BRUNSWICK LOOKS TO LAUNCH DRUG COURT

The message: 'Get it straight or go to prison'

Bolivia | Some days when she's presiding over Superior Court in
Brunswick County, Judge Ola Lewis feels like 90 percent of the cases
that come before her involve drugs or alcohol.

The offenders range in age from 16 to 92. Their crimes vary. But she
says they have one thing in common: a clear substance abuse problem.

That's why Lewis, senior resident Superior Court judge, and a group of
court officials are heading to Los Angeles this week to be trained in
drug court treatment. They want to give repeat offenders who suffer
from crack addiction, alcoholism or other substance abuse problems one
last chance.

"This is last offenders. This is: 'Get it straight, or you're going to
prison,' " Jason Disbrow, a defense attorney, said recently at a
gathering of the Superior Court's core drug court team.

Here's how it will work: After pleading guilty to a felony charge,
those who have documented drug or alcohol addictions may be referred
to drug court. Rather than doing time, they will get treatment, work
daily or weekly with a probation officer and check in twice a month
with the judge.

"We want to be a successful program," Lewis said, noting the drug
court program also has an advisory board that includes a parent of
someone with an addiction problem, a retired FBI agent, a psychiatrist
and others.

The program also is looking for volunteers who could help simply by
calling the drug court participants, Lewis said.

Alternate methods are not new to Lewis. As a District Court judge, she
required teenagers to apologize to crime victims or write essays as
part of their punishment.

Long time coming

New Hanover County has had a District Court drug program in place
since 1997, and Lewis had a similar vision for one in Brunswick County
when she was a District Court judge around that time.

But it wasn't until she became senior resident judge of Superior Court
that her dream started to become a reality.

In June she met with administrative officials of the court to discuss
the need and possibility of a drug court program. From October through
December, the core group including Lewis, Disbrow, a prosecutor and
other justice system workers began vying for three grants to get the
program up and running.

So far they have received the training grant and are awaiting word on
a state and a federal grant, Lewis said. They also will ask the
Brunswick County Board of Commissioners for $100,000 for counseling
and treatment in the budget year that starts July 1.

Lewis said the grant money, which totals more than $300,000, and the
county money would cover the startup costs. The state will pick up the
costs after two years if the program is successful, she said.

Drug court elsewhere

Craven County Superior Court Judge James Ragan said drug court is a
necessity at a time when 64 percent of men and 73 percent of women in
jail have substance abuse problems.

"It's accepting the reality that some of the people have addiction
problems," he said of drug court programs.

Ragan said Craven County has had drug court since 1999 and has seen
good results.

Most of the participants stay with the drug court program for six to
18 months, he said. It takes a minimum of 12 months to graduate.

Ragan said the program now has about a 40 percent graduation rate.

Ragan also said the program is relatively inexpensive once it's up and
running.

He said the main expense is a full-time drug court coordinator and an
office for that person.

"We feel like we're saving taxpayers a lot of money," he said, noting
fewer people end up behind bars.

Root of the problem

The goal of drug court is to rehabilitate offenders and get them back
functioning in the "real world," Lewis said. It will target nonviolent
offenders and drug users - not dealers.

Initially, the program hopes to have 30 participants referred by
lawyers, counselors, probation officers and others.

Each participant will be individually assessed for the type of
treatment needed, whether it be in-patient care or just counseling,
and given certain requirements to fulfill by the next court session.

For example, an offender may be required to take five treatment
sessions and to start looking for a job at his first session. By the
next session, he should be able to tell the judge he made it to all
the sessions and applied for jobs, Lewis said.

Court will meet the first and third Thursday of every month from 5:30
to 7:30 p.m., so people with daytime jobs can attend.

The first 120 days are crucial, with heavy monitoring, counseling and
rehabilitation.

The next step is more responsibility, including holding down a job and
maybe fewer court appearances.

And finally, the hope is to be able to pull back the support system
and have the participants lead law-abiding lives without drugs or alcohol.

The drug court treatment will also include not-for-credit courses at
Brunswick Community College that focus on job training.

Arnold Foy will be the probation officer for drug court participants.
He said he usually has a caseload of 60 or more criminals. With fewer
people to watch over, his supervision will be more intensive.

He said about 80 percent or more of the people in the probation system
have a substance abuse problem.

"There's been a need for this in Brunswick County for a long time," he
said.

Moses Stanley, courthouse bailiff and a member of the core team, agrees.

He sees a lot of inmates who have suffered from substance abuse and
thinks they'll be receptive to help.

"Some of them really have a lot of desire, let's say, to better
themselves," he said.