JAIL IS RIGHT PLACE FOR MANY DRUG OFFENDERS

The three members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)
quoted in last Sunday's article "Opposing the drug laws they enforce"
have presented a superficial and misleading picture of New
Hampshire's criminal justice system. I believe they do a disservice
to the community by oversimplifying the issues and omitting some
basic facts with which each of them, as law enforcement
professionals, should be familiar.

It is plainly not the case that "we treat drug addiction as a
criminal problem," as Epping Police Officer Bradley Jardis says. Our
law draws a clear distinction between addiction and possession or
trafficking of drugs. It is not a crime to be an addict, just as it
is not a crime to be an alcoholic.

Rick Van Wickler, superintendent of the Cheshire County Jail,
estimates that "13 percent of the inmates at his facility are
non-violent drug offenders." He does not define what he means by
"non-violent drug offender." Based on my experience and my review of
statistics from the Merrimack County Jail, I suspect that the 13
percent figure includes people who, in addition to committing "pure"
drug crimes such as possession or trafficking also committed
additional non-drug crimes like burglary, receiving stolen property,
forgery, habitual offender, assault, and resisting arrest.

I further suspect that of those serving jail time solely for drug
crimes, the vast majority had a substantial prior criminal history
that played a role in landing them in jail.

It is also important to distinguish between the two groups of inmates
at any jail -- those who are awaiting trial and those who are serving
sentences. Strictly speaking, pre-trial inmates are not in jail
because they committed a crime. They are there because the court
found they posed a significant risk of flight or danger to themselves
or the community. In my experience, persons whose only pending
charges are for drug offenses are among the least likely to be
detained pre-trial.

Sentenced inmates are the only ones in jail because of a conviction.
And as noted earlier, it generally takes much more than a single drug
conviction to put a person in jail. Recent statistics from the
Merrimack County Jail present a quite different picture from the one
advanced by the three LEAP members.

At the end of January, we had 90 sentenced inmates. Eleven had
sentences for drug-related convictions. But of those 11, six also had
other non-drug-related convictions or probation violations
contributing to their jail sentences.

This means that only five inmates (5.6 percent) were serving
sentences based solely on drug-related convictions. With regard to
pre-trial inmates, out of 236 inmates, 43 had new drug charges listed
as the pending offense. Of these 43, 29 had other non-drug-related
substantive offenses also listed as pending offenses, so only 14 were
being held solely on drug-related charges, which comes to 5.9 percent.

When we look at the criminal histories of sentenced and pre-trial
inmates who had solely drug-related offenses as the basis for
detention, we find that for the most part they each had substantial
criminal histories. The fact that a burglar or thief was motivated by
a drug habit does not lessen the importance of protecting the
community from this person.

For those with alcohol or chemical dependency problems, jail provides
an environment where they can get straight for awhile and thus become
more receptive to treatment programs. (Many drug-dependent persons
wind up in jail after community-based programs have failed to alter
their behavior.)

Superintendent White says of drug offenders, "I don't think jail is
the best place for them." What he leaves out is the fact that for
some offenders, jail is the only way to ensure that society is
protected. And for other offenders, jail is the brick wall at the end
of the road that gets them to take treatment and rehabilitation seriously.

When a person is convicted of any crime, the prosecutor makes a
recommendation to the court as to what sentence, if any, would be
appropriate. The final decision is up to the judge. To my knowledge,
New Hampshire prosecutors take their responsibility in this regard
seriously, as do the judges. They do not send drug offenders to jail
unless they believe it's necessary for protection of the community
and for individuals' rehabilitation.