ACL Rehabilitation

A Non-religious, Non-profit Criminal and Drug Rehab Program Provides Successful Alternative Sentencing for Offenders

The Second Chance Program in Albuquerque is rehabilitating individuals and reducing recidivism using a successful manualized rehabilitation system from Criminon International.

Based on the philosophy that addressing the cause of criminality can rehabilitate the most hardened criminal, the Second Chance Program is gaining status in the US criminal rehabilitation domain. Understanding that restoring a criminal’s self-respect through effective drug rehabilitation and classes in communication proficiency, remedial education, life skills, and an innovative series that builds moral reasoning, the program presents an alternative to the judiciary for sentencing criminals.

The Second Chance Program is a licensed user of manuals from Criminon International which utilizes the research discoveries made by American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. “I am often asked if this program is a part of the Church of Scientology.”, explains Rick Pendery, the Chief Executive Officer of Second Chance Program, “We are not a part the Church of Scientology which is a world recognized religion. We are an independent non-religious rehab program providing alternative sentencing for offenders. We are not even licensed by the Church of Scientology to deliver Scientology. We are licensed by Criminon International to use their secular manuals.

“We cannot legally deliver Scientology.”, continued Pendery. “That is what is so nutty about people trying to make this look like it is some sort of proselytizing by the Church of Scientology. Those who have other vested interests try to make the decision makers think Second Chance is something other than what we are. The only relationship we have together is L. Ron Hubbard. I am familiar with some of the Scientology techniques and I can assure you I would love to be able to use those to help our offenders, but we are secular and cannot”

Hubbard, who personally worked as a Special Officer for the Los Angeles Police Department in the late 1940’s, found there that every criminal career began with a loss of self-respect. When a man could not longer trust himself, only then did he become a real threat to society. As early as 1952, Hubbard began a criminal rehabilitation program with juvenile delinquents in London, England. After two decades of research developments, the Criminon program was born. They offer their curriculum internationally and have active Criminon programs in the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Indonesia, Canada, Colombia, Venezuela, Spain and Russia.

Pendery continues, “A recent evaluation by the Urban Institute of Washington, DC looked at what is considered best practice in the criminal justice system, evaluated the Criminon manuals we use and found that the manuals hold up very well with what is considered best practice in the system.”

The Urban Institute report states, “As documented previously, programs based on the cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) approach emphasize positive individual behavior change through the development or enhancement of moral reasoning skills and pro-social attitudes. The Criminon program is based on the fundamental assumption that the root causes of criminal behavior are lack of self-respect and self-esteem. A positive view of one’s self-worth is the foundation that allows individuals to choose to engage in pro-social (i.e., non-criminal) behavior. The Criminon program contains many elements of effective CBT rehabilitative programming. The curriculum places a strong emphasis on positive behavior change through changes in the way one thinks about his or her own behavior and relationships and how those factors influence one’s own life and the lives of those around him/her.”

Second Chance is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. “We have not received any money from the Church of Scientology, but we would love to, as we would willingly accept donations from any church.”, Rick explains. “There are a few Scientologists who are on our staff, typically less than 5%. I would estimate 40% to 50% are Protestants as well as a similar number of Catholics. This does not mean we are a Christian organization. We have a clause in our staff contract that prohibits any sort of proselytization of any religion. We do teach that the offenders in the program should respect the religious beliefs of others. And on Sundays at the request of the students, religious services are delivered and to date that has been both Catholic and Protestant.”

Robert F. Henderson who is a Correction Captain in the New York State Department of Correctional Services, says about Criminon International, “The rehabilitative technology employed by Criminon will some day soon be utilized by prison systems worldwide, as such methods represent the only true workable means to handle the burdensome criminal populations.”

Three independent university studies showed over a 5-year period that criminal recidivism had dropped to less than 10% for those who participated prior to release in at least one third of the Second Chance Program.