Narcotics farms, established toward the end of the 1920's in response to the sentencing of increasing numbers of heroin addicts to Federal penitentiaries, typically provided a 6- month treatment regimen of detoxification, psychotherapy, and vocational counseling. During the 1950's and 1960's, prison treatment programs adopted the approaches in use in the wider community, namely, group therapy, methadone maintenance and methadone detoxification, and therapeutic communities. Therapeutic communities emerged as the most visible form of treatment in correctional settings throughout the 1960's, but typically were closed in the early 1970's and throughout the 1980's due to prison crowding, budget deficits, staff burnout, and changes in prison leadership. The Nation's current "war on drugs," initiated about a decade ago, has led to increasing interest in treatment in criminal justice settings. New programs focus on linking treatment to graduated sanctions. 28 references