GETTING TO DRUG COURT MORE THAN A HASSLE

Offenders Forgo Program, Cite Lack Of Transportation

SARASOTA COUNTY -- Drug and alcohol addicts in south Sarasota County forgo
a drug court program aimed at giving them treatment instead of jail time
because they have no transportation to required meetings.

The drug court's meetings are in Sarasota. Offenders usually don't have a
car or driver's license. And bus transportation from cities like Englewood
and North Port makes it unfeasible for them to get there.

So the drug court's operators are now brainstorming how to bring potential
drug court clients to Sarasota meetings from South County, where they say
drug arrests are climbing along with the booming population.

As of last week, 20 of the 68 people enrolled in Sarasota County's 12-
month drug court program come from South County, officials said. The
program's current capacity is 120.

Yet at least 22 other abusers in South County cited a lack of
transportation as the reason they can't do the program.

"We know the demand is there," said David Bennett, a consultant hired by
the county to reduce the jail's population. "We know we can impact a number
of people if we get these issues resolved."

The drug court program gives addicts a chance to go through treatment to
address the underlying problem that led to their arrest, not just spend
time in jail as a punishment.

Making drug court available to more South County residents could save the
county money. The end of an addiction could mean the end of the cycle of
repeated arrests for minor drug- and alcohol-related charges, Bennett said.

The average daily population at the jail has increased 21 percent since the
beginning of 2005.

Bennett asked drug court officials to provide transportation from South
County by the end of the year.

Up to four of every 10 people from South County who could qualify for the
program are deciding against it because of transportation issues, said
Joanne Miller, the drug court coordinator for the public defender's office.

"I feel like I've lost clients I could have gotten had I had an answer to
the transportation problem," said Miller, who screens people interested in
joining drug court.

The first two months of the 12-month program require participants to attend
education groups three times a week in Sarasota. They're also required to
meet with a primary counselor once a week and attend a court session every
Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

"We're talking at least three to four days where they have to be in
Sarasota," drug court Program Director David Morgan said. "The bus system
is nonexistent, unfortunately."

One woman from South County couldn't catch a bus early enough to get to 8
a.m. meetings in Sarasota, Miller said. If the woman went to the 5:30 p.m.
meetings, the buses stop running so she couldn't get home.

"It's a Catch-22," Miller said of the bus system. "It can't be done; we've
had people try it."

Another South County man got rides to meetings from his wife but dropped
out of the program despite his clean drug tests, Miller said. His wife
can't work and continue driving him to meetings, she said.

Morgan and others at the drug court program are looking into renting buses
or hiring taxis to bring drug court participants to Sarasota. They are also
looking into places to hold meetings in Venice.

Eventually, the demand for a drug court will establish its own program in
the south end of the county, with its own judges, prosecutors, public
defenders and clerks, Bennett said.

But the county needs to "solidify numbers and get people up here before we
can talk about a court session down there," he said.

The drug court staff has requested two additional counselors to work in
South County as part of a budget process within the court system.

Morgan said he has not collected any information on arrests that would
indicate the future demand for a drug court program in South County.

"We don't even have to obtain numbers, we just know for a fact the arrests
and drug use is pretty rampant in Sarasota County," Morgan said.

For now, participants can go to South County locations for 12-step meetings
two to four times per week, providing urine samples on Monday, Wednesday
and Friday and meeting with a primary counselor once per week.

But they still have to come to face the judge in Sarasota, Miller said.

"It's a drug court. It's a necessity."