Pubdate: Sun, 28 Oct 2007
Source: Advertiser, The (Lafayette, LA)
Copyright: 2007 The Lafayette Daily Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=CUSTOMERSERVICE03
Website: http://www.theadvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1670
Author: Jason Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

CRIME & PUNISHMENT: BREAKING THE CYCLE OF ADDICTION

Local Legal Experts Say Belief Systems Must Be Changed

More than three out of every four inmates entering the  state's 
prisons likely have problems with addiction and  yet just one-third 
of them receive treatment for it.

"Substance abuse, in my opinion, is our No. 1 enemy,"  said Jimmie 
LeBlanc, who is heading up the Louisiana  Department of Corrections 
while Secretary Richard  Stalder is out on medical leave.

Yet the state, largely because of the public's belief  that treatment 
is expensive, ineffective or  unnecessary, has been hesitant to fully 
fund efforts  aimed at addressing addiction, be it inside or outside 
of prisons. As a result, untreated addictions are  helping to fuel a 
vicious cycle that puts addicts in  jail and then returns them to the 
streets where they in  turn commit more crimes - often to fuel or as 
a direct  result of those addictions.

And statistics show that about half will eventually  return to 
prison, helping to sustain the state's  incarceration rate, which 
leads the world with 791 per  100,000 residents.

"The knee-jerk lock-'em-all-up approach is mindless,  expensive, 
dehumanizing and horribly shortsighted,"  said 15th Judicial District 
Judge Jules Edwards III,  who helped start the local drug court.

Edwards said that criminals who have not participated  in any 
virtuous developmental activity likely have not  altered their belief 
system and therefore cannot be  expected to alter their future 
behavior once released  on parole.

On a local level, Carolyn Stevens is a prime example.

Stevens was among eight repeat offenders highlighted by  The Daily 
Advertiser's Crime & Punishment series.

Her record includes a variety of drug-related offenses,  from 
possession of crack cocaine to theft, for a total  of 37 bookings at 
the Lafayette Parish Correctional  Center. But despite her record, 
only once was she  ordered to undergo treatment, something that 
officials  say is just as effective as voluntary treatment, and  that 
was nearly a decade ago.

At 28, Stevens already has cost taxpayers at least  $88,000 in 
incarceration rates alone. On the other  hand, intensive treatment 
would have cost about $5,000.

An army of Stevenses

A survey by the Louisiana Office  for Addictive Disorders found that 
more than 77 percent  of inmates entering state prisons were in need 
of  treatment and of those, 82 percent were sentenced on  nonviolent 
drug offenses.

As of September, 6,334 inmates, or about one third of  those housed 
in state facilities, were in some type of  substance abuse education 
or treatment, according to  LeBlanc.

DOC recently was awarded an additional $2 million to  increase 
substance abuse education and treatment  outside of what exists 
within the prison system. In  2006, about $5 million was spent on 
rehabilitation, of  which treatment would have been included.

DOC's budget for 2007-08 was $657 million.

LeBlanc said despite a desire to provide more  treatment, it always 
has come down to finding funding  to do it.

"It's easier for politicians to be tough on crime  because it's 
easier and that's what the public expects  from them," he said.

Also, while significant strides have been made to raise  awareness 
about addiction, many still view it as a  personal flaw rather than a 
disease. Likewise, many  politicians may shy away from funding 
treatment  programs for fear of being labeled soft on crime.

But Edwards said in order for the state to evolve  beyond its current 
predicament, citizens must demand  that their elected officials both 
develop and employ  policies that are both tough and smart on crime.

"Ultimately, the citizens of the great state of  Louisiana are 
responsible for the fact that Louisiana  has such a high rate of 
incarceration," he said.

To continue under the current plan only perpetuates the  costs and 
problems. For the next fiscal year,  Louisiana's adult institutions 
will cost taxpayers more  than $403 million to operate with another 
$152 million  going toward local parish jails, which house about 
17,000 state inmates.

According to DOC's own statistics, about 48 percent of  all inmates 
will return to the system. Others put that  number higher, at up to 66 percent.

And when you consider that about 7,500 of the 15,000  inmates who are 
scheduled to be released next year will  come back within five years, 
taxpayers can look forward  to spending another $13,000 per year per 
inmate for a  grand total of $97.5 million. That's nearly equivalent 
to the state's Office for Addictive Disorders' entire  2007-08 budget.

"We are perpetuating crime," said Carmen Roebuck,  executive director 
of the St. Francis Foundation, a  halfway house in Lafayette.

It is a crisis that can be found on both sides of the  prison fence.

Addictive disorders

On average, it can take up to a  month and a half for a person with a 
substance abuse  problem to be admitted into one of the state's 
treatment centers.

Last year, the Louisiana Office for Addictive Disorders  served 
59,000 people. But there are about 300,000  people in need of help, 
which means the state is able  to meet only 6 percent of the demand, 
according to  Michael Duffy, secretary of OAD.

About 1,700 people are waiting to be treated daily. The  state has 
966 beds, which include detox, in-patient and  halfway house beds.

That is of little help since it is likely that those  who commit the 
majority of the crimes are the ones who  cannot afford private 
treatment, which can costs  thousands of dollars, compared to state 
services, which  work on a sliding scale.

"If you don't help your fellow man, your fellow man is  going to help 
himself to your property," Roebuck said.

The lack of available treatment statewide means many  likely will 
succumb to their addictions before their  name is called.

"If you understand addiction, that is unconscionable,"  Duffy said. 
"When people reach out and finally admit  that they need help, for us 
not to be able to take  them, in my mind, it dooms them to continue 
using and  hopefully not die. Because this disease does kill  people, 
both directly and indirectly."

And while addiction may not make criminals of all  300,000 of those 
in need, it will do so with untold  thousands of them - many finding 
themselves in prison  orange with nonviolent possession offenses and 
some  falling into a life of more violent crime to feed the  addiction.

The Office for Addictive Disorder's 2007-08 recommended  budget was 
about $104 million, which is nearly $20  million less than that of 
Angola's, just one of the  state's 13 prisons.

To offset this, Duffy said the department has learned  to rely on 
federal grants, one of which will tie into  the Department of 
Corrections and the Office of Youth  Development.

The $13.5 million grant seeks to serve about 6,000  people over the 
next three years and will bring the  services to them once they leave 
the prison system.

It will provide recovery support services, safe  housing, 
transportation, job training and child care  while allowing the 
recipient to choose where they  receive treatment through the use of vouchers.

"It's still woefully inadequate, but it's a beginning,"  Duffy said.

Of those who had a criminal record who were treated on  the outside, 
OAD reports that 60 percent do not become  reinvolved with crime 
during their treatment.

And of those who enroll with OAD, 56 percent  successfully complete 
their treatment.

And then there's the long-term savings associated with treatment.

According to OAD's Web site, some studies show that  $1,583 per 
person can save nearly $11,487 per person in  the form of workplace 
productivity, medical costs and  incarceration costs.

Solution: Drug courts?

If you ask Edwards what the  solution is, he'll point to programs 
like the 15th  Judicial District's Drug Court, Focused Intervention 
Through Sanctions and Treatment, or FIST.

It was the result of a lot of frustration that "what  we've been 
doing has not been working and there has to  be some other way," he said.

Recent statistics show that recidivism rates after one  year of 
graduation from FIST are 7 percent, meaning  there is a 93 percent 
success rate. After two years,  recidivism rates climb slightly to 11 
percent,  according to Lori Guidry, program manager.

In drug court, each participant works with staff to  hammer out a 
suitable plan, which is followed by drug  tests, weekly court 
appearances, counseling, group  meetings and a requirement to hold down a job.

Edwards said that drug courts were created to direct  recently 
arrested nonviolent offenders with substance  abuse issues into a 
rehabilitation process that leads  to a reduction or elimination of 
their addiction while  encouraging the development of a productive life.

"Once the crisis (of addiction) is resolved, the  addict's ability to 
perceive the problem is drastically  reduced," Edwards said.

It is a way to get people off what Edwards called the  "criminal 
justice escalator" where offenders find  themselves marching their 
way up to "ever more  significant sentences and people who are 
serving life  sentences on the installment plan."

Drug court now has about 120 clients and is overseen by  District 
Judge Edward Rubin. The program is funded by  the Louisiana Supreme 
Court at a cost of $4,500 per  client per year along with weekly fees 
paid by the  client.

"We've learned, I think, that good people can make bad  choices," 
said Chief District Judge Glennon Everett  during a recent drug court 
graduation. "So, if we can  improve their lives, then that's a noble thing."

Edwards now has a mandatory drug court, an effort to  get those who 
opt out or refuse to participate in FIST,  which he estimated at 
about 370 or out of 500. This  court oversees probation revocation 
hearings and seeks  to provide probationers with the tools and, 
if  necessary, the sanctions they need to keep out of  trouble.

If participants graduate from drug court, it means they  are afforded 
a second chance at life, District Attorney  Mike Harson said.

And in the end, he said, "If you can get a few to  succeed, then you 
have a few less coming back in."

Surrender

For Rozell Ewing, drug court was a two-and-a-half-year  battle with 
himself. Ewing had used cocaine for about  six years before being 
arrested for an unauthorized use  of a vehicle.

"I didn't know I was sick till got here. ... I found  out the problem 
wasn't drugs, it was me. I was  determined to find out about me."

He's been sober for eight months following a relapse  while in the program.

"I had to get caught to surrender. You have to  surrender yourself."

But while Ewing has realized his problem and has  received help for 
it, for Carolyn Stevens, and the  thousands like her costing 
taxpayers hundreds of  millions of dollars a year, the cycle continues.

Harson was unaware of Stevens' situation before The  Advertiser 
brought it to his attention.

He had no explanation as to how she had managed to slip  through the 
system, avoiding both a long prison  sentence as a habitual offender 
and at the very least  treatment that could have motivated her to change.

He says that likely will change when she comes to court  for a pending case.

Time will tell if it was too late.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman