Pubdate: Sun, 19 Aug 2001 Source: Advocate, The (LA) Copyright: 2001 The Advocate, Capital City Press Contact: http://www.theadvocate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2 Author: Christopher Baughman 'NOTHING ADDS UP' IN EBR JUVENILE DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM Counted among the graduates of an East Baton Rouge Parish juvenile drug treatment center is a teen-ager who tested positive for marijuana on graduation day, records show. Several other graduates of the Straight and Narrow Drug Treatment Center are people who were sent to prison either before or on the day of their graduation, records show. Juvenile Court Judge Pam Taylor Johnson set up the Straight and Narrow Drug Treatment Center with $502,000 she got from government grants in late 1999. The U.S. Attorney's Office recently said the FBI is investigating the federal grant application and how the money is being spent at Straight and Narrow. The Advocate on Aug. 6 filed a public records request with Straight and Narrow for the results of drug tests of the program's graduates. In a written response, Peter John, administrator of the treatment center, said information on urine screens is available from the Department of Juvenile Services, a city-parish agency that does the drug testing for Juvenile Court. At the request of The Advocate, Roger Aucoin, the director of Juvenile Services, asked Straight and Narrow for the names of the program's graduates. Aucoin said he used Straight and Narrow's graduate information to produce a report showing the drug-screen history of graduates. The report Aucoin gave The Advocate does not identify the juveniles because of a state law barring the release of their names. Aucoin acknowledged that information his office generated based on Straight and Narrow's records is confusing. "Nothing adds up," Aucoin said. "Three and three don't equal six. I just don't know." For instance, John replied on Aug. 9 to The Advocate's public records request that 39 people have completed his program. But as of Aug. 9, there were only 21 graduates on the list Straight and Narrow gave Juvenile Services, according to Aucoin's report. Straight and Narrow's list included another 12 people who were to graduate last Thursday, bringing to 33 the number of graduates Straight and Narrow supplied to Aucoin. Among Straight and Narrow's graduates is a teen-ager who tested positive for marijuana on Oct. 19, 2000, his graduation day. Aucoin said a probation officer who no longer works for him and a case manager at Straight and Narrow were at fault. Each man thought the other was going to report to Judge Johnson that the teen-ager failed his drug test. Neither did, Aucoin said. "I don't think he would have graduated if she would have known," he said. Aucoin said that case prompted a change in how drug test results are reported. The results now are sent to Johnson in writing, Aucoin said. Johnson couldn't be reached for comment Friday. Ten people considered graduates by Straight and Narrow, according to the information given to Juvenile Services, did not graduate in a group, as most others did. Of those 10, Straight and Narrow listed one teen-ager's graduation date as May 8, 2000, the same day he was sentenced to prison for two years, court records show. He had tested positive for marijuana four days earlier. Another person was listed as graduating on Jan. 27, 2000, but he, too, was sentenced to prison for two years on his graduation day. One person was in Parish Prison the day of his graduation on June 7 this year. Straight and Narrow included him on its list of graduates given to Aucoin's office, despite this note in the court record on June 7: "It was discovered by the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Drug Court team that said juvenile is not in the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Drug Court." The court records reviewed by The Advocate don't show why those people were sent to prison, or why Straight and Narrow included them on the list of graduates sent to Aucoin. Juveniles in Straight and Narrow would not normally be going to prison. They are sent to Straight and Narrow for drug treatment as part of their probation. A person shown as a graduate on Jan. 7, 2000, hadn't been to court since Aug. 19, 1999. An entry in the court record that day says he was being held for transfer to state District Court. Two weeks before the Aug. 19, 1999, entry, the person tested positive for both cocaine and marijuana. Most of the people who were in the Straight and Narrow program graduated in groups, according to the records generated by Aucoin. The teen-ager who tested positive on the Oct. 19 graduation day last year graduated with three other people, Aucoin's records show. One person from the Oct. 19 group was last tested two weeks before graduation, according to the records. That's a longer time between tests than at least one other juvenile drug court in the state would wait. Dawn Palermo, coordinator for the Jefferson Parish Juvenile Drug Court, said all graduates from her program are tested on graduation day, right before the ceremony. Although state law specifies only that drug screens must be regular and random, Palermo said she requires graduates to have three straight months of clean drug screens, including the one on graduation day. "You just don't want to take a chance that somebody's positive because then they would make you look like a fool," she said. Most of Straight and Narrow's graduates at a Dec. 28, 2000, ceremony were last tested two weeks before graduation day, according to court and Aucoin's records. Four of the graduates passed drug screens Dec. 14, and one passed Dec. 27, the records show. If testing was done at Straight and Narrow closer to graduation, the results did not show up Aucoin's report, nor were they included in court records. John declined to talk about testing at the drug treatment center. In several instances, the number of people listed as Straight and Narrow graduates in the report Aucoin generated don't match the graduate numbers in separate Juvenile Court records. According to the records Straight and Narrow gave Aucoin, six people graduated at the Dec. 28 ceremony. However, court records indicate only five graduated. Similar inconsistencies show up with the group that graduated last Thursday. Straight and Narrow reported to Aucoin that 12 people would graduate that day. However, Willis Laws, a drug court probation officer, said only 10 graduated. Johnson would not allow a reporter to attend the graduation Thursday, saying the juveniles had not signed releases. State law protects the identities of most juveniles from public disclosure. According to court and Aucoin's records, only one graduate was drug screened on graduation day Thursday, and seven others were last tested on Aug. 2. If they were tested at Straight and Narrow closer to the graduation date, the results were not in the report Aucoin gave The Advocate or included in court records. Listed among the rest of the graduates Thursday, records show one teen-ager was last drug tested on Feb. 15, the day he was sentenced to six months in state prison. The sentencing on Feb. 15 is the last entry in that person's court record. Another person considered a Straight and Narrow graduate on Thursday tested positive for marijuana on May 10, records show. An Aug. 10 entry in the court record, the last for that juvenile, says he lives in Atlanta now, and is doing fine. Some of the people Straight and Narrow listed as graduates in response to Aucoin's request should be considered "unsuccessful discharges," said Palermo, the Jefferson Parish drug court coordinator. They should be grouped that way in twice-yearly statistics required by the federal and state agencies that grant the funds, she said. "Unsuccessful discharges count against us," Palermo said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake