Pubdate: Wed, 19 Nov 2003
Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright: 2003 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact: http://www.clarionledger.com/about/letters.html
Website: http://www.clarionledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Author: Sid Salter
Webpage: http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0311/19/lsid.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

DRUG COURTS A REAL ALTERNATIVE TO PRISON COSTS

As Gov.-elect Haley Barbour prepares to take office in January, he faces 
the conundrum of his no-new-taxes pledge on the campaign trail against the 
reality of a whopping $70 million deficit in the state's Department of 
Corrections.

Simply put, Mississippi can't afford to house the prisoners we already have 
in the state's penal system - much less the new ones pouring in each day 
under the state's "85 percent" rule that mandates that prisoners serve at 
least that percentage of their original sentence before being eligible for 
parole.

Idea slowly taking hold

One alternative to the runaway costs of operating the state's prison system 
is the statewide implementation of drug courts on the model of the 
successful program that has been operated in the state's 14th Circuit Court 
District by Senior Circuit Judge Keith Starrett since 1999 in Lincoln, Pike 
and Walthall counties.

Like Starrett, there are a number of enlightened, pragmatic judges in 
Mississippi who have started or are attempting to organize drug courts in 
their venues - including recent converts Madison County Youth Court Judge 
William Agin and Eighth District Circuit Judge Vernon Cotton of Carthage 
who serves Leake, Neshoba, Newton and Scott counties.

Drug courts function such that after an offender has been indicted for and 
pleads guilty to possession of illegal drugs - excluding repeat or violent 
offenders and those charged with sale of drugs - the offender can serve his 
sentence through intense supervision and treatment mandated by the court 
rather than in prison.

In addition to those cited above, drug courts already function in Hinds, 
Hancock, Harrison, Stone, Leflore, Sunflower, Washington, George and Greene 
counties. Adams County Youth Court and Ridgeland Municipal Court also have 
drug courts.

Five more drug courts are planned to serve Adams, Amite, Franklin, 
Wilkinson, Bolivar, Coahoma, Quitman, Tunica, Forrest and Perry counties 
and the youth court in Forrest County.

Consider the numbers

How is the drug court experiment working?

The U.S. Justice Department cites the following national statistics:

An estimated 61,000 (16 percent) convicted jail inmates committed their 
offenses to get money for drugs.

An individual who has a severe addiction commits nearly 63 crimes a year.

Incarceration of drug-using offenders costs between $20,000 and $50,000 per 
person per year. The capital costs of building a prison cell can be as much 
as $80,000. In contrast, a comprehensive drug court system typically costs 
less than $2,500 annually for each offender.

In 2001, drug offenders accounted for 20.4 percent of sentenced state 
inmates and 55 percent of sentenced federal inmates.

Drug use is substantially reduced among defendants while they are 
participating in drug court programs. For most participants who graduate 
from the programs (ranging from 50 to 65 percent), drug use is eliminated 
altogether.

According to a preliminary report titled Estimate of Drug Court Recidivism 
Rates - which followed more than 2,000 graduates from 100 drug courts - the 
recidivism rate for one year after graduation was 16.4 percent and 27.5 
percent two years after graduation. Figures for individuals who were 
imprisoned for drug offenses, instead of entering a drug court, are 43.5 
percent and 58.6 percent, respectively.

Some judges and lawmakers around the state reject the worth of drug courts. 
But none of those politicians - frightened to be perceived as "soft" on 
crime - has offered any advice to taxpayers on how to make up the 
Corrections deficit.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom