Pubdate: Sun, 08 May 2005
Source: Beaufort Gazette, The (SC)
Copyright: 2005 The Beaufort Gazette
Contact:  http://www.beaufortgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1806
Author: Noah Haglund
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

Alternative-Sentencing Program Still Alive In Beaufort

On a recent Monday at the Beaufort County Courthouse, assistant solicitor 
Christine Grefe sat in for the judge during county Drug Court, an 
alternative-sentencing program for defendants addicted to drugs or alcohol.

The prosecutor listened as two counselors gave progress reports on each 
participant.

"Doing well ... really knows how to present himself in interviews ... but 
still has to stay in a halfway house" was the update on one man. Another 
had "acclimated well" in a halfway house and recently landed a job at a 
Hilton Head Island restaurant.

"Be careful, I know about food and beverage," Grefe warned him good-naturedly.

The 10 or so participants were in the beginning stages of a 12- to 18-month 
program. The court has survived in Beaufort County after dying out in 
neighboring counties of the 14th Judicial Circuit.

But a potentially gaping hole looms in the coming fiscal year budget that 
begins July 1, with the city of Beaufort likely to let its commitment to 
pay about one-fourth of the court's costs expire.

If the court does not receive that money, its officials may ask other 
governments to make up the shortfall because a dip in funding could mean 
fewer people admitted. The court is seeking federal nonprofit status for 
private fundraising.

Meanwhile, the court generally has received praise from opposite ends of 
the criminal justice system.

With 28 current participants, the court provides intensive addiction 
treatment and supervision to nonviolent offenders. During the program, 
participants must appear in court weekly, attend counseling sessions and 
agree to have random drug tests for 12 to 18 months, depending on the 
person's situation. They need to hold a steady job or be seriously looking 
for one.

The stakes are high. To get into the program, offenders pay $1,500, give up 
their right to trial by pleading guilty to charges and waive constitutional 
rights to search and seizure. If terminated from the program, they go 
straight to sentencing with a guilty plea already on record.

But if they succeed, they could emerge with a clean record and, more 
importantly, a new life, said Manning Smith, the court judge's and an 
ardent supporter.

"Even those who didn't quit long-term using drugs or alcohol, quit 
committing crimes in furtherance of their habit," Smith said. "It instills 
conscience, I guess."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman