'PUNITIVE' JUDGE HOLDS STRAW'S FATE

Tampa, Fla.-The judge who will decide next week if Darryl Strawberry goes
to prison said yesterday that drug addicts commonly relapse, and those who
do aren't necessarily locked up.

Being careful not to specifically talk about the former Yankees slugger,
Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Florence Foster said prison is the last
resort for those who come before her.

She's said she's willing to give addicts a chance at recovery, but after
three or four violations she will get tough.

Strawberry is accused of violating for the fourth time the terms of his
sentence for a 1999 drug and prostitution solicitation arrest. He is
scheduled to appear before Foster on Wednesday.

"As a judge, I am very punitive," Foster said. "If I give you a break and
you screw up, you're history. They know if they walk away, they are walking
to Florida State Prison." Strawberry, 39, remained in a hospital's
psychiatric ward after surfacing Monday from a four-day cocaine binge,
traveling to Daytona Beach and back.

The binge came as he was serving two years of house arrest at Health Care
Connection in Tampa, after Strawberry managed to stay free of drugs for
nearly five months, according to his probation officer's report to Foster.

Before this relapse, Strawberry had been doing well in the program, the
report said.

His attorney, Joe Ficarrotta, is seeking to have him placed in a secure
facility that will provide both drug treatment and mental health services,
and where Strawberry, who has cancer, can keep on receiving chemotherapy.

Prosecutors are seeking prison for the former slugger.

Foster was offering her views on drug court, along with fellow drug court
Judge Donald Evans, as an explanation for a program that's often misunderstood.

There are 29 drug courts in Florida and seven more in the planning stages.

The intent of the courts is to get drug users-no matter how severe their
addiction-into treatment as an alternative to prison.

Judges try to use the coercion of the court to motivate addicts to seek and
stay with treatment, Evan said.

First-time offenders often are given probation, ordered into treatment and
undergo routine drug testing. Probation is more rigorous than those of
other crimes, since offenders are required to go to therapy meetings and to
have more frequent contact with their probation officers.

Some, like Strawberry, are placed under house arrest and fitted with
electronic monitoring as an alternative to jail.