PROBATION PROPOSED FOR DRUG OFFENDERS

Lincoln - State Sen. Jim Jensen said Nebraska needs a better way to deal
with the drug problem, one that forces addicts into a counselor's office
and not the penitentiary.

Jensen and Sen. Ernie Chambers have sponsored a bill that would require
judges to sentence those found guilty of nonviolent drug offenses to
probation, not jail time, and up to 12 months of counseling.

"We put them in jail with an addiction, they leave with an addiction,"
Jensen said Wednesday.

"We are treating them with incarceration when a medical treatment would be
better."

The bill would mandate that paroled prisoners could not be returned to
prison for committing nonviolent drug offenses. They must instead be sent
to counseling.

The measure (LB 767) would not apply to those convicted of selling or
manufacturing illegal drugs.

Other exceptions would include those with previous violent crime
convictions, those who possessed a gun while carrying drugs or under the
influence of drugs and those with two or more previous drug convictions.

Jensen said at a public hearing that the bill was designed to cut the cost
of keeping drug offenders in prison. Nebraska currently spends between
$23,000 and $25,000 to incarcerate one prisoner for one year.

"I think the substance-abuse treatment will be lower than that," he said.

According to a report published last month by the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse, Nebraska spent $58 million to incarcerate
all drug offenders in 1998, about 78 percent of all money spent on adult
corrections.

Steve King, planning and research manager for the Nebraska Department of
Corrections, said about 8 percent of the 1,437 felons sent to state prisons
in fiscal year 2000 were drug offenders.

During the same year, King said, corrections officials returned 122
parolees to prison after they tested positive for drugs or committed
drug-related crimes.

In 2000, 17 percent of male inmates and 26 percent of female inmates in
Nebraska prisons were there for drug-related convictions.

Margaret Lageschulte, executive director of the Nebraska Council to Prevent
Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said she favored increased emphasis on treatment
for drug offenders.

"If they just put them into jail now, they're just going to come out with
the same problem," Lageschulte said.

Finn Esbensen, a criminal justice professor at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, called the bill "a good first step," saying jail time
does not help drug addicts.

"It's an absurd policy," Esbensen said. "It's not effective in terms of
rehabilitation or dealing with the underlying problem."

Jensen said the bill is based on an initiative approved by California
voters last year.

Under the Jensen-Chambers bill, offenders could ask courts to dismiss their
drug charges if they successfully completed treatment programs and met
other requirements.