Second Chance Program
The Second Chance Program is a controversial detoxification and rehabilitation program based on the ideas of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology. It focuses on individuals convicted of substance abuse offenses. The program utilizes a combination of saunas, vitamins, minerals and oils to tackle the effects of drug addiction. Other elements of the program aim to improve the educational and social abilities of inmates, and to instil a moral code for them to live by. First established in Baja California, Mexico, in 1995, Second Chance has attracted controversy over its methods and claimed success rates.
Between 1995 and 2009, Second Chance operated in prisons in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States and in the Mexican cities of Tijuana and Ensenada. Its Mexican operations were closed down after it lost government funding. Its only U.S. operation was terminated in January 2009 by the mayor of Albuquerque. By that time it had received more than $1.5 million in public funding, but on closing it left debts of over $672,000 to the federal, state and city governments. Second Chance was proposed – but was rejected – for prisons in the states of Arizona, Nevada and New York.
Scientology's relationship with Second Chance has been a particular focus of contention, as the program uses many elements of Hubbard's doctrines that originated in, and are still used by, the Church of Scientology. The involvement of Nevada Assembly member Sharron Angle with Second Chance was a significant issue in the 2010 United States Senate elections.
Background
The Second Chance Program was established by Rick Pendery, a former real estate developer and veteran Scientologist. During the 1970s he worked for Narconon, a drug rehabilitation program linked with the Church of Scientology, eventually becoming executive director for the U.S.-wide organization. Pendery also worked in an official capacity for Criminon, a Scientology-related program for prisoners that is based on the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. In 1995 he established Second Chance, described as a "non-profit corporation that rehabilitates offenders in the criminal justice system" utilising Hubbard's methods.Establishments and proposed establishments
Mexico
Pendery unsuccessfully sought to open a Second Chance program in a U.S. prison, but succeeded in establishing the program in the state prison at Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico in 1995. The program was funded partly with his own money and partly with financial support from the Mexican government. It was subsequently approved for use in the state prison at Tijuana, though that program was suspended due to prisoner moves.Second Chance was publicized in the U.S. and elsewhere, attracting a series of visits by political dignitaries. The Spanish judge Baltazar Garzón was among these dignitaries, and the government of Guatemala was reported to be interested in the program. In October 2001, two officials from Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo, New York visited Ensenada at a Scientology patron's expense. They were impressed enough to appeal for $700,000 to introduce Second Chance to their own prison, although lack of funds put the project on hold. The Ensenada program was eventually shut down after losing its government funding.
Arizona
State legislators in Arizona expressed interest in Second Chance in 2000–2001. State Rep. Mark Anderson sponsored an amendment in 2000 that would have appropriated $1.5 million to fund a Second Chance program. However, the amendment was defeated after the head of the Arizona Department of Corrections came out strongly opposing Second Chance in hearings before the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee, in which he noted that no nationally recognized drug treatment expert or institution had studied the program. He was concerned about its ties to Scientology and its methods.State Senators Tom Smith and Christine Weason visited the Ensenada Second Chance facility in 2001 and declared themselves impressed by it, though neither sought to introduce legislation regarding the program in their own state. They pushed for the state government or private donors to find funding to support Second Chance, but the government rejected this idea; the cost of the program, at $15,000 a head, was regarded as prohibitive.
Nevada
Second Chance was promoted in Nevada by Assemblywoman Sharron Angle from Reno. In February 2003 she proposed legislation to establish Second Chance for female prisoners and invited 35 legislators to accompany her on a trip to Ensenada to see the program in operation there. Angle had already twice visited Ensenada, once with a group of female legislators and later with Nevada Department of Corrections Director Jackie Crawford. She was impressed with the facility and sought to authorize a demonstration project in Nevada, supported by funding from the federal government. It emerged that the trip to Ensenada was being underwritten by Randall Suggs, an Arizona businessman and wealthy Scientologist who was later to play a major role in bankrolling Second Chance in New Mexico.Angle's involvement with Second Chance attracted significant media and political interest. Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley advised legislators to vote against Angle's proposal, and the office of Governor Kenny Guinn indicated that they wanted nothing to do with it. Angle received little support for her proposal and dropped the plan, blaming Democratic opposition.
2010 United States Senate election controversy
In 2010, Second Chance again became the subject of controversy in relation to that year's United States Senate election in Nevada. Angle's previous support for Second Chance was used in attack ads by Sue Lowden, her opponent for the Republican nomination, and by incumbent Senator Harry Reid. An advert by Lowden portrayed Second Chance as a cushy health spa with inmates wearing prison uniforms being tended to by attractive masseuses. The voiceover asserted that, "Career politician and Senate candidate Sharron Angle sponsored a bill that would have used tax dollars to give massages to prisoners." The same line of attack was used in a Reid ad: "That's Sharron Angle. First, a Scientology plan to give massages to prisoners. Now she wants to get rid of Medicare and Social Security. What's next?"During a KVBC-hosted debate on the program Face to Face with Jon Ralston, Angle was asked by host Jon Ralston "about recent whispers that an Angle legislative proposal to explore a program of massages and sweat-boxes for Nevada prisons was a strange foray into Scientology." Angle responded, "This program had a recidivism rate of less than ten percent. They aren't massages.... it was more of a karate chop. The sauna was a sweat box. When you're in there with thirty guys it's not exactly a sauna." Angle also told the conservative newspaper Human Events that Second Chance was "not Scientology, but rather natural homeopathic medicine".
New Mexico
In 2002, Pendery gave a presentation on Second Chance to a conference of the National Foundation of Women Legislators being held in San Diego, California. Sixty of them accepted his invitation to visit Ensenada to inspect the program. One of them, State Rep. Anna Crook of New Mexico, was sufficiently impressed to ask the New Mexico Corrections Department to establish a pilot program. The department declined but Crook managed to obtain $350,000 for Second Chance from the 2004 federal appropriations bill. The majority of the remaining $300,000 required to fund the program was donated by Randall Suggs, the Scientologist who had underwritten Angle's visits to the Ensenada program. Another $300,000 was later allocated by the state of New Mexico. Crook convinced other New Mexico legislators to pass a bill allowing judges to sentence offenders to Second Chance in lieu of prison. To be eligible, inmates had to be facing imprisonment of six months to a year and had to have been diagnosed with chronic substance abuse problems. Prisoners with serious medical conditions or who had committed violent or sex offenses would not be accepted.The program was established in Albuquerque. W. John Brennan, a former chief district judge who had been convicted in 2004 of drunk driving and cocaine possession, was hired by Second Chance as its president and was given the task of lobbying New Mexico judges to send inmates to attend the program. Second Chance received its first inmate in September 2006. In its first year it had several hundred referrals and on average housed about 65 inmates at a time in the old West Side jail in Albuquerque. Jurisdictions that sent inmates to Second Chance included Socorro, Grant, Taos and Sierra counties.
Although the program had some support, mainly from rural parts of the state, it was controversial from the start. The program's unconventional methods, unwillingness to disclose its finances and ties to Scientology aroused controversy, although Second Chance officials and a Scientology spokesperson said that there were no ties. Judge William Lang, the chief district judge in the Albuquerque area, was "highly suspicious" of the program. Lang cautioned many of New Mexico's district judges about the program, arguing that funding for treatment should go to existing programs that have a track record. He said that he was concerned by Second Chance's use of unlicensed substance abuse professionals, that its administrators were vague about its treatment model and that its corporate structure was unclear. Sheriff Darren White Bernalillo County told the Albuquerque Journal that he was "very, very skeptical" about Second Chance and would prefer the criminal justice system to "fund what we already know works." Some judges, unconvinced of its effectiveness, refused to refer offenders.
Financial difficulties
Second Chance faced increasing financial difficulties from its second year of operations. Brennan distanced himself from Second Chance, criticizing the way it was being operated and managed. By the end of 2007, Bernalillo County had ceased sending prisoners to the program and Second Chance's income from state funding was below the anticipated level. To make up for the shortfall, Second Chance began "jail shopping" in 2008 – offering rural counties the chance to offload their overflow inmates, including women, at a discounted rate. It appealed to the New Mexico legislature for $3.6 million of further funding. Although the proposal was again supported by Crook, Second Chance was awarded only $600,000 in July 2008. More money was raised from private donors but this was insufficient to cover expenses. It laid off employees, missed payroll deadlines and was ordered by a court to pay $78,000 after failing to pay for its video security system. An additional blow came when Brennan was forced to resign from his post as president of Second Chance after being charged with committing false imprisonment and battery on a household member.The effectiveness and methods of Second Chance was also questioned. A study carried out by the University of New Mexico found that the program was taking in violent offenders, in violation of its criteria, and that judges sending inmates to the program were unclear about its mandate. Following the presentation of the study to the New Mexico legislature, Curry County commissioners decided to end their contract with Second Chance. The commissioners stated that Second Chance had billed the county $4,500 without a signed contract and was not sending requested progress reports on the inmates in their care.