'NOTHING ADDS UP' IN EBR JUVENILE DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM

Counted among the graduates of an East Baton Rouge Parish juvenile
drug treatment center is a teen-ager who tested positive for marijuana
on graduation day, records show.

Several other graduates of the Straight and Narrow Drug Treatment
Center are people who were sent to prison either before or on the day
of their graduation, records show.

Juvenile Court Judge Pam Taylor Johnson set up the Straight and Narrow
Drug Treatment Center with $502,000 she got from government grants in
late 1999.

The U.S. Attorney's Office recently said the FBI is investigating the
federal grant application and how the money is being spent at Straight
and Narrow.

The Advocate on Aug. 6 filed a public records request with Straight
and Narrow for the results of drug tests of the program's graduates.

In a written response, Peter John, administrator of the treatment
center, said information on urine screens is available from the
Department of Juvenile Services, a city-parish agency that does the
drug testing for Juvenile Court.

At the request of The Advocate, Roger Aucoin, the director of Juvenile
Services, asked Straight and Narrow for the names of the program's
graduates. Aucoin said he used Straight and Narrow's graduate
information to produce a report showing the drug-screen history of
graduates.

The report Aucoin gave The Advocate does not identify the juveniles
because of a state law barring the release of their names.

Aucoin acknowledged that information his office generated based on
Straight and Narrow's records is confusing.

"Nothing adds up," Aucoin said. "Three and three don't equal six. I
just don't know."

For instance, John replied on Aug. 9 to The Advocate's public records
request that 39 people have completed his program. But as of Aug. 9,
there were only 21 graduates on the list Straight and Narrow gave
Juvenile Services, according to Aucoin's report.

Straight and Narrow's list included another 12 people who were to
graduate last Thursday, bringing to 33 the number of graduates
Straight and Narrow supplied to Aucoin.

Among Straight and Narrow's graduates is a teen-ager who tested
positive for marijuana on Oct. 19, 2000, his graduation day. Aucoin
said a probation officer who no longer works for him and a case
manager at Straight and Narrow were at fault.

Each man thought the other was going to report to Judge Johnson that
the teen-ager failed his drug test. Neither did, Aucoin said.

"I don't think he would have graduated if she would have known," he
said.

Aucoin said that case prompted a change in how drug test results are
reported. The results now are sent to Johnson in writing, Aucoin said.

Johnson couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Ten people considered graduates by Straight and Narrow, according to
the information given to Juvenile Services, did not graduate in a
group, as most others did.

Of those 10, Straight and Narrow listed one teen-ager's graduation
date as May 8, 2000, the same day he was sentenced to prison for two
years, court records show. He had tested positive for marijuana four
days earlier.

Another person was listed as graduating on Jan. 27, 2000, but he, too,
was sentenced to prison for two years on his graduation day.

One person was in Parish Prison the day of his graduation on June 7
this year. Straight and Narrow included him on its list of graduates
given to Aucoin's office, despite this note in the court record on
June 7:

"It was discovered by the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Drug Court
team that said juvenile is not in the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile
Drug Court."

The court records reviewed by The Advocate don't show why those people
were sent to prison, or why Straight and Narrow included them on the
list of graduates sent to Aucoin.

Juveniles in Straight and Narrow would not normally be going to
prison. They are sent to Straight and Narrow for drug treatment as
part of their probation.

A person shown as a graduate on Jan. 7, 2000, hadn't been to court
since Aug. 19, 1999. An entry in the court record that day says he was
being held for transfer to state District Court. Two weeks before the
Aug. 19, 1999, entry, the person tested positive for both cocaine and
marijuana.

Most of the people who were in the Straight and Narrow program
graduated in groups, according to the records generated by Aucoin.

The teen-ager who tested positive on the Oct. 19 graduation day last
year graduated with three other people, Aucoin's records show.

One person from the Oct. 19 group was last tested two weeks before
graduation, according to the records. That's a longer time between
tests than at least one other juvenile drug court in the state would
wait.

Dawn Palermo, coordinator for the Jefferson Parish Juvenile Drug
Court, said all graduates from her program are tested on graduation
day, right before the ceremony.

Although state law specifies only that drug screens must be regular
and random, Palermo said she requires graduates to have three straight
months of clean drug screens, including the one on graduation day.

"You just don't want to take a chance that somebody's positive because
then they would make you look like a fool," she said.

Most of Straight and Narrow's graduates at a Dec. 28, 2000, ceremony
were last tested two weeks before graduation day, according to court
and Aucoin's records.

Four of the graduates passed drug screens Dec. 14, and one passed Dec.
27, the records show.

If testing was done at Straight and Narrow closer to graduation, the
results did not show up Aucoin's report, nor were they included in
court records.

John declined to talk about testing at the drug treatment
center.

In several instances, the number of people listed as Straight and
Narrow graduates in the report Aucoin generated don't match the
graduate numbers in separate Juvenile Court records.

According to the records Straight and Narrow gave Aucoin, six people
graduated at the Dec. 28 ceremony. However, court records indicate
only five graduated.

Similar inconsistencies show up with the group that graduated last
Thursday. Straight and Narrow reported to Aucoin that 12 people would
graduate that day. However, Willis Laws, a drug court probation
officer, said only 10 graduated.

Johnson would not allow a reporter to attend the graduation Thursday,
saying the juveniles had not signed releases. State law protects the
identities of most juveniles from public disclosure.

According to court and Aucoin's records, only one graduate was drug
screened on graduation day Thursday, and seven others were last tested
on Aug. 2.

If they were tested at Straight and Narrow closer to the graduation
date, the results were not in the report Aucoin gave The Advocate or
included in court records.

Listed among the rest of the graduates Thursday, records show one
teen-ager was last drug tested on Feb. 15, the day he was sentenced to
six months in state prison. The sentencing on Feb. 15 is the last
entry in that person's court record.

Another person considered a Straight and Narrow graduate on Thursday
tested positive for marijuana on May 10, records show. An Aug. 10
entry in the court record, the last for that juvenile, says he lives
in Atlanta now, and is doing fine.

Some of the people Straight and Narrow listed as graduates in response
to Aucoin's request should be considered "unsuccessful discharges,"
said Palermo, the Jefferson Parish drug court coordinator.

They should be grouped that way in twice-yearly statistics required by
the federal and state agencies that grant the funds, she said.

"Unsuccessful discharges count against us," Palermo said.