Pubdate: Sat, 16 Aug 2014
Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette (WI)
Copyright: 2014 Green Bay Press-Gazette
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/RINfDfZ0
Website: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/879
Author: Paul Srubas

MARINETTE COUNTY CREATES SPECIAL COURT TO FIGHT HEROIN

Marinette County, with one of the worst heroin problems in the state,
has taken the offensive in its fight against the drug and other opiates.

The county has launched a drug specialty court, similar to one Brown
County has been running for five years, but geared specifically to
Marinette's unique situation.

In 2013, the county of just 41,610 people had the state's 14th highest
number of heroin-related court cases. It led the state from 2008 to
2012 in per capita seizures of heroin by police.

Marinette also was among the top 10 counties in the state for heroin
deaths. The six deaths that occurred means 1.44 per 10,000 people, the
highest death rate in the state that year. Something wasn't working.

"Law enforcement and our court system has done a great job at
arresting and jailing people, but we can't arrest our way out of the
problem," said Robin Elsner, director of the county's Health and Human
Services Department.

Part of the problem is the nature of heroin addiction.

"I'm not a squishy guy, I'm not afraid to send people to prison, but
this is insane," Marinette County Circuit Judge James Morrison said.

"To have people come out of prison clean and, six days later, head
right back to the same place, without a job, without a support system,
to the same friends and use again - the recidivism rate in Marinette
County is approaching 100 percent."

At the end of last year, Elsner submitted a grant application to the
state, which had just expanded the grant money available to counties
for establishing treatment, alternative and diversion programs and
drug courts.

Drug courts are used as a condition of probation for convicted drug
abusers. While probation imposes restrictions and responsibilities on
convicted felons, drug court imposes more. It puts a team in place,
led by a judge, that scrutinizes behavior, attempts to find or keep a
job, drug counseling attendance and sobriety.

They provide a graduated approach, meaning it incrementally allows
more freedom as the participant succeeds, but occasional backslides
will move the participant back to the beginning. However, too many
backslides could land the participant out of the program and in prison.

Marinette County received $124,502 from the state and is providing an
additional $41,334 of its own to start the drug court.

The money has been used to hire a full-time drug court coordinator.
That's Sara Plansky-Pecor, formerly a child and family assessment
investigator on Elsner's staff. The money also will expand the hours
of assistant district attorney DeShea Morrow, who will handle the
cases from the prosecution side.

The cash also will allow the county to rent the equipment needed to
test drug court participants regularly and frequently make sure they
remain drug free.

"The way we're structured, I've been over the last several years doing
most of the high-end drug prosecutions," assistant district attorney
Kent Hoffmann said. "I'm going to continue to handle those cases,
where we're looking for a significant sentence from the public safety
perspective, but cases that meet the criteria for drug court, we will
identify here.

"There's a screening process that's been set up, to determine whether
they meet the high-risk, high-need criteria."

If the defendant is deemed suitable and agrees to participate, Morrow
takes over the prosecution process even as the defendant already
begins undergoing treatment and appearing in drug court.

"Part of the reason for it being fast-tracked is, the quicker the
treatment, the more likely it is to be successful," Morrow said.

"What people are telling us is that in order to effectuate change, you
need to give them a carrot. And the period before sentencing gives a
good indicator of how motivated they are."

Eventually, the defendant is expected to plead guilty, and Morrison,
who will handle the drug court, imposes a prison term but then stays
it and orders the drug court as a condition of probation. With a
stayed sentence, that means failure to adhere to the rules of drug
court can immediately be punishable by prison or jail, rather than
having to go through a series of expensive court proceedings to
re-establish a prison term.

People in the drug court, because of they're participating prior to
conviction, will be out on bail while awaiting disposition.

"We're going to save the county 120 to 130 days of typical jail time
for most of these people," Morrison said.

"That's a lot of saving of money, and they're going to be out in the
community following all the rule of drug court just as if they are
already in it., doing community service, urinalysis, coming to the
meetings."

Morrison, prosecutors and the drug court team have spent countless
hours of studying other community drug courts, like Brown County's,
and also training to implement their own plan.

Brown County's program had 49 participants in its five year history.
Eighteen drug defendants have successfully completed the program, and
only three have re-offended since graduation.

Marinette County, focusing on its own heroin and opiate abuse, may not
see that level of success because of the high level of addiction
involved. Officials, however, still hope to see an overall reduction
of drug use and related crimes in coming years.

It has identified a couple of possible participants, for who the
screening process has just begun. An actual start-up date for drug
court hasn't been established.

Meanwhile, Brown County has been following Marinette's lead by
developing a drug court that specifically targets heroin abuse.

Brown County is developing both a heroin court and a mental illness
court, which are intended to use similar methods to divert certain
offenders from the prison system. The two new courts are expected to
start before the end of the year.
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