The Bay Area Services Network (BASN), begun in 1991, is an innovative intervention to promote closer coordination among criminal justice agencies and treatment providers, support case management for drug- involved parolees, and reduce recidivism and relapse during and after parolees' critical transition from prison to community. By September 1994, BASN will have served about 1,800 parolees in the San Francisco Bay Area. This study will: (1) assess the degree to which BASN has improved the availability and accessibility of treatment services for parolees; (2) assess the degree to which BASN has affected the number and characteristics of parolees served in the Bay Area; (3) assess the degree to which case management improves services to parolees; (4) assess BASN's effects on treatment outcomes as well as other behavioral outcomes; and (5) develop guidelines for improving the cost-benefit of services to drug- involved parolees. Four separate methodologies will be used. First, BASN implementation will be examined through a process evaluation of BASN documents and interviews with BASN administrators, treatment providers, case managers, and parole officers. Second, a """"""""pipeline"""""""" study will describe BASN-related changes in the number and characteristics of Bay Area parolees who receive treatment and the progress of BASN and non-BASN parolees through treatment. The pipeline study will rely on secondary analyses of databases that enumerate all Bay Area treatment clients and parolees. Third, 400 parolees referred to BASN treatment and 400 parolees referred to non-BASN treatment will be recruited for a prospective quasi- experimental study of BASN outcomes. This parolee sample will be interviewed at baseline (time of referral), six months after baseline (the maximum planned service duration for each BASN parolee), and 24 months after baseline. Parolee data will include background characteristics; drug use, crime, treatment, and incarceration history; psychosocial characteristics; treatment and other services received during the study period; and drug use, recidivism, psychosocial and other changes during the follow-up period. Case managers and parole officers will be asked to provide data on their background, treatment views, and services provided to parolees. The fourth methodology will be a cost-benefit analysis in which the resources used in providing BASN and routine parolee services will be estimated and compared with benefits (reduced crime and drug use) resulting from the program. Data gathered from the process and quasi- experimental design will be utilized for the cost-benefit analysis.
