BROWARD SHERIFF WANTS TO END INMATE TREATMENT PROGRAMS TO SAVE MONEY

Inmates in the Broward jails will no longer receive substance abuse
treatment, anger management help, computer skills and some other
training -- a stark result of budget cuts advocates say will prove
costly in the long run.

The Broward Sheriff's Office sent a letter to judges and attorneys
Wednesday saying the programs will be eliminated by Aug. 1.

"We know the value of these programs but we have no option but to
reduce our services in the jails to their core," wrote Kristina
Gulick, director of the Department of Community Control.

In an interview, Sheriff Al Lamberti said the county will save about
$2.2 million a year by eliminating programs that employ 14 people and
served more than 16,000 inmates last year -- more than one-fifth of
the jail population.

"Unless the county decides to put it back into my budget it's done,"
said Lamberti, whose agency started sending pink slips to employees
this week.

County officials asked Lamberti to cut more than $50 million from his
budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 as part of the county's
effort to cut $160 million from its $3.6 billion budget. Instead,
Lamberti submitted a $722 million budget that is about $6 million more
than this year. Lamberti's budget curbs growth in spending by cutting
about 260 positions and requiring one-week furloughs for nonunion staff.

Though drug treatment advocates say they understand the budget
pressures, they say eliminating treatment programs for thousands of
inmates will lead to an increase in crime.

Criticism of Move

"I am not condemning the sheriff," Broward Public Defender Howard
Finkelstein said. 'When the County Commission has a gun to his head
saying 'cut something,' either he takes police officers off the street
who might prevent rapes, robberies or murder, or he can stop treatment
in the jail for those addicted to drugs.

"But without treatment, people -- when released from the jail --
become the robbers and the rapists," he said.

Nationwide, drug treatment is among the programs taking a budget hit,
said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance
Network in New York.

"It's going to blow up in their face," Nadelmann said. "Especially
programs that are jail-based providing people with skills that are
effective at reducing recidivism. In the absence of that you are
sending people out into the community with a criminal record, high
unemployment and not giving them opportunities to gain skills."

Lamberti said he shares the concerns, but wasn't left with much to cut
after already planning on closing one of the county's jails.
"Unfortunately what ends up happening is we become just warehousing
people," he said.

Some May Survive

Lamberti said he hopes to hear in July if he will receive federal
grant money that would allow him to keep some of the jail programs --
but likely not all. Inmates will still have access to volunteer
programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

The law enforcement cuts aren't unique to Broward.

"I've talked to at least half the sheriffs in the state the last
couple of months and they are all cutting programs -- school resource
officers, traffic enforcement and several programs offered in the
jails," said Roy Hudson, director of law enforcement services for the
Florida Sheriffs Association.

Though judges often send defendants to treatment in the community,
some belong in the jail, Broward drug court Judge Marcia Beach said.
Many inmates get reduced jail sentences if they complete the treatment
- -- something that will no longer be an option for judges. That means
inmates could wind up behind bars longer.

"Bottom line: If these programs are eliminated that jail will be at
100 percent capacity within a very short period of time," Beach said.

That could be dangerous for Broward because the county is under court
order to avoid overcrowding.

County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin, an advocate for drug
treatment, criticized the proposed cut.

"You are taking away the very services for the people that can least
afford to lose them," she said. "I would love for him to be able to
cut something else that is not so crucial."

Bill Janes, who oversees substance abuse and mental health programs
for the Department of Children & Families and is Gov. Charlie Crist's
drug czar, said Thursday that he had not been told that Broward was
seeking to do away with the jail programs.

"I'm very disappointed to hear that," Janes said.