Pubdate: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 Source: Ventura County Star (CA) Copyright: 2006 The E.W. Scripps Co. Contact: http://www.staronline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/479 Author: Laura Mecoy, Sacramento Bee Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) BILL TO REVISE PROPOSITION 36 UNDER FIRE Jail Proposed For Refusal To Comply With Treatment LOS ANGELES - Oliver Hamilton says he wasn't afraid of jail: He was afraid of change. Two years ago, the San Diego Navy veteran overcame his fears and his 36-year drug and alcohol addiction with the help of Proposition 36, the ballot measure requiring treatment instead of prison for nonviolent drug offenders. Today, the 49-year-old warehouse manager is fighting a bill that the governor plans to sign this week that rewrites the initiative. It would allow judges to impose short-term jail sentences for recalcitrant drug offenders who refuse to comply with their court-ordered treatment. "Really, no addict is afraid of jail," Hamilton said. "Put them in inpatient programs. That's what works." But treatment hasn't worked for three out of four of the first- and second-time drug offenders sentenced to recovery programs under Proposition 36 since it went into effect July 1, 2001. They never showed up for their court-ordered programs or they dropped out of the programs. So a task force of prosecutors, public defenders, judges and treatment professionals proposed the short-term jail sentences and other changes in the initiative in hopes of getting more addicts into treatment and off drugs. Lawmakers adopted the revisions last week in Senate Bill 1137. Now Proposition 36's authors are planning to sue the state. "It would reverse the intent of Prop. 36," said Margaret Dooley, Drug Policy Alliance Proposition 36 outreach director. "It would take Prop. 36 from (mandating) treatment instead of incarceration, and make it (require) treatment and incarceration." California Public Defenders Association President Barry Melton called the Drug Policy Alliance's views "absurd." He said drug offenders go to prison now on the "installment plan" because the ones who don't complete treatment usually end up behind bars. "This bill is calculated to keep people out of jail," Melton said. Under SB 1137, judges could impose jail sentences of two to 10 days for relapses or failure to show up for treatment. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen Manley was chairman of the task force that rewrote Proposition 36, and he said he pushed for the jail sanctions as a "fast wake-up call" for addicts. "If you give them a quick wake-up call, you will see they will get into treatment," he said. "And, even more importantly, they will stay in treatment." Melton said the public defenders agreed to the jail sanctions in exchange for other provisions that would give their clients more chances to turn their lives around. Under Proposition 36, for instance, their clients went to jail after the third drug-related probation violation. SB 1137 would lift that threshold and give the judge the power to continue an offender's treatment after a third violation, if the judge believes that the defendant would benefit. SB 1137 would also increase the amount of treatment time, from 18 months to 24 months of drug rehabilitation and follow-up care. In addition, judges could keep offenders who commit non-drug misdemeanors, such as shoplifting, in the program but sentence them to up to 30 days in jail. Under Proposition 36, judges usually revoked offenders' probation, ending their eligibility for drug treatment. "We had clients disqualified all of the time for driving on suspended licenses ... and for other minor misdemeanors," Melton said. Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, said she sought to give judges more discretion to deal with cases on an "individual basis" when she wrote SB 1137. By giving the judges more discretion, she said she is making Proposition 36 operate more like the drug courts that predated the initiative's approval. Drug courts get higher marks among many lawmakers and those in law enforcement because drug court judges can exert more control over drug offenders, and a 2005 state study indicated that they had a higher success rate than Proposition 36. Proposition 36 authors say more people graduate from drug court programs because the judges select which defendants qualify. Proposition 36 programs are open to all drug offenders who qualify. A UCLA study found that Proposition 36 saved $2.50 in prison and other costs for every $1 spent on the program. The savings grew to $4 for every $1 spent when researchers only considered those who finished their court-ordered programs. "Addicts on the street right now communicate with one another, and they know the message now is you don't really have to comply," said Kathy Jett, Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs director. Proposition 36 "will be taken much more seriously now." She said the threat of jail would give treatment providers another "tool" to use in persuading an addict to stay in a program. She also said judges and treatment programs already present trophies, gift certificates and other rewards for completing treatment. They also order intensified treatment, court observation and other sanctions for relapses and missed treatment sessions. "Jail sanctions don't work alone," said Marta Bortner, Health and Human Services Agency spokeswoman. "They only work as part of a comprehensive treatment plan." - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath