GOVERNOR PROPOSES SHIFT IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE, MENTAL HEALTH APPROACHES

HARTFORD, Conn. (Associated Press) -- The state's approach to children,
criminals and the mentally ill would shift from punishment to prevention
and treatment under a budget proposed Wednesday by Gov. John G. Rowland.
The two-year spending plan would fund a $5 million, 500-bed Community
Justice Center at an undetermined site to treat nonviolent drug offenders.
While defending the drug crackdown, Rowland endorsed giving judges more
latitude in sentencing nonviolent drug offenders.

``We need a more enlightened approach,'' the Republican governor declared.
``Mandatory minimum sentences make sense when we are fighting the (drug
war's) supply side, but treatment is the best way to fight the war on the
demand side.''

Rowland also would spend $20 million to build a juvenile justice center for
girls. That proposal goes along with construction of the Connecticut
Juvenile Training School in Middletown, which is scheduled to open later
this year.

Rowland said the state should segregate girls and boys now housed at Long
Lane School in Middletown to deal with the unique needs of female offenders.

The budget proposes more than $130 million in additional spending to
improve mental health services for adults and children, Rowland said. Those
initiatives would pay for rapid respond crisis teams; more residential beds
to bring mentally ill children home from out of state facilities; better
residential services; and more prevention programs.

Rowland also proposed creating an Office of Secretary for Children that
would oversee four divisions of the Department of Children and Families:
child protection, prevention, juvenile justice and behavioral health.

The goal is to allow officials to focus resources and attention
consistently on those areas, rather than shift attention and spending as
crises erupt, Rowland said.

The proposals drew mixed reactions from Democratic lawmakers and advocates.

The shift toward more treatment for nonviolent offenders, which is taking
place around the country, was welcomed as a way to reduce prison crowding
and recidivism. It was one of the few moments during Rowland's 40-minute
speech that appeared to draw more applause from Democrats than Republicans.

``I was very happy to hear it,'' said state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East
Haven, co-chairman of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee. ``It's a very
significant shift. Many politicians have acquired a new sophisticated view
of the criminal justice system.''

Increased treatment should reduce Connecticut's soaring prison population,
which will enable state officials to stop sending inmates to prisons in
Virginia, said Jelani Lawson, executive director of A Better Way
Foundation, a nonprofit group in New Haven.

``I think the governor's call for the decriminalizing of addiction is a
major step in the right direction,'' Lawson said.

The mental health initiatives were met with less enthusiasm. Critics said
the funding levels were a reallocation rather than new spending and
expressed concern that other areas would suffer.

``I was a little disappointed that there was not the infusion of cash,''
said Shelley Geballe, co-director of Connecticut Voices for Children in New
Haven.

But Geballe said the new office for children was a good idea because it
would create more accountability.