Pubdate: Tue, 23 Jan 2001
Source: Savannah Morning News (GA)
Copyright: 2001 Savannah Morning News
Contact:  P.O. Box 1088, Savannah, Ga., 31402
Fax: (912) 234-6522
Website: http://www.savannahnow.com/
Forum: http://chat.savannahnow.com:90/eshare/
Author: Jan Skutch

TREATMENT, NOT PRISON

Planned Chatham County Drug Court Wants To Stop Revolving Door

Drugs account for more than a third of felony cases in Chatham Conty 
Superior Court -- a real drag on the system. Many of those cases are repeat 
offenders, often fresh from incarceration on prior drug offenses.

To deal with the problem, local judges likely will adopt a concept called a 
drug court -- a means of treating the person while removing the criminal.

"Our courts have been ill-equipped to handle the revolving door of 
offenders who, upon release from incarceration, re-offend because they 
remain drug addicted," said Chatham Superior Court Judge James Bass Jr., 
who would handle the court here.

Bass, who volunteered for the post, eventually will handle all drug cases. 
In return, his fellow judges will adjust cases so he does not become 
overwhelmed.

"Unfortunately, traditional forms of punishment have not been successful in 
modifying the behavior of those who are addicted," Bass said.

To alter that tradition, drug courts designed to treat the addiction rather 
than throw away the person have sprung up, first in Miami in 1989. Today 
nationwide there are about 500 such courts.

Drug courts are in place in Brunswick, Atlanta, Macon, and Dublin and are 
planned for Gainesville and Dalton.

"Effective treatment along with close judicial supervision has been 
successful in preventing drug relapse and recidivism in those courts where 
the drug court model has been employed,' Bass said.

In the Brunswick area, Superior Court Judge Amanda Williams has overseen a 
drug court for two years.

Williams, a Superior Court judge for 11 years, is one of four judges 
covering a five-county circuit. She was approached by Dr. Conway Hunter 
from the American Society of Addiction Medicine in 1994 with the idea of a 
drug court. Her fellow judges were not immediately interested.

But in 1996 then-Superior Court Chief Judge A. Blenn Taylor, who was 
handling the lion's share of criminal cases in Glynn County, found himself 
inundated with addiction-related crime.

" 'This is unbelievable,' " Williams said Taylor told her. "Everything he 
was seeing had an addiction component. We keep sentencing these people and 
they keep coming back to us. We just recycle these people."

In January 1996 she was handed the task of starting a drug court which 
began operating in November 1998.

"Some judges are case-management oriented and some others are more 
concerned with the human component," she said. "The nicest thing about the 
drug court is it deals with both. I started it because of the human component.

"The reason we keep seeing these people is because the addiction is not 
being addressed."

She estimated that at least 75 percent of the criminal caseload in Glynn 
County is drug-related in some fashion. "It's probably higher than that. 
It's just not recognized."

Often a case will not start out as being drug-related, but upon questioning 
of the offender it will become evident drugs were in some way involved. 
"Sometimes we don't recognize how much it is really there," Williams said.

"We used to have jury trials once a month for drug cases. Now we have it 
every other month. I'm not saying that people are not using drugs, but the 
way we are taking care of them, we are not seeing the same people coming 
back and coming back and coming back."

Only 15 of the 200 offenders to enter the program had flunked out.

"What I've done is increase the penalties for having a drug charge and the 
amount of money it takes to get out on bond if you have a drug charge," 
Williams said.

"We have a lot of components in our drug-treatment program not directly 
attributable to drug use."

Those in the program must obtain a high school diploma or equivalent, be 
fully employed and at the end of their program and donate 10 hours per 
month to a community charity. They must complete a treatment regimen and be 
clean and sober for at least 12 months or they start all over again.

If they want to stay beyond the two-year period they can "if they're trying 
to work it out," she said. "I just don't believe that you thrown these 
people away if they're sincerely trying to work it out."

Danny DeLoach, court administrator for Chatham County and the First 
Judicial District which includes Glynn County, is acting as interim project 
director. Once Chatham County adopts the program, it will be run out of 
DeLoach's office by a full-time program director.

"It will take some pressure off the normal system," DeLoach said. Of the 
970 pending cases through October, 36.9 percent involved some type of 
pending drug charge, DeLoach said.

"The program will start easy -- initial cases will be restricted to 
first-time possession cases. Later it will address all drug-related cases."

But, DeLoach said, participants must be "somebody who is in need of treatment."

"If Chatham County determines this is what we need, we intend to be up and 
operating by November 2001."

Based on experiences elsewhere, Bass says the drug court may be the answer 
here.

"Statistically, it looks like it works," Bass said. "It's better than we 
traditionally have done."

Senior reporter Jan Skutch can be reached at 652-0336 or What's next:

An informational public meeting to discuss a Chatham County drug court will 
be held from 2-4 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30, at the Georgia Continuing 
Education Center, 305 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Georgia Supreme Court 
Chief Justice Robert Benham and Amanda Williams, a Superior Court judge 
from Brunswick, will be featured speakers. The public is invited to discuss 
what a drug court is and whether one is needed here.

What is a drug court:

A drug court offers people charged with drug-related offenses a two-year 
intensive drug treatment program including counseling, drug screening and 
such efforts as education and job training to reverse addictive behavior. 
In exchange, the offender has the charge dismissed upon successful 
completion of the program.

Here's how it works:

1. A person arrested on drug-related offenses is screened shortly after 
arrest for possible inclusion in the program. Others may come on 
recommendation of the District Attorney's office, the gatekeeper for the 
program, or the offender's attorney.

2. If accepted by the drug-court judge, the person will be granted a bond 
by that judge. The person must be suitable for treatment for his or her 
dependency.

3. In return, each must agree to drug counseling, complete a General 
Educational Development test, get a job and perform community service and 
submit to a weekly drug screen.

4. The program will include marrying the treatment expertise of local 
mental health and education providers from agencies such as the 
Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools, Union Mission Inc., Recovery Place, 
Memorial Health, Georgia Regional Hospital, the Chatham County Health 
Department and Gateway Mental Health Center.

5. The offender must meet with the judge weekly to determine his or her 
progress. Those sessions are in open court and attended by each offender in 
the program.

6. If the offender completes the program, his or her charge will be dismissed.

7. Failure to comply will result in sanctions -- jail for a set period -- 
or dismissal from the program. This can occur at any point in the process 
and, if that occurs, the offender will be prosecuted like anyone else.

Who will pay for the court?

* An initial planning grant of $99,000 from the Council of Superior Court 
Judges and the Georgia Supreme Court will set up the program.

* A $500,000 U.S. Justice Department grant will be applied for by Feb. 26 
with a 25 percent match, not necessarily a cash match, from the city of 
Savannah and Chatham County. Additional grants could be available after the 
initial two-year period.

* Additional funds would be sought from private and corporate donations.

The payback:

* Individuals can be saved from addictive behavior and become productive 
members of society.

* Taxpayers save money. National standards show that for every dollar spent 
on the drug court, $14 would be saved by the system.

* Courts' dockets are relieved of the drag of repeat drug offenders who now 
burden caseloads.
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