JUDGE DELAYS DECISION ON DRUG PROGRAM

Wilters Demands Differences Between Men's, Women's Programs

BAY MINETTE -- Baldwin County Circuit Judge Robert Wilters on Thursday
postponed a ruling on whether state prison officials ignored his order to
offer a female inmate the same drug abuse treatment available to men.

After hearing from Alabama Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell and
other state officials, Wilters gave authorities 30 more days to provide him
with additional information about the drug treatment programs.

"I am not holding anybody in contempt of court at this time," Wilters said
after the two-hour hearing.

Wilters called the "show cause" hearing after defense attorney John Beck
complained that the state had not placed his client into a comprehensive
drug treatment program at Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka.

The client, Collene Dyas, has been jailed since April 2, when Wilters
revoked her probation after she failed two drug tests. The judge ordered
Dyas to serve the original 10-year sentence on a 2000 drug possession
conviction.

Dyas testified Thursday that she has been in a tailspin of drug addiction
since her husband was murdered at his car dealership on Government
Boulevard in Mobile six years ago. She said she never has received help at
a residential treatment program.

Dyas, 40, told Wilters she undoubtedly will end up hooked on drugs again
without comprehensive therapy.

"I'm not here to try to get out of being in prison. I'm here to try to get
help," she said.

In asking Wilters last April to keep his client out of prison, Beck argued
that Tutwiler does not have an adequate drug treatment program. He urged
the judge then -- and repeated his request Thursday -- to allow Dyas to
enter an in-patient drug treatment program in Prichard called the Home of
Grace.

Wilters denied that request in April but agreed female inmates should have
the same access to treatment as men.

On Thursday, he appeared unconvinced by the state's explanation that a
federally funded six-month treatment program at Tutwiler mimics a 12-month
regimen offered for men at the St. Clair Correctional Facility known as New
Outlook Therapeutic Community.

Wilters instructed an attorney for the prison system to report back with
the answers to two questions:

What are the specific differences between the New Outlook Therapeutic
Community program and the Tutwiler treatment? None of Thursday's witnesses
could provide a detailed description of both programs.

Why Dyas was not transferred from the Baldwin jail to the state prison
until June 18, 2 months after the judge revoked her probation and 1 months
after his initial 30-day deadline for creating the women's drug treatment
program had passed?

State officials said it was impossible to comply with Wilters' order
because Dyas did not even arrive in the system until after the judge's
deadline passed. But Wilters noted that all state inmates are supposed to
be moved to state prisons within 30 days.

"I'm not giving you a pass on that," he said.

Campbell, who took over as head of the state prison system in January, told
Wilters that his hands are tied by insufficient funds. He pointed out that
just three staffers, for instance, oversee more than 200 inmates in the
Therapeutic Community program at St. Clair.

"We are grossly overcrowded. You've heard that, but you need to see it," he
said. "Until we deal with that problem of overcrowding, of adequate
funding, of adequate staffing, we will probably be back in your court and
other courts. ...

"It should be embarrassing to this state, really," he added.