Pubdate: Sun, 21 Oct 2007
Source: Times-Tribune, The (Scranton PA)
Copyright: 2007 Townnews.com
Contact:  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4440
Author: Erin L. Nissley, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

DRUG COURT REHABS LIVES

The turning point for Ed Volovitch almost came too  late. The North 
Scranton native opted to enroll in  Lackawanna County's drug court, 
an intensive program  launched in 2000, to avoid a prison sentence in 2003.

His parents had turned him in after he tried to break  into a safe to 
get money to buy heroin. No one would  put up the $500 for bail. He 
was desperate.

The turning point for Ed Volovitch almost came too  late. The North 
Scranton native opted to enroll in  Lackawanna County's drug court, 
an intensive program  launched in 2000, to avoid a prison sentence in 2003.

His parents had turned him in after he tried to break  into a safe to 
get money to buy heroin. No one would  put up the $500 for bail. He 
was desperate.

"It got so bad that I tried to hang myself in my cell,"  Mr. 
Volovitch said. "The only thing I was thinking was,  if I had a bag 
of dope, I wouldn't be hanging here."

Even the unsuccessful suicide attempt wasn't a big  enough scare for 
him to stop using, nor was the  prospect of starting the Treatment 
Court program. For  months, he was using heroin and prescription 
painkillers and meeting with drug court staff for  counseling and drug tests.

Each time he tested positive, he went back to jail for  a few days. 
He'd get out and start using again, he  said.

"I'd ... tell them what they wanted to hear," Mr.  Volovitch said. "I 
didn't take it seriously. I'd miss  appointments. I'd go back to jail."

It was during one of those brief jail stays that Mr.  Volovitch 
finally had what recovering addicts call a  moment of clarity. Just 
before Thanksgiving 2004, he  was in Lackawanna County Prison and 
heard that his  cousin had died after overdosing on Xanax and heroin.

"For me, that really hit home," he said, his voice  growing soft. "I 
used to roll around with him when we  were both in diapers."

Mr. Volovitch was released from jail on a Thursday and  walked to 
court for his weekly check-in with Lackawanna  County Judge Michael Barrasse.

"I told him I needed help, that I couldn't keep doing  this," he 
said. "And he said, 'It's about time.' "

About a year later, Mr. Volovitch "graduated" from the  drug court 
program. The 26-year-old is now working  full-time and studying 
education at Marywood  University. He credits the county's Treatment 
Court  program for every success he's had.

"It was scary at first, because I'd never been honest  with anyone in 
years," Mr. Volovitch said about the  program. "Where I am today, I 
owe to the people at drug  court and the people around me."

'Amazing accomplishment'

When the county's drug court program began, it was one  of three in 
the state. It has since grown to include a  DUI court and is one of 
2,016 such treatment courts in  the nation, said C. Wes Huddleston 
III, executive  director of the National Association of Drug Court 
Professionals.

Luzerne County began its drug court in 2006, and  Wyoming County 
recently received state funding to start  one. Since its inception, 
Lackawanna County Treatment  Court has graduated more than 150 
people. About 15  percent of graduates re-offend, slightly better 
than  the 17 percent recidivism rate for drug courts  nationally.

"I think it's an amazing accomplishment," Mr.  Huddleston said of the 
national recidivism rate.  "Something like two-thirds of people in 
prison for  drugs re-offend."

When the county first launched drug court, Judge  Barrasse said some 
were skeptical.

"It was a novel idea. People thought we'd be sitting  around, holding 
hands, singing 'Kumbaya,'" the judge  said. "In reality, it's much 
more difficult than  prison."

Just getting in requires several steps: Anyone who  wants to apply 
must be approved by the district  attorney's office and then the drug 
court board, which  usually includes an assessment by the county's 
Drug and  Alcohol Commission, as well as a review by the  Treatment 
Court staff and the Community Intervention  Center.

Although several people at the district attorney's  office were leery 
of the program at first, District  Attorney Andy Jarbola said he is 
now convinced that the  program works.

Before drug court began, prosecutors and judges would  see the same 
offenders "time and time and time again,"  Mr. Jarbola said.

"I've been here so long, I'm seeing the kids of  frequent drug 
offenders," he added. "These days, we're  not seeing the same people 
back over and over."

After being accepted into the program, the defendants  start the 
first of four phases, which are tailored to  meet each defendant's 
needs and address their specific  problems. The program usually 
includes counseling and  Alcoholic Anonymous meetings, and defendants 
are tested  randomly for drug and alcohol use and must appear 
in  front of a judge each week to check in. They're also  required to 
maintain steady employment or enroll in  college.

Defendants are usually on the program for a year to 18  months, 
graduating after they meet all the requirements  set by the judges 
and Treatment Court staff and  maintain sobriety for six months prior 
to leaving the  program.

Any slip-up -- from not attending the required meetings  to testing 
positive for drugs or alcohol -- usually  means a prison stay. Enough 
slip-ups, a defendant can  be dropped from the program and go back 
into the court  system for a guilty plea or trial and a prison 
sentence. Since the beginning, 109 people have been  booted from the 
program, according to court records.

"We'll have some people say, 'Hey, drug court is too  hard. Just send 
me to jail,'" said probation officer  Gene Eiden. "There's a lot of 
time and effort expected  from people in Treatment Court."

'Want to change'

Many people who start the program are just like Mr.  Volovitch, drug 
court staffers said. Many addicts deny  their addiction and aren't 
ready to change.

"They think, 'I can control it,' " said Judy Gillette,  a nurse 
clinician at the county's Treatment Court. "But  they can't. It takes 
some people years to realize they  have a problem."

That's why drug court is so intensive -- catching  backslides before 
they grow into bigger issues is  important to the defendant's 
success. Not everyone will  succeed at drug court, despite the hoops 
they must jump  through to get in.

"People have to want to change," Mr. Eiden said. "We  take it on a 
case-by-case basis, to find out how  committed they are. You can tell 
early on."

There's always the possibility that someone who  graduated from 
Treatment Court will go on to mess up  spectacularly, though.

"There's a real fear there that someone who completed  DUI court will 
go out and kill someone" in a drunken  driving accident, Judge 
Barrasse said. "I worry that  there will be a big drug bust and one 
of the people  arrested had been through drug court."

So far, that hasn't happened, in part because the  intense program 
weeds out people who aren't committed  to change.

Though Treatment Court officials realize slip-ups and  backslides 
will happen -- especially with people who  are fighting longtime 
addictions -- their patience only  stretches so far. The threat of 
hard time, the judge  said, coupled with the desire to change is 
often enough  to keep someone on the right path.

Treatment Court works where prison often fails because  of the time 
and effort of drug court staff, court  officials and community 
groups, Judge Barrasse and Mr.  Eiden say. Mixing counseling and AA 
meetings, which  give addicts the tools they need to cope with 
getting  and staying sober, with frequent check-ins and drug  tests, 
there are benchmarks by which defendants can be  measured.

"Everyone is assisting the client," Mr. Eiden explains.  "All the 
agencies involved are taking time out of their  day to come to court, 
for instance, to report on these  people."

Judge Barrasse says he sees the philosophy of Treatment  Court 
spreading to other aspects of the court system.  Last year, the 
county launched a Mental Health  Treatment Court that approaches the 
treatment of the  mentally ill with the same intensive concentration, 
requiring frequent check-ins to make sure defendants  are staying on 
their medication, maintaining housing,  finding work and staying out 
of trouble.

"There's a mind shift on how we handle cases," the  judge said. "Some 
people need to be punished. Others  need rehabilitation."

To expand the program into other aspects of the  judicial system will 
mean finding more resources, the  biggest of which may be funding. 
Treatment Court  officials couldn't put an exact cost on treatment 
court; Judge Barrasse estimated at least $100,000 a  year.

There are plenty of federal and state funding sources  -- the county 
gets more than $500,000 in grants for its  intermediate and 
restrictive intermediate punishment  programs and for DUI court. 
They've also been given a  $500,000 federal grant for drug court. 
Just last week,  Congress increased funding for drug courts from $10 
million to $40 million.

Both national and local officials involved in drug  court say the 
program actually saves money.

"For every dollar spent on treatment, it saves money,"  Judge 
Barrasse says, adding it's difficult to assign a  value to how much is saved.

"They're not coming back in the door and not sitting in  prison. How 
do you put a specific number on that?"

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By the numbers

655 defendants have applied for admission into  Treatment Court since 2000.

255 defendants have been denied admission since 2000.

156 clients graduated since it began in 2000.

109 clients kicked out of the program since 2000.

135 clients in the program currently.

15 percent recidivism rate after graduation.

Source: Lackawanna County Treatment Court
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom