Pubdate: Sun, 17 Mar 2002
Source: Frontiersman, The (AK)
Copyright: 2002 The Frontiersman
Contact:  http://www.frontiersman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1532
Author: Naomi Klouda
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

YOUNG OFFENDER LOOKS TO PRISON PROGRAMS

Editor's note: This story is a compilation of several interviews over a 
four-month stretch between Frontiersman reporter Naomi Klouda and Robert 
Norris. It is the second of several articles which will explore how some 
Alaskan residents end up behind bars, what happens while they serve out 
their sentences, and options they are presented to assist with their 
rehabilitation.

The week starts off first thing Monday morning with a court date. After 
five months in jail, 18-year-old Robert Norris is about to hear his sentence.

At 9 a.m., he takes a seat beside his attorney, Assistant Public Defender 
George Davenport, and folds his handcuffed hands in his lap.

When the hearing starts, Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak addresses 
Palmer Superior Court Judge Eric Smith first. He recommends a sentence of 
eight years, with six-and-a-half suspended.

Norris was brought to jail Oct. 2, 2001, after trying to outrun an Alaska 
State Trooper on the Glenn Highway. Kalytiak points out the seriousness of 
the case, which involved speeds exceeding 100 mph in a stolen car.

"There was a serious element of danger and a felony drunk driving offense," 
Kalytiak says.Davenport opposes giving Norris more than a year of jail 
time. He has already served a substantial amount of time, he said.

Davenport's main objection is that more time could prove harmful.

"We would like him to still be a young man when he gets out. Rotting away 
in jail will kill his potential. He is an earnest young man," he concludes.

The judge makes a few observations on the facts of the case. He compares it 
to the July 9, 2001, police chase that ended in the death of the drunken 
teen driver, his passengers and Anchorage Police Officer Justin Wollam.

"I don't think anyone survived that wreck," Smith said. "In that case, the 
young man was trying to outrun the police. He intended to run directly into 
the officer."

When Robert Norris' turn to address the judge comes, he said he didn't 
intend to run into anyone.

"I wasn't thinking of myself after it happened. I was afraid because I 
could have killed my brother. I didn't try to run anyone off the road. I 
didn't want to hurt anyone. I just didn't want to go back to jail," Norris 
said.

Judge Smith points out that is probably the main difference between Norris' 
case and the summer fatalities.

"That one was purposeful. This one wasn't. Yet it was totally out of 
control," Smith said.

He found that Norris wasn't in the worst-offender category, but that he 
will be in the future if he continues with his behavior.

"Alcohol drove him to a really bad place," Smith concludes.

He sentences Norris to 20 months in jail. His driver's license will be 
revoked for three years. He also gives him a six-and-a-half year suspended 
sentence that could be imposed if he violates probation when he is released.

He was placed on probation for five years. He must pay a $5,000 fine.

Norris' hangs his head. At least this part is over.

By Wednesday, Norris is more philosophical than dejected. During a visit at 
the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility, he says jail officials have let him know his 
release date: Nov. 6.

"I felt like the judge was a little harsh with me, but I'm alright with the 
sentence," Norris said.

There was more he wanted to tell the judge about the events of that night. 
"But I didn't want to sound like I was making excuses for myself," he said.

Norris will soon find out where he is to be moved. He has requested to 
serve his jail time at a Fairbanks facility to place him closer to his 
aunt, Kimberly Owens, who has been a good support for him. She has offered 
to have Norris live with her and her family when he is released, to help 
him get a good start in life.

He's also been thinking a little more optimistically about getting 
treatment so that he can leave drinking behind in his life. He readily 
admits it has already cost him lost years, the 18 months he spent at 
McLaughlin, the four months at Mat-Su Pre-Trial for a previous DWI, and now 
this stretch of time.

"There's a man here from Fairbanks. He was telling me about some programs 
there.

He wrote down a list for me," Norris said. "I was thinking I would like to 
go to Old Minto, a treatment center there, when I get out. It's at a place 
where people chop wood and do traditional hunting while they are [receiving 
counseling] there."Defense attorneys and courts can make recommendations 
about where an inmate will serve his time, but the Department of 
Corrections ultimately makes that determination.

DOC figures out the release date by subtracting 33 percent of the sentence, 
for good behavior, and the time already served. Those with a significant 
amount of time to serve usually go to the Arizona prison, DOC spokesman 
Bruce Richards said.

"Lately because of budget constraints, we have not been sending them there 
as much. Also, we're getting ready to open a new Anchorage Jail, which will 
have 300 beds more than the old Sixth Avenue Jail," Richards said. This 
will give DOC more options in-state.

The determination is made based on the amount of security (maximum or 
minimum) and the inmate's treatment needs, Richards said.

Currently, the decisions are also primarily population-driven because many 
prisons are overcrowded, he said. From the start, Norris' attorney, George 
Davenport, has been concerned about placing Norris in a prison that lacks 
good rehabilitation programs.

"Placing young men in jail with older convicts creates problems," said 
Davenport. "There is the potential for them to learn a lot of negative 
things from others in jail. It's a sensitive age."

Seward's Spring Creek has a youthful offender program segregating 16- and 
24-year-olds from the prison population. Kenai's Wildwood Correctional 
Facility has a much-praised substance abuse program.

Point MacKenzie's work farm environment keeps the prisoners busy chopping 
wood, raising vegetables and feeding livestock that supply other prison 
facilities.

The problem is that there is a wait list. No one gets priority over another 
inmate, even if their case is sensitive.

Richards said there are only so many slots in a program. "Unfortunately, we 
can't put everyone in a program who wants or needs it. There are certain 
eligibility requirements because no program wants people who don't want to 
commit to sobriety and turning their lives around."

All of the prisons have certain levels of alcohol and substance abuse 
education, whether it's introductory or more in-depth, Richards said.

George Miller, superintendent of the Wildwood facility, said generally 
inmates admitted to their program have to be serving a year-long sentence 
because that's how long the intensive substance abuse program takes.

"We have found that most people admitted here have deep problems and they 
need a full year. An 18-year-old would be the youngest in this program. 
Mostly we get people who haven't succeeded in lesser treatments in the 
past, the outpatient programs being the first level. The next step up is 
20-30 day residential treatment program, then a 42-90 day one. Most we get 
have failed at most of those levels and in fact failed time and time again.

This might be a little much for someone his age."However, Norris wouldn't 
be disqualified because of those things, Miller said. "Keeping to the 
college analogy, this would be like going to Harvard or West Point as 
opposed to a state college. People in the program say it is easily the most 
difficult thing they have ever done."

Norris knows he has a little more time to spend at Mat-Su Pre-Trial before 
he will be shipped to another place. In the meantime, he has a few trusted 
friends at the jail who provide a positive influence for him, he said.

A stranger came to visit him last Friday after the first article on Norris 
appeared in the Frontiersman. He apparently read it and arrived at the 
jail. He told Norris he, too, had struggled with alcohol in his life, and 
offered the young man some ideas.

"His name is Carlos," Norris said. "He told me he had been having bad 
dreams that he was stuck in jail and no one was helping him. He told me 
that he came to see me to tell me that there are people that do care -- 
that there is hope."

Norris said the visit made him feel good. "It was really cool. He said he 
would come back again."
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