Effectiveness Of State Prison Program Debated

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ A study to determine if the Criminon offender rehabilitation and reform program works in the Oklahoma prison system has some prison workers up in arms. <br/><br/>Criminon is a nonprofit

Sunday, October 8th 2006, 2:04 pm

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ A study to determine if the Criminon offender rehabilitation and reform program works in the Oklahoma prison system has some prison workers up in arms.

Criminon is a nonprofit program and an outgrowth of Narconon that is, like Narconon, associated with the Church of Scientology.

A five-year study of the program at Mack Alford was presented to the Board of Corrections in September. It indicates that 66.42 percent of inmates who completed it weren't rearrested for any crime.

That compares to 29.57 percent of prisoners released during the same time who needed substance abuse treatment but did not receive it.

The program is designed to promote effective ways people can deal with problems, including alternate ways of responding to problems.