Pubdate: Fri, 21 May 2004 Source: Casper Star-Tribune (WY) Contact: 2004 Casper Star-Tribune Website: http://www.trib.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/765 Author: Brendan Burke Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) LOCALS EYE DRUG COURT MODEL Judge Seth Norman of Nashville, Tenn., realized something had to be done in his city. It was 1997 and a crack cocaine epidemic had overcrowded the city's jails. The same drug addicts kept appearing before him in his criminal court. "I just got tired of seeing the same people come through the door time and time again who were addicted to drugs," he said Thursday during a visit to Casper. "At about the same time, I happened to see a television drug court program that started in Miami, Fla. And I started investigating and found out we could do the same thing." Norman learned Nashville was eligible for federal drug court grants, and soon an intensive outpatient treatment program was made a part of the Davidson County criminal justice system, he said. "We did (the outpatient treatment program) for about six months, and after about six months we realized that the people we were dealing with needed much more than outpatient care," Norman said. "So I started trying to look around for some old buildings to start a residential program. And everybody thought I was crazy, told me I couldn't do it." But a building was found, and the program has blossomed from five participants to 100 currently, he said. It was recently recognized by the White House Office of National Drug Policy. Taking note of the success seen in Nashville, Casper officials are working with Norman and other Music City officials to procure federal funding to start the nation's second residential drug court program to fight Casper's methamphetamine problem. Norman and Nashville Drug Court Coordinator Jeri Holloday Bills are in Casper this week answering questions on how and how well their program works. On Thursday the two Nashville officials met in Casper with Gov. Dave Freudenthal. Today they are slated to meet with Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo. Norman pointed to statistics regarding recidivism and economics to demonstrate the success of Nashville's residential treatment program. The national average rate of recidivism for criminals incarcerated due to a drug-related offense is between 60 and 72 percent, he said. The rate of recidivism for the graduates of Nashville's year-long residential treatment program is 16 percent, he said. Economically, the residential treatment program is a success because it costs Tennessee taxpayers $52 a day to keep one criminal incarcerated. It costs less than $40 a day to keep a patient in the drug treatment program, Norman said. These two statistics have been instrumental in attracting Casper to Nashville's program, said Circuit Court Judge Mike Huber and City Councilwoman Renee Burgess. "If these people are committing crimes related to drugs and alcohol, and they are addicted, if they are truly an addict, the only thing that is going to help or change that behavior is to treat that addiction," Huber said. "If you believe in the drug court program or not ... at least it is going to save you money," Burgess said. "That's the whole kicker of the whole thing, I think." The only criminals eligible for treatment in Nashville's residential program are those who have been convicted of nonviolent drug-related felonies like theft, are repeat offenders and are addicted to a substance, Bills and Norman said. The criminals must plead guilty to a drug-related charge and can only enter the program voluntarily, they added. Once in the program they receive six months of intense treatment while living at the 100-bed facility, Norman said. Most of the patients in the program "are on crack cocaine, which is similar to your meth, and it takes them six months to get their heads clear," he added. After the first six months, those in the program are allowed to get a job, he said. One-third of the money earned at these jobs goes to pay for room and board. One-third goes to pay for court-related costs like fines. The remainder is put into an account that can be accessed after the patient graduates the program, according to Norman. The patients also work at the residential treatment facility, cooking all meals, cleaning and doing most of the maintenance work, Norman added. After spending a full year at the residential facility, the patients are allowed to move into halfway houses or back into their own residences, the judge said. But they still must attend weekly meetings and must submit to drug tests. "I keep my thumb on them for two or three years," Norman said. Even though the program has been a success when it comes to recidivism among those who graduate, about 35 percent of those who enter the program never get to that point. Many of these washouts "just say they want to go back to jail," Bills said. Many others break the program's strict rules, Norman said. "They are all told if you don't follow the rules, you go to jail," Norman said. "And the rules are extremely rigid." "A young man, just the other day, was lying about his attendance at meetings and he wouldn't quit lying. I couldn't do anything else but send him to the penitentiary for 16 years," Norman said. "He just wouldn't do what he was told." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom