Pubdate: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 Source: Monitor-Index (Moberly MO) Copyright: 2004 The Moberly Monitor-Index Contact: http://www.moberlymonitor.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3316 Author: Amy Compney, City Editor Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) JUDGE HAYES SHARES INFORMATION ABOUT NEW DRUG COURT HUNTSVILLE - Associate Circuit Judge Scott Hayes visited Randolph County Commissioners on Tuesday to share an update on a planned drug court that could soon serve Randolph and Howard County citizens. Hayes said that 95 percent of people prosecuted for drug crimes get probation through a traditional court. "At sentencing the judge has the option at that time to send them to some department of corrections drug treatment program but there's hardly any room at the inn for those," Hayes said. "Generally those are reserved for people who get in trouble on probation so most people go through the system initially get probation." Hayes said depending on the offense, probation can include random urinalysis tests and checking in with a probation officer. Hayes said that even those who go through treatment can get through a program without being rehabilitated. "Experience has shown that these hard-core drug users can walk any type of treatment that's a month," Hayes said. "They can walk the walk, talk the talk, and do the things that they need to do to make successful treatment. Quite a few of them actually do get unsuccessfully discharged from treatment centers but it's amazing how many of them get successfully discharged from it." The next transition for continued violations, Hayes said, is a prison treatment or shock incarceration program up to 120 days. The state has three or four institutional treatment centers scattered throughout the state. "The idea of sending the people that are hooked on drugs to the treatment center instead of the general population shock incarceration program is to get them off of it, to give them the tools and abilities and resources to get off drugs or alcohol (you see a lot of that, too)," Hayes said. "But that doesn't always work. In fact, of the success rate. . . I've seen a guy personally in the criminal justice system get out of the 120 rehab program fro the Department of Corrections, the day that he gets out, he gets in a fight and then goes and drinks and he was in for alcohol. The very same day that he did this, he gets out and starts drinking again. . . so he wasn't taught that the behavior just can't go on." Hayes said the Department of Corrections also has a two year program that does have a higher rate of success. "Research shows if you're trying to kick a lifelong addiction, you're not going to do it in 30 days, you're not going to do it in 90 days, you're not going to do it in 120 days" he said. "It requires at least a year of intensive, hands-on, somebody there with them all the time baby-sitting them." Hayes said very few people get the two year option because they need to have three prior felony convictions and meet other criteria to be eligible for the program. "Here's the issue: a lot of drug possession crimes are a maximum of seven years in prison," Hayes said. "That's the absolute maximum Class C felony if they're not manufacturing, transporting, distributing. It's seven years. Well, nowadays in the Department of Corrections, if you go down and again, there's a whole lot of factors involved: Is it a probation violation, is it a parole violation, is it his first time down and all that. Say it's his firs time down and he hasn't been in trouble before. A seven year sentence, it used to be 50 days per year is how I used to advise clients; now it's less. So if you go down on a seven year sentence in the Department of Corrections, you're looking at getting out in less than a year. These days I would suggest six months because it's a victimless crime. They don't place that as a high priority. . . So say you've got a guy that has the option of having a seven year sentence where he knows he'll be out in less than a year. And you say okay, do you want to change your life and do this hard program for 18 months, and do what we ask of you, including you can only have potato chips at a certain time. . .you follow these rules for 18 months and come out a better person or you get a year and they say no, I'll just take the year." "Traditional incarceration, as far as rehabilitation, is limited," Hayes continued. "Punishment wise, those of us that were in the military understand that it's not any worse than boot camp. As a matter of fact it's better in a lot of ways. More freedoms because of the human rights aspect of it." Hayes said for years people have been looking at what the biggest drain on the system is, and it has been drug users. The drug court movement was born of trying to ascertain the best way to rehabilitate and deal with drug offenders. "Drug court is different. It starts off the same: They get arrested for a crime or they're identified as a drug abuser where they're stealing stuff to support their drug habit. . .They'll come through the system and it's still way in the planning stages as far as what Randolph County's going to use but one way is that they go ahead and plead guilty. Another way is they defer prosecution which means the prosecutor won't file on them if they go into drug court. The drug court team needs to get together and see which works best," Hayes explained. "Eventually they go through the system and they're identified through diversion or they're identified through a plea of guilty. They come in the drug court. Drug court, basically what happens is that we have the prosecuting attorney on board, a private attorney or a public defender if need be. We have the treatment people and preferred family health care on board and we have probation and parole on board. And they get basically we call it a super-intensive probation. They're tested three, four, five times a week depending on what treatment phase. They have to go get a job, they have to go get various things in their life corrected that's caused them this path of drug addiction. The main thing is it's hands-on every week for the first phase of this three-phase program. The first phase of drug court every week they're before the judge answering for what they've done the week prior. Instead of on a normal probation, if they don't get in trouble, after they've plead guilty and they're placed on probation or they don't get any serious violations, they never see the judge again. On a drug court, they see the judge every week whether they're in trouble or not. If they're not in trouble, they'll get an atta boy, positive reinforcement. Some of these people have never had positive reinforcement in their lives. . .They'll get some positive reinforcement. We hope the community will be behind it. We can give them free movie tickets for making different phases. In AA you get coins for making it so far, it's the same principle. Small hurdles to overcome." Hayes said then the staff involved will get together and discuss each case on a week-by-week basis and mark progress or identify areas that need improvement. "You've got to consider in drug court, the process is sort of like boot camp. You've got a certain time that eventually you break them. They'll realize they can no longer play the game and they'll start accepting the treatment issues," Hayes said. "And seeing the light come on in some of these who've graduated - you know, I'm out here, I'm paying taxes, I'm doing things that normal people do, I get up of a morning, I don't stay up all night and party for days. Some of these people have never had a job." Hayes said the difference between drug court and regular court is that it's hands on. He called the process a "carrot and stick approach." "The carrot is they're allowed to possibly . . .Withdraw their guilty plea to where, especially if they're a first timer, it's not a conviction on their record if they make it through drug court," Hayes said. "And the stick approach are through various sanctions if they do things or if they don't get a job fast enough, making them do community service, making them do anything, even push a broom in a circle if need be. Make them actually go out, get up of a morning, report, apply at so many places. If they fail to do that, throwing them in jail for a couple of days as sanctions." Hayes said Boone county has been utilizing a drug court for quite a while and that there are 95 drug courts in the state operating or in the planning stages. Hayes is able to attend training for drug court through federal funds and is hoping that federal funding will pay for the program's establishment. Hayes would preside over the drug court in Randolph County. He said he is not sure if the court would provide services to the entire circuit (which would include Howard County) or be limited to Randolph County. The drug court model, if adopted, would most likely be established next year. The commission also met with Road and Bridges engineer John Mann to discuss a review of his contract. Associate Commissioner Jack Franklin expressed concern over asking Mann to show qualifications for his position. "Mann has been through so much," Franklin directed at Presiding Commissioner Jim Myles. "He was paid $208,000 last year to go through it," Myles countered Myles concluded that there was no malicious intent in asking Mann to update his qualifications; the procedure is in accordance with regular auditing practices and is required every two years, he said. Mann was instructed to provide the commission with his current qualifications. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake