CHOICE FOR DRUG OFFENDERS: GO TO JAIL -- OR VISIT A JUDGE

Proposed Drug Court Could Save Taxpayers Money

Robert Houston had refilled his month's prescription of Xanax nine
days before, but he had only three pills remaining. "That you only
have three pills left tells me you're abusing your Xanax," Lyon County
District Judge Lee Fowler said late last month.

"Yes, sir," Houston said.

"Well, we're going to send you back to jail for 30 days," Fowler said.
"You need to get serious about this plan."

This "plan" is drug court in Emporia, the first program of its kind in
Kansas. Similar drug courts across the United States have helped keep
nonviolent drug offenders from returning to the criminal justice
system and have saved taxpayers millions of dollars as an alternative
to prison.

It's an approach Sedgwick County -- the state's biggest court district
- -- hopes to begin next year.

"What we're doing now is just not working," said Sedgwick County
District Judge Joe Kisner, who chairs the county's drug court committee.

Kisner said the group hopes to begin its program Jan.
1.

Emporia's approach

Participation in Emporia's program is voluntary for convicted
offenders and lasts 18 months. Those convicted of drug crimes in Chase
or Lyon counties are required to appear before Fowler often -- usually
every two weeks. They have to comply with court orders, follow
treatment and are subject to curfew. They also have to maintain
full-time jobs.

Offenders from Lyon and Chase counties who complete the program are
less likely to be arrested again than those convicted of drug offenses
in similar judicial districts.

Only six of 42 people who have been through the program in the past
two years have been re-arrested, according to a report compiled by the
Lyon County Department of Community Corrections.

In Ottawa, seven of 19 people who didn't go through a drug court
program picked up new arrests over the same time, according to numbers
from the district covering Anderson, Coffey, Franklin and Osage counties.

That means Emporia has nearly half the re-arrest rate of
Ottawa.

"That's such a small sample, but they compare with numbers
nationwide," Fowler said.

A 2003 study in New York found only 13 percent of participants in drug
court programs were convicted of subsequent offenses, compared to 47
percent of similar offenders who did not participate. The 2003 study
by the Center for Court Innovation examined more than 2,000 cases.

In California, a cost-analysis study concluded that spending $14
million on drug courts over two years saved taxpayers more than $43
million over what it would have cost to send those offenders to prison.

Collaborative effort

In 2003, Senate Bill 123 provided state funds to help pay for
treatment for many drug offenders. Emporia used the money to build its
program, which brings treatment providers into the court system.

Counselors, probation and law enforcement officers meet with Fowler to
give him the information he needs on each case.

Fowler said that before drug court, treatment providers and probation
officers might not have talked. Now, it's easier to catch people
trying to cheat the system. "It's like having a whole team of
probation officers," he said.

One of the most effective changes, Fowler said, has been a
color-coding system for random urine tests -- an approach Emporia
borrowed from a similar court in Columbia, Mo.

Offenders are assigned a color. Each day, they call in to learn which
randomly chosen color will have to take a urine test that day.

"You know what we used to see the most? Meth," Fowler said, referring
to methamphetamine. "People didn't use marijuana, because it stayed in
their system longer. But if they knew they were going to see their
probation officer on Tuesday, they knew they could use meth on Friday,
and it would be out of their system. We had lots of people continuing
to use drugs and not get caught."

Now, they never know when their color is going to come
up.

"You can't cheat their system," said Christy Johnson, a 28-year-old
mother of three who graduated from the program in February.

Sedgwick Co. plans

Kisner, the Sedgwick County judge, said the county's Criminal Justice
Coordinating Council has spent more than a year organizing its drug
court.

Bob Lamkey, Sedgwick County's director of public safety, said he hopes
to seek County Commission approval by June, start handling cases in
October, and launch the full program by January.

Initially, the program would target people whose probation has been
revoked. They could try drug court and if they succeed, they wouldn't
have to go back to prison.

Kisner said he hopes Sedgwick County can replicate the success similar
programs have seen nationwide.

"We hope to be able to get people help before they end up in prison
for a very long time -- or dead," Kisner said.

Success stories

Those who've been through the Emporia program said it helped them
where others failed.

"For me, it was 22 months in prison or drug court," said Josh
Wright.

Wright, 22, entered the program on his third arrest for drug
possession. He was carrying marijuana, meth and weighing scales when
he was arrested for driving his motorcycle with a suspended license.

"I was at a point, I couldn't stop using," he said. "I lived my life
for it. I broke down my first day in drug court and asked for help.
When I went in for my first (urine test), I failed."

"It's overwhelming for people at first," Wright added. "Everything you
have to do, going to treatment, court every week, finding a job that
will let you meet all your responsibilities. But it's so structured,
it gives you the support you need."

Wright worked several jobs before his father recently made him a
partner in the family construction business.

Christy Johnson, the February drug court graduate, had gotten a job as
a motel housekeeper. She soon moved up to desk clerk and night auditor.

She now manages the motel.

"Drug Court makes you realize there are bigger goals you should have,"
she said.

She has since hired people who have volunteered for drug
court.

"It's my way of giving back, because I got a second chance," she said.