DUVAL COUNTY'S DRUG COURT: WORK IT OUT, PLEASE

Duval County needs all the solutions it can get in shaking a
state-leading crime rate.

So it's disturbing to see the county pull out of a state pilot program
that offered $1.4 million in federal grant help. It gave Duval County
the ability to try out a post-conviction Drug Court for two years that
the county couldn't afford otherwise.

Such courts are designed to help non-violent convicted drug offenders
avoid costly prison stays and provide monitoring to help keep them out
of trouble. If they fail to toe the line, they go to prison.

Twenty-seven other Florida counties have such courts, including nearby
St. Johns and Volusia counties.

Yet, Duval County can't make it work? We don't buy
it.

The key players in this effort - Duval County Chief Judge Don Moran,
State Attorney Angela Corey, Public Defender Matt Shirk and Fourth
Circuit Court Trail Court Administrator Joe Stelma - professed support
for the program, although they didn't always agree on how to get there.

In frustration, Stelma notified the state that a lack of collaboration
from Corey's office made it impossible to keep Duval's participation
going. Corey said her office pledged to get more people into it, that
pulling the plug was hasty.

But the story doesn't have to end this way.

Technically, Duval isn't closed out of the program until Friday. The
players involved should put frustrations and tensions aside and
regroup to give it another shot.

Letting this opportunity go could damage the community for years to
come.

It could give Duval the reputation of having such a dysfunctional
criminal justice leadership that federal and state-level decision
makers won't want to steer money this way to help tackle crime.

The Legislature's Baby

The state Legislature, looking for ways to cut millions in prison
costs and reduce crime, seized the chance last year to land a federal
grant to expand post-conviction Drug Court.

Fueled by the grant, lawmakers approved a pilot program for nine
counties with high numbers of drug convictions. The grant allowed
seven counties to expand their programs and enabled Duval and Polk to
start post-conviction programs.

The lawmakers' move made sense: Drug offenders fill more state jail
cells than any other type.

And a state report last year said offenders who successfully completed
post-conviction Drug Court programs in Florida were 80 percent less
likely to go to prison than people sentenced to drug-offender
probation instead.

Prison-bound offenders agree to enter the pilot program for a chance
at probation or reduced punishment provided they go along with
frequent drug counseling sessions, drug testing and other
supervision.

The state set a goal of putting 2,000 convicted offenders through the
program with a potential $95 million in savings. Individual counties
had varying goals; Duval's share of that goal amounted to 200 people
served over two years.

Duval court officials said the State Attorney's Office wouldn't send
them enough people and wouldn't cooperate enough to make the program
work. The State Attorney's Office said court officials pushed
offenders toward the program who were often too dangerous to justify
being given the chance to avoid prison.

As a prosecutor, Corey takes pride in being tough on crime, but she
has also supported rehabilitation where she thinks it's warranted.

She notes she works with court officials in channeling offenders to
the pre-trial side of the Drug Court program and supports other
diversion programs.

Corey also said the judges had the authority to refer people to Drug
Court despite opposition from her, the defense attorney or the
defendant. However, the program's odds of working as intended are
better if the state attorney is in support.

Regardless, the players in this program have varying roles and
shouldn't be expected to agree on everything. But they should be able
to agree upon 200 people over time who could benefit themselves and
the public in a program like this.

If the program only helped a dozen people a year, that's better than
the nothing we're going to get now.

Duval has operated a successful - though underfunded - pre-trial Drug
Court for years, saving taxpayers money, reducing crime and improving
lives. Officials have practically begged for more money to expand it
to no avail.

Now, ironically, money comes to expand Drug Court and the county is
booting it back.

Ditched Too Soon

The pilot program is off to a slow start for all counties.

Figures from the Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator from
earlier this month showed the participants ranged from 26 to 54 in the
top counties involved in the program, most of which have higher
participation goals than Duval.

Sometimes it takes time to work out the kinks, and that won't always
be easy.

Through this program, the state is trying to play a smarter game when
it comes to controlling prison costs and curbing crime. Rehab and
supervision is much cheaper than jailing people and deserves a chance.
But Duval County is sending a signal that it doesn't want to play - or
can't - because local officials can't work together.

That's a bad message to federal and state decisionmakers who
undoubtedly will make future calls on which communities will get
grants and other financial aid geared for crime problems.

Moran, Corey, Shirk and Stelma all want the best for the
community.

They can still snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

[Sidebar]

FLORIDA DRUG OFFENDERS

Florida's 100,894 state prisoners had more drug offenses (19.8
percent) in 2008-09 than any other kind of offense.

Duval County admitted 2,094 people to state prisons in 2008-09. So
far in 2009-10, Duval has sent 529 people to prison on drug charges.

It costs $21,000 a year to jail a drug offender in state prison vs.
about $3,000 to $5,000 a year for drug court.

The state is using a federal grant in nine counties in pilot efforts
to divert 2,000 drug offenders from prison statewide, eliminating the
need to build another state prison at roughly $95 million.

Our take: It would be a shame for Duval County to lose out from the
pilot program. Local criminal justice leaders should resolve their
differences and give the program more time to work before Duval's
grant money is lost for good.

Statistics source: Florida Department of Corrections, Florida Office
of the State Courts Administrator