DRUG COURT TEAM RESHAPING LIVES IN MURFREESBORO

MURFREESBORO -- Each of the 10 women in Murfreesboro's pilot drug court
program is burdened with her own story of abuse, pain, crime and addiction.

If the women had been punished like other criminals with jail time or
community service, they probably would have returned to their old habits
and gotten into trouble again.

Punishment alone "doesn't work with ... drug addicts," Circuit Judge Don
Ash said.

So instead, these 10 women are subject to a judicial philosophy that is new
to Murfreesboro.

Drug court combines punishment with treatment to help criminals change
their lifestyles while they're serving time.

The programs are a national trend. Metro Nashville has a 3-year-old
residential program that treats hundreds of people a year. There are more
than 400 drug court programs in the United States, said Ash, who helped
start Murfreesboro's last year.

Murfreesboro's program was so successful during its first year that the
drug court team -- a group of legal officials and counselors -- applied for
a larger federal grant.

The first year of the program was paid for by Rutherford County, Smyrna and
Murfreesboro governments.

The program recently was awarded a $500,000 federal grant, which along with
the required match of county money will allow the program to treat 50
people next year and about 75 the year after that, said Mary Schneider, a
counselor at the Guidance Center in Murfreesboro.

The program is voluntary and can take the place of other punishment.
Potential candidates have to be headed to court for a nonviolent crime.
Before they are admitted, they are screened to see if they are addicted to
drugs.

"Most of these people are basically at the bottom of their personal well,"
Ash said. "They can't get any lower."

When Ash screens candidates, he said, he looks for people who are ready to
work hard at changing their lives, not people who just want to get out of a
sentence.

The first year of the program has met frustration and temporary failure,
but none of the women has had to drop out and take a sentence instead.

Two women in the program have earned their General Educational Development
certificates. Three have gotten back custody of their children.

One woman who began the program facing a DUI and cocaine possession charge
now supports her two sons by working two jobs, has earned her GED and is a
few months shy of graduating from the program.

"If you really want to reduce crime, you really do have to get at the root
of the problem," Schneider said.