Source: The Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Contact: PDLETTERS@AOL.COM
Letters to the editor should be 250 or fewer words.
The Press Democrat
P.O. Box 569, Santa Rosa, CA 95402

Give true name street address and phone number (only name will be published)

Budget woes may end County's drug program for women

Jail addition negates cost effectiveness

By Tom Chorneau
Staff Writer

Sonoma County's longstanding commitment to drug abuse diversion programs
will be tested this week when county supervisors try to balance the
benefits of a large addiction program for women against the need to balance
their troublesome budget.

Since January 1996, 67 women have gone through a substance abuse program,
paid for in part with money earmarked for the jail, as part of an attempt
to halt the destructive cycle of addiction and crime.

The program was cost effective, largely because jail crowding had forced
supervisors to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to sent women
offenders to outofcounty jails. When officials discovered that treatment
programs in Santa Rosa actually cost less than sending inmates to Yuba,
Lake or Sutter counties, it provided further incentive to divert convicts
who were good candidates for rehabilitation. But now that the county has
opened its 279bed addition to the county jail, which includes spaces for
about 78 more women, the financial incentive to continue the rehabilitation
program has disappeared.

And that is a powerful consideration for supervisors confronted by another
difficult budget year.

"This is an extremely valuable program," said Jim Harberson, chairman of
the Board of Supervisors. "One of our goals for many years was to establish
a substance treatment facility right there at the jail and we've never had
the money to do that. This program is a piece of that and I'd hate to see
it cut. But then again, I don't know where we will get the money."

If the supervisors are unable to find the $120,000 annual cost of the
program during budget hearings beginning Monday, they will lose nearly
onethird of all treatment beds available for incarcerated women with
addiction problems.

In the last 10 years, supervisors have spent more than $50 million to build
a new jail, then expand it, as well as millions more each year to staff and
maintain the facility. Repeatedly, board members have expressed their
desire to be able to spend even a fraction of that money on programs that
might keep people out of jail, especially repeat offenders.

Supervisors' attraction to diversion programs were fueled by studies like a
1991 report by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, which said more than
twothirds of the women in prison were recidivists, having previously been
sentenced to probation or jail as a juvenile or as an adult.

Studies also show substance abuse is driving much of the crime that sends
repeat offenders back to jail. In 1995, about onethird of the 2,261 women
booked into the county jail were arrested for drug offenses. In 1991, about
onequarter of women were arrested on drug charges.

The program aimed at women offenders, so far, appears to be working. An
initial review of graduates shows that fewer than 5 percent of those who
completed the program have been rearrested.

In comparison, during the same 18month study period, police rearrested
nearly 60 percent of women who were released from jail but who did not go
through any substance abuse program.

Current clients can attest to the program's success.

April Powell, 31, of Petaluma is set to graduate later this month from the
program. After an addiction to methamphetamine landed her in jail five
times in the last two years, she said she had to find a solution.

"This program is giving me another chance at life," she said. "You can
never say that you absolutely will not fall back into using, but for the
first time in a long, long time I feel good about myself."

Stacey Babbini, 34, of Santa Rosa, who also will graduate later this month,
said she will leave the program with a better understanding of her
responsibilities, both to herself and to the community.

"Without this program, I know I'd just be back in the same cycle,"
she said.

Capt. Sean McDermott, in charge of the county jail, said his department
supports the program.

"Anything we can do that will help solve the problems caused by drugs and
alcohol, we've got to do," he said.