Pubdate: Thu, 03 Feb 2011
Source: Savannah Morning News (GA)
Copyright: 2011 Savannah Morning News
Contact:  http://www.savannahnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/401
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

SMART ALTERNATIVE

GOV. NATHAN Deal is on the right track with his proposal to divert 
nonviolent drug offenders from prison to alternative programs.

That's what Chatham County has been doing for about a decade, and the 
track record is encouraging. It makes sense to try to replicate it 
across Georgia.

All we get from locking up crackheads, meth users and other addicts - 
besides a hefty bill - is 17 percent of our prison population who 
become better criminals when they are eventually released.

Why lock people up at public expense if you can clean them up and get 
them to become productive citizens?

The alternative court programs may cost money to establish. But if 
officials do a good job at screening those who get accepted, it 
should pay dividends in the long run.

A regime of treatment, fines, counseling and frequent check-ins with 
probation officers - as directed by a set of specialized drug, DUI 
and mental health courts - is a better deal not only for offenders, 
but also for taxpayers.

For the offender, it offers an opportunity to develop a healthy, 
productive lifestyle and avoid future run-ins with the law.

Taxpayers will see two major benefits. First, those whose punishment 
occurs outside a prison are more likely to be buying their own food, 
covering their own rent, working and paying taxes. In short, pulling 
their own weight.

That's important. According to Mr. Deal, it costs $3 million a day 
(over $1 billion a year) to run the Georgia Department of Corrections 
under current legislation. That's money that's not spent on better 
schools or to pay for health care.

A second benefit is the reduced likelihood that worsening drug habits 
will drive offenders to commit serious crimes such as robbery or assault.

Granted, if someone chooses to commit a crime, they should be 
prepared to do the time. Thus drug courts aren't about coddling 
people. Instead, they're about punishing people the smart way to 
change behavior. And we're not talking about killers. We're talking 
about people who are killing themselves.

If the governor can replicate statewide the success of such 
"therapeutic courts" in Chatham, it can be life-changing. Out of the 
more than 300 "graduates" of Chatham's drug court since 2001, well 
over 200 have stayed clean and out of trouble.

For the governor's plan to become reality, lawmakers must begin to 
shift funds from prisons to probation, for instance, and make changes 
to the state's mandatory sentencing laws. Lawmakers should get 
cracking - and Chatham County's delegation should help lead the way

Spending millions of dollars we don't have to keep every single 
violator in Georgia behind bars isn't being "hard on crime." It's 
being soft in the head.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom