Pubdate: Thu, 27 Nov 2003
Source: Neshoba Democrat, The (MS)
Copyright: 2003 The Neshoba Democrat
Contact:  http://www.neshobademocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1774
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

AREA DRUG COURT TO BE DISCUSSED

Circuit Judge Vernon R. Cotten will discuss plans for a Drug Court for 
Leake, Neshoba, Newton and Scott counties at 7 p.m., Dec. 2 during a 
meeting at the VIP Room at the Golden Moon at the Pearl River Resort. The 
public is invited.

The meeting will be hosted by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. 
Chief Phillip Martin will give welcoming remarks. Circuit Judge Keith 
Starrett, who established a Drug Court in the 14th Circuit Court District 
in south Mississippi in 1999, will be the keynote speaker.

Guests are expected to include Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice 
Edwin L. Pittman, Justice Kay Cobb, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Roger H. 
McMillin Jr. and Commissioner of Corrections Christopher Epps.

County, municipal, judicial and law enforcement officials of the 8th 
Circuit Court District have been invited to attend, along with business 
leaders, hospital administrators and educators.

Judge Cotten hopes to have a fledgling Drug Court operating Jan. 1.

"It targets the person who is hopelessly addicted, with a view toward 
rehabilitation through very intensive drug testing, counseling and therapy 
over a five-year period," he said.

Judge Cotton is searching for legislative funding as well as grants and 
foundation money to get the program started.

"We are going to try to create a skeletal program to be as functional as we 
can be," he said.

The 8th Circuit District program will be modeled after the one that Judge 
Starrett uses in Lincoln, Pike and Walthall counties.

Drug Court is for offenders charged with drug possession. Drug sellers, 
drug dealers and violent offenders are not eligible.

Prosecutors and police are consulted about who may be referred to the 
program, and can reject applicants and pursue full prosecution.

"District attorneys and law enforcement officials have veto rights over who 
is accepted into the program," Judge Cotten said.

Drug Court participants plead guilty to charges and are placed on intensive 
probation supervision. If they complete a program of good behavior for five 
years, their records may be wiped clean.

Drug Court participants are required to complete drug treatment at their 
own expense. They are subjected to frequent drug screening. They will meet 
weekly with Judge Cotten to give an accounting of their progress.

They must pay all fines and fees. They must get and keep a job. Those who 
do not have a high school diploma must pursue a General Education 
Development (GED) degree. Some will be required to do community service work.

Judges Starrett and Cotten are quick to point out that Drug Court is not 
soft on crime.

Judge Starrett said, "This is not 'hug a thug.' There are two ways out of 
Drug Court: graduate or go to the penitentiary."

Judge Cotten said the supervision of Drug Court participants is intensive 
and tough.

"The defendant is accountable weekly to the drug court coordinator, the 
probation officer and the judge," he said. In some districts which operate 
drug courts, "It is so tough that there are some defendants who would 
rather go straight to jail than go through the intensiveness of the 
therapy, the counseling and the testing."

The volume of drug crimes and the influence of drugs in other crimes have 
convinced Judge Cotten of the need for an alternative to traditional prison 
sentences for drug addicts.

Locking up drug addicts doesn't cure addiction, he said.

"The scenarios are the same: the defendant pleads guilty to possession of a 
controlled substance and acknowledges being hopelessly addicted to drugs. 
Or they plead guilty to theft crimes such as burglary of an automobile, 
business or home. When I ask why, they tell me they are so controlled by 
their addiction that they steal to get money to buy drugs. Their lives have 
been decimated by drug addiction.

"This week I sentenced a 26-year-old mother to five years in prison for 
breaking into a church to steal property to get money to buy drugs. The 
same people keep coming back. They aren't learning from the jail 
experience. If we in the criminal justice system keep doing things the same 
way, we aren't learning either."

Judge Cotten called locking up drug addicts a band-aid approach. It's 
getting them off the street, but not dealing with the heart of the problem, 
which is drug addiction, he said.

Addressing the root problem of drug addiction has a domino effect that 
reaches beyond the drug offenders, he said.

"If you can save the person, this results in saving his or her family, 
keeping the family together and enabling the offender to keep working to 
pay fines and support the family," he said.

Taxpayers benefit by not bearing the burden of paying for incarceration and 
welfare.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections has more than 20,000 inmates. 
During the past decade, the prison population more than doubled, and the 
cost of operating the state prison system more than tripled. The 2002 
Department of Corrections budget was more than $262 million.

Drug Court treatment is cheaper than imprisonment. State Auditor Phil 
Bryant compared costs in a performance audit released in January 2003. The 
audit noted that the estimated annual cost to operate Judge Starrett's 14th 
Circuit Court Drug Court is less than $5,000 per participant, compared to 
$16,757 per inmate housed in the Department of Corrections.

Ten drug courts operate in the state, and three are in the planning stages.

For more information about drug courts in Mississippi, go to the web site 
of the Mississippi Supreme Court, www.mssc.state.ms.us, and then click on 
"AOC." The Administrative Office of Courts assists the state's drug court 
programs.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager