JAIL TREATMENT PROGRAM FUNDS SOUGHT

ALPARAISO - County officials are being forced to find a new source of
funding for a drug and alcohol treatment program for inmates at Porter
County Jail.

The intensive outpatient program Porter-Starke Services ran had been funded
by a $25 fee charged of everyone booked at the jail, Porter County
Commissioner Bob Harper said.

The state, however, ended that fee over the summer on grounds it was not
fair, Harper said. That has left the county with a quickly diminishing
amount of money for the program.

David Hollenbeck, the outgoing Porter County Council attorney, told
commissioners Tuesday evening he has spoken with county judges about
possibly implementing a new fee charged only of those convicted of crimes.
That approach is allowed by the state, he said.

Commissioner John Evans asked if the fee still could be collected during
the booking and then returned to those found not guilty.

Hollenbeck said it could not.

Harper, also a criminal defense attorney, estimated about 90 percent of
those arrested are eventually found guilty of a crime.

He said the commissioners will discuss alternative sources of funding for
the program at their first meeting next month.