STATE IS TESTING, TREATING THOUSANDS MORE CRIMINAL ADDICTS

Nearly 6,200 criminals released on parole and probation in Maryland have
been ordered to report to authorities twice a week for urine tests as part
of a landmark attempt to overhaul how the state supervises drug-addicted
offenders, according to state officials.

The figure is more than five times higher than it was just two months ago
- -- a sign the state's ambitious "Break the Cycle" program is expanding
rapidly. Under the plan, all 25,000 drug addicts on parole and probation in
Maryland eventually will be required to undergo treatment and frequent
testing -- and face swift, escalating punishments if they skip a treatment
session or test positive for drug use.

No other state has tried to hold its entire population of drug-addicted
parolees and probationers accountable to such a frequent regimen of
testing, and Maryland's attempt to do so is being watched by criminal
justice policymakers across the nation.

The enterprise faces a range of obstacles, particularly if large numbers of
offenders test positive and the state is unable to punish them effectively.
But if it succeeds, proponents such as Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
(D) believe it could cut demand for heroin, cocaine and other drugs in the
state nearly in half -- undermining the illicit drug markets that fuel
crime and violence in many neighborhoods.

In addition, Townsend and others say, the program could wean thousands of
addicts off drugs and bring about sharp reductions in the kinds of
low-level crimes that drug offenders are known to commit repeatedly, such
as burglaries, thefts, vandalism and prostitution.

The testing began slowly this fall in seven jurisdictions: Prince George's,
Montgomery, Howard, Charles, Washington and Baltimore counties and
Baltimore City. As local judges, probation agents, treatment providers and
jail officials worked out the details, the number of offenders ordered into
the program jumped sharply, from about 1,200 in the first week of November
to nearly 6,200 as of the first week of January.

Each jurisdiction has its own sanctions for offenders who test positive for
drugs or skip treatment sessions. The response usually begins with closer
supervision and escalates with repeated infractions, ultimately leading to
possible penalties imposed in court.

The goal is to use the criminal justice system to force drug addicts to
remain in treatment -- a departure from the conventional wisdom that
addicts must "want to change" to kick their habits.

"I've been putting people into Break the Cycle, and I'm optimistic it's
going to make a difference," said William D. Missouri, the Circuit Court
administrative judge in Prince George's. "But I probably won't have a good
sense of the results until the beginning of February."

Though testing of offenders is well underway in the seven jurisdictions and
is set to expand to the rest of the state by the end of the year, it's
unclear whether offenders are being punished quickly or severely enough to
change their behavior.

"We're still far from where we want to be," said Adam Gelb, Townsend's
policy adviser. "The sanctions are not as swift, as certain or as stiff as
we'd like to see them, but we are clearly moving in the right direction."

Leonard Sipes, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and
Correctional Services, said the state has not yet determined how often
offenders are failing the drug tests, how they are being punished when they
do so or how many of them are completing treatment programs.

He said the greatest obstacle will be trying to force probation agents to
act quickly when an offender fails a drug test or misses a treatment
appointment. In the past, agents rarely learned when offenders dropped out
of treatment, and they could order only seven urine tests per month for
their entire caseloads, which average more than 100 offenders apiece.

"The challenge is rearranging the culture of parole and probation," Sipes
said. "Remember, the average offender has received very little face-to-face
contact with agents because of the huge caseloads. . . . Now we're trying
to change that for the majority of the active caseload. The bottom line is
whether this department can rally to such an intensive supervision strategy."

The first hint of how well Break the Cycle is working will come in
February, when University of Maryland criminologist Faye Taxman completes a
preliminary report on the program's progress in the seven jurisdictions.

"The data I have suggest that things are actually moving along pretty
smoothly in each of the jurisdictions, but I'm anticipating different
problems in different places," she said. "We anticipate most of the
jurisdictions will do very well in testing offenders. The question will be,
if offenders continue to test positive, how will the agents and judges
respond?"