OKLAHOMA LEADS THE NATION IN DRUG COURT FUNDING

(AP) - Oklahoma leads the nation in per capita funding of drug courts
following legislative approval of millions of dollars for the specialized
courts that provide intensive supervision and treatment for drug offenders,
according to a state agency's analysis.

The Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center, which provides research and
analysis for the state's criminal justice system, compared funding by 35
states that appropriate money to drug courts after the 2005 Oklahoma
Legislature appropriated $8 million more for drug court programs.

The spending plan increased the state's drug court budget for the fiscal
year that began on Friday to $11.5 million, triple the budget for the
previous year, the agency said. At that level, the state will spend $3.27
per capita for drug courts next year - more than any other state.

New Jersey ranks second at $3.10 per capita based on a National Drug Court
Institute report published in May, the agency said. The national average is
51 cents per capita. Texas appropriates 3 cents per capita for drug courts,
according to the agency.

The Oklahoma Sentencing Commission recommended in February that the state
spend more to supervise probationary defendants. Oklahoma spends $2.04 a
day per offender on standard probation supervision, less than half the
national average of $4.37.

The state's drug court programs spend an average daily cost per participant
of $6.37 per day.

"I think it's fantastic. We've seen a lot of success in our drug court
system," Rep. Terry Ingmire, R-Stillwater, said Friday. Drug-addicted
defendants can avoid prison by completing drug court programs that include
close supervision and constant drug testing and treatment.

"That's a major step in hopefully getting people's lives back together and
put them on the straight and narrow," Ingmire said.

Lawmakers beefed up drug court funding although the state is one of the
nation's top incarcerators and officials have historically shunned
alternative sentencing programs like drug courts.

Spending by the 2005 Legislature marked the first time lawmakers put more
money into prison diversion programs like drug courts than into new prison
beds, the agency said.

"It's pretty encouraging. I hope it's a sign of more things to come," said
former Sen. Ged Wright of Tulsa, a sentencing commission member. Oklahoma
has almost 24,000 inmates in state prisons, many of them for drug- and
alcohol-related offenses.

The additional funding will expand 22 existing drug courts and create 10
new courts in the state. Oklahoma currently operates 44 drug courts in 39
counties.

Authorities said expanding the program will divert more than 3,000 drug and
alcohol defendants from prison in the next year. A total of 4,765
defendants will be diverted to drug courts in 2006, up from 1,525 last year.

The expansion will also save more than $38 million in incarceration costs
in one year, officials said. The state prison budget totals $409 million
and officials are seeking another $31 million to provide additional beds
during the coming year.

"It's a cost-effective solution," said Toby Taylor of Edmond, who
represents the Victim's Compensation Board on the commission.

"Locking them up and throwing the key away is not working," Ingmire said.
"We're hoping we can divert some of the nonviolent offenders away from
prison and still protect the safety of the public."