DRUG COURT TURNS AWAY ADMISSIONS

Circuit judge orders doors closed due to lack of resources; Program
seeks funding; State officials consider request, but criticize city's
spending

A popular drug treatment program supervised by Baltimore judges is
over capacity and turning away addicts until additional state funding
is provided, court officials say.

State officials said they'll consider the request, but criticize the
program for exceeding its budget. And they say it could still be
accepting some addicts.

On Jan. 10, Circuit Court Administrative Judge Ellen M. Heller ordered
the Drug Treatment Court to stop taking new offenders for the next two
months because there are not enough probation agents, treatment slots
or funds to run the program successfully.

"What's the purpose of having a waiting list so overwhelming that we
can't process them?" Heller said. "We are setting them up to fail."

The program was designed for 600 offenders but now has more than 700
people enrolled, according to probation officials. About 200 are
waiting for treatment slots, Heller said. Each of the 11 specially
trained probation agents is handling 66 cases, rather than the 50 they
were meant to handle.

A committee of judges, lawyers and court officials has asked Gov.
Parris N. Glendening for $1.3 million in emergency funding for the
program, widely considered a success. The program now receives $2.1
million from the state annually.

Some Baltimore justice officials are worried that funding request for
the drug court will be overshadowed by Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy
Townsend's Break the Cycle program, in which agents are monitoring
19,500 parolees and probationers for drug use.

"A lot of times what happens with governmental programs is it's one or
the other," said Circuit Judge David B. Mitchell, who heads the city's
criminal docket. "When you are going into war, I assume the
strategists just don't take tanks."

But administration officials say Baltimore court leaders
are

over-reacting. Townsend has publicly expressed support for both
programs, they say. The problem, they say, is the drug court

program went over budget and expanded beyond original
plans.

Administration officials questioned whether the cut-off in new
admissions was necessary. Adam Gelb, Townsend's chief adviser on crime
issues, said the Division of Parole and Probation has reported that
the program could accept up to 50 new offenders each month, as
offenders graduate and leave the program.

In a Nov. 30 letter to the drug treatment court committee, Townsend
rebuked court officials for failing to adhere to their budget. She
pointed out that her office had financed a $1.5 million expansion of
the program and had provided three additional probation agents.

"Despite these additional resources, the drug court has now committed
itself to further expansion beyond its budgeted capacity, without
advance planning or available funding to support commitments to
defendants," she wrote.

The brewing tension surfaced in the Criminal Justice Coordinating
Council's Jan 1. report to the legislature about court reforms. The
council, formed to repair the city's fractured justice system,
expressed skepticism of Townsend's program.

The probation department does not have the resources to run the
program "in a timely or effective way," the report says. "Moreover,
without the power of arrest, probation officers have little leverage
to impose sanctions without Court involvement."

The drug court, set up in 1994, differs from Townsend's program in
that it targets selected offenders. Also, judges -- rather than
probation agents -- have the final say on an offender's fate.

Under the program, nonviolent drug offenders deemed amenable to
treatment trade jail time for intensive monitoring for as long as 18
months. Offenders are brought into court about twice a month to have
their treatment performance evaluated. If they are doing badly, the
judge can put them in jail.

More than 400 people have graduated from the program. Heller said the
recidivism rate is about 7 percent. A full analysis of the program is
expected this month.

"The program is the most effective thing we've seen in combating the
addiction," Heller said.