of Programs for the Oregon Department of Corrections.  "It creates an awareness."

The Gambling Evaluation and Reduction Program (GEAR) began at Coffee Creek in March as a partnership between the DOC, the state Department of Human Services and Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, a non-profit that provides gambling treatment services to individuals in the community.  After noting that many of its clients also had criminal histories, the agency thought that it might be a good idea to focus some of its efforts on people involved in the corrections system.

"We thought that there would probably be a relatively high rate of gambling issues within the correctional environment," said Peter Walsh, Program Manager for Cascadia's Gambling Treatment Program.  "We kind of knew just because we also run an outpatient program in Portland and in Salem [and] a certain number of our clients had criminal issues around their gambling."

Recognizing a link between gambling problems and criminal activities, Cascadia, which had already built a relationship with Coffee Creek through other transition programs, implemented a four-week program at the facility, which is funded by state lottery revenues. 

Group Sessions About Gambling

According to Humbert, inmates within the last four months of their sentences attend an orientation about the gambling program and those who are interested in it can enroll.  She estimates that at least a quarter of the 900 inmates at Coffee Creek have gambling issues.

But the program is not limited to inmates who have gambling problems.  Offenders with family members who have issues around gambling can attend the program as well to learn about various resources they can use to help their loved ones rehabilitate.

"In each group so far, we've had at least one or two family members," Walsh said.

The groups consist of between 25 and 40 women, who gather once a week for an hour and a half with a counselor from Cascadia to discuss gambling and the impact it has on their lives.  During the first session, inmates are invited to share personal experiences about their gambling or "trade war stories," according to Walsh.  After they have each had a chance to talk about their problem, the focus turns to treatment.  Often, inmates have a different view of their gambling exploits after they have gone through the program, Walsh said. 

"This is the first time many of them have had an opportunity to talk about their gambling, so many of them want to share their stories," Walsh said.  "Those war stories start to look different to the inmates [after a few weeks in the program].  What might have been boasted about in the first session is looked at as 'Oh my God, how did I let this happen to me?' in a later session."

Beyond inmates' personal experiences, the program focuses on the gambling action cycle; program counselors discuss with inmates what happens when they are gambling, what they think and feel before they engage in the activity, what they feel when they are gambling and how they feel when they win or lose.

"It makes them aware of the whole cycle of the gambling experience," Walsh said.  "We talk about things like the pros and cons of gambling and the benefits and costs of gambling.  We [talk about] that gambling action cycle every week for the four weeks."

Counselors also teach inmates to pay attention to the other things in their lives that may contribute to their gambling habits, like anger or loneliness.  Walsh said offenders are encouraged to achieve balance in their lives so they are not vulnerable to alcohol, drugs or gambling.

Each offender is also given a workbook with activities to supplement what they learn in the program. 

"The main point of the workbook is, at least for the initial four-week intervention, [to make] them aware of how gambling affects their lives," Walsh said.  "It's been a really enlightening experience for the inmates," he added.

Getting Offenders Connected to Community Treatment

While the program educates inmates about their problem, it also has another purpose: to inform offenders about the free services that exist in the community to support them when they are released.

"It's an intervention for the pre-release folks, but it's also an access point for further treatment once they're outside of the correctional environment," Walsh said. 

After completing the program at Coffee Creek and being released from incarceration, inmates are given gamblers' anonymous schedules and the phone number for the state's gambling help hotline, which is staffed 24 hours a day.

According to Walsh, it's important for offenders to continue their treatment in the community.

"Gambling could elevate [their] high risk behavior," Walsh said.  "[It] could lead back to incarceration or drugs or alcohol."

Expanding GEAR

The goal of the program is to get offenders on the right track when they are nearing release and provide them with the resources they will need to help them with their gambling problems in the community.

So far, though, because the program is still in its pilot phase, no data has been collected regarding how many offenders actually follow-up with their gambling treatment after they leave Coffee Creek.  In the future, Walsh hopes they will be able to track offenders who participated in the program through their probation or parole officers, but no system has been developed yet.

"We're still kind of refining that," Walsh said.  "It's kind of a work in progress."

Walsh said that the GEAR program at Coffee Creek has helped Cascadia get its foot in the door in the corrections environment and he believes inmates could benefit from an expansion of the program into other facilities in the state.  But establishing additional gambling treatment programs at other institutions is dependent upon funding and resources, he said. 

In the meantime, Humbert hopes that the GEAR program at Coffee Creek will continue to demonstrate the need for gambling treatment for the facility's inmate population and attract other programs.

"This program has kind of opened that door," Humbert said.  "We're hoping that the volunteers from gamblers' anonymous will be able to find the resources and people that have the willingness to come in and involve themselves with this population."

Resources:

To contact Humbert, call (503)570-6800

For more information about Cascadia, go to www.cascadiabhc.org/php/index.php

To contact Walsh, call (503) 872-0151 or email pwalsh@cascadiabhc.org

Gambling Hotline (877) 2-STOP-NOW