A SMARTER STRATEGY ON DRUG OFFENDERS

0ne missed opportunity in the nation's war on drugs has been the failure to
provide sufficient treatment programs for criminal offenders who are
addicts. That neglect is giving way to a wiser policy.

A private drug treatment company has opened a 732-bed facility in Newark
that will provide inpatient treatment for 500 Essex County Jail inmates as
well as scores of others from state prisons.

Under the program, nonviolent drug offenders will receive treatment rather
than go to prison, a promising approach that should cut recidivism and
alleviate crowding at the county jail.

The facility will be run by Community Education Centers of America Inc., a
Roseland company that spent more than $12 million renovating an
80,000-square-foot warehouse in the city's Ironbound section. The new
facility is known as Delaney Hall.

The county signed a $3 million contract for the first year of the program
and plans to begin moving the first 250 inmates into the facility June 1.
That seems like a lot of money, but it's likely to wind up saving taxpayers
plenty.

It costs the county $97 a day to house inmates in the jails, compared with
the $67 that will be spent at Delaney. And if it helps some of the convicts
quit drugs and avoid crime, the program will continue to save taxpayers
money. One addict can run up quite a bill when you consider the costs of
crime, family breakup and medical care that often result from addiction.

Gov. Christie Whitman came under fire as recently as 1996 for having created
only 300 treatment beds for inmates, despite promises of more. State
officials now report there are more than 3,000 treatment beds.

More than 70 percent of county inmates are in jail for drug crimes, mostly
for possession. Studies have shown better results with treatment than with
incarceration for nonviolent drug users, and that approach is apparently
being viewed more favorably.

Some eyebrows have been raised because the company president, John Clancy,
has been a major contributor to Whitman's campaigns. But the for-profit
firm has a record of accomplishment. It operates three major facilities that
treat state inmates and has 22 facilities around the country. A study last
year by the state Corrections Department found that the rate of recidivism
for graduates was 23 percent - far lower than the 70 percent rate for
conventional prisons.

Like any new endeavor, the facility should be closely monitored, and
taxpayers should be provided with solid evidence that it is meeting its
goals and giving us the most bang for the buck. But the concept is valid and
deserves a chance to prove itself.

This program has the potential to be a more cost-effective means of
addressing the problem of drugs and crime.