The Criminon program demonstrates that people can change, offering a workable, practical way to restore self-respect and introduce productive, happy citizens back into society.

      The results have been dramatic. A one-year Criminon pilot program in a Southern California city, with referrals from a municipal court judge, resulted in only one re-arrest out of 500 first-time offenders in the program. This amazing recidivism rate of less than one percent compares with an average rate of 80 percent among offenders as a whole.

      The presiding judge wrote that “the efficacy of Criminon has far surpassed even our most optimistic expectations. We have seen a significant increase in compliance with all terms and conditions of probation, restitution, fine payments and community service for those who have completed the program.”

      The Narconon drug rehabilitation program, a sister organization of Criminon, is also used in prisons. When the Narconon program was implemented in a high-security facility in Mexico, a decision was made to pilot it using the worst offenders – those convicted for bank robberies, homicides and multiple homicides. The inmates chosen for the pilot had been on heroin for up to 25 years, remaining addicted inside the prison where drugs were readily available. Regarded as “no-hopers” from the viewpoint of rehabilitation, their reputations were so notorious that when the warden visited them in prison, he brought along five armed guards.

      The Narconon program has been so successful in the Mexican facility that at least 85 inmates in that prison have come off drugs and been released. As a result, the program has expanded throughout the prison. A relative of one of the rehabilitated prisoners later said, “You watch these people now, and you can’t believe that in the past they were the worst ones.” Even some in the prison who have no chance of being released due to the severity of their crimes have found the program so effective that they have dedicated themselves to helping other inmates inside the prison.

      The prison chaplain said, “After working 10 years in the prison here... I would venture to say that the only program that we've had that has had real influence in changing drug-addicted prisoners is the Narconon program.” Echoing this assessment, a county court judge commented, “I saw some of Mexico’s worst prisoners, hardened criminals, who had been addicted to heroin for years before this program, acting and talking like Eagle Scouts. They had genuine hope and enthusiasm for life.”

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