Evangeline District Attorney Cites Need For Drug Courts In Rural Areas

VILLE PLATTE -- A drug user in a big city gets caught with a few ounces of
crack cocaine and instead of going to jail he gets enrolled in a drug court
with a treatment program.

But the same defendant in Evangeline Parish, where no drug court exists,
probably would go to jail.

"Is that fair?" asked Brent Coreil, Evangeline Parish district attorney.
"This is a situation that needs to be addressed statewide if we're going to
have equal protection under the law."

Drug courts are being used in many Louisiana parishes, including Lafayette,
St. Mary, Iberia, East Baton Rouge, Orleans and Rapides.

A drug court system uses drug testing and monitoring to make sure a drug
defendant, not convicted of dealing in illegal substances, is working and
staying clean of drugs. And if he is, he can avoid jail.

Coreil said he has talked with some legislators, including state Sen. Don
Hines, D-Bunkie, about trying to get state funds this year to start rural
drug courts.

The district attorney said drugs are at the root of 80 percent of the
crimes in Evangeline Parish.

"It is by far the deepest root of the problem we have," he said. "It's
everybody's issue because everybody is affected by drugs."

He cited an example, a man accused of nine counts of forgery committed to
support a crack cocaine habit. Coreil said he agreed to allow the man to be
released on bond, only on the condition that the defendant enroll in a
drug-treatment program.

Fortunately for that person, Coreil said, the parents have medical
insurance which pays for substance-abuse treatment.

But Coreil said he realizes that asking the state for funds to start a new
drug court will be a challenge this year as the state wrestles with severe
fiscal problems. Several drug courts have been funded with federal grants
that will expire this year, leaving the state or local governments to pick
up the tab, and those courts will be asking legislators for funding.

But Coreil said it's cheaper to absorb the costs of a drug court than pay
to incarcerate a drug user.

By some estimates it costs $3,000 a year to administer and monitor a drug
court defendant, about a fifth of the cost of incarcerating a prison inmate.

Coreil suggested that the drug court costs could be minimized by
consolidating efforts with other rural parishes, such as St. Landry and
Avoyelles. Perhaps one staff could work in several rural parishes, he said.
Coreil also said Department of Corrections Secretary Richard Stalder has
mentioned the possibility of the DOC providing some services for rural drug
courts.

In nearby St. Landry Parish, District Attorney Earl Taylor said
establishing a drug court there has been explored.

"We have done a lot of preliminary evaluation," he said.

But the new program can be pursued only with state funding.

"I think a drug court would work," he said.

Taylor also said he realizes that getting money from the state for a new
program will be an uphill battle.

Taylor said state Sen. Don Cravins, D-Opelousas, is interested in
alternatives to prison for drug offenders.

He said the parole system demonstrates how drugs are involved in crime.
Taylor said eight out of 10 notices of parole hearings involve people
accused of drug-related crimes.