JUDGE HAYES SHARES INFORMATION ABOUT NEW DRUG COURT

HUNTSVILLE - Associate Circuit Judge Scott Hayes visited Randolph
County Commissioners on Tuesday to share an update on a planned drug
court that could soon serve Randolph and Howard County citizens.

Hayes said that 95 percent of people prosecuted for drug crimes get
probation through a traditional court.

"At sentencing the judge has the option at that time to send them to
some department of corrections drug treatment program but there's
hardly any room at the inn for those," Hayes said. "Generally those
are reserved for people who get in trouble on probation so most people
go through the system initially get probation." Hayes said depending
on the offense, probation can include random urinalysis tests and
checking in with a probation officer.

Hayes said that even those who go through treatment can get through a
program without being rehabilitated.

"Experience has shown that these hard-core drug users can walk any
type of treatment that's a month," Hayes said. "They can walk the
walk, talk the talk, and do the things that they need to do to make
successful treatment. Quite a few of them actually do get
unsuccessfully discharged from treatment centers but it's amazing how
many of them get successfully discharged from it."

The next transition for continued violations, Hayes said, is a prison
treatment or shock incarceration program up to 120 days. The state has
three or four institutional treatment centers scattered throughout the
state.

"The idea of sending the people that are hooked on drugs to the
treatment center instead of the general population shock incarceration
program is to get them off of it, to give them the tools and abilities
and resources to get off drugs or alcohol (you see a lot of that,
too)," Hayes said. "But that doesn't always work. In fact, of the
success rate. . . I've seen a guy personally in the criminal justice
system get out of the 120 rehab program fro the Department of
Corrections, the day that he gets out, he gets in a fight and then
goes and drinks and he was in for alcohol. The very same day that he
did this, he gets out and starts drinking again. . . so he wasn't
taught that the behavior just can't go on."

Hayes said the Department of Corrections also has a two year program
that does have a higher rate of success. "Research shows if you're
trying to kick a lifelong addiction, you're not going to do it in 30
days, you're not going to do it in 90 days, you're not going to do it
in 120 days" he said. "It requires at least a year of intensive,
hands-on, somebody there with them all the time baby-sitting them."

Hayes said very few people get the two year option because they need
to have three prior felony convictions and meet other criteria to be
eligible for the program.

"Here's the issue: a lot of drug possession crimes are a maximum of
seven years in prison," Hayes said. "That's the absolute maximum Class
C felony if they're not manufacturing, transporting, distributing.
It's seven years. Well, nowadays in the Department of Corrections, if
you go down and again, there's a whole lot of factors involved: Is it
a probation violation, is it a parole violation, is it his first time
down and all that. Say it's his firs time down and he hasn't been in
trouble before. A seven year sentence, it used to be 50 days per year
is how I used to advise clients; now it's less. So if you go down on a
seven year sentence in the Department of Corrections, you're looking
at getting out in less than a year. These days I would suggest six
months because it's a victimless crime. They don't place that as a
high priority. . . So say you've got a guy that has the option of
having a seven year sentence where he knows he'll be out in less than
a year. And you say okay, do you want to change your life and do this
hard program for 18 months, and do what we ask of you, including you
can only have potato chips at a certain time. . .you follow these
rules for 18 months and come out a better person or you get a year and
they say no, I'll just take the year."

"Traditional incarceration, as far as rehabilitation, is limited,"
Hayes continued. "Punishment wise, those of us that were in the
military understand that it's not any worse than boot camp. As a
matter of fact it's better in a lot of ways. More freedoms because of
the human rights aspect of it." Hayes said for years people have been
looking at what the biggest drain on the system is, and it has been
drug users. The drug court movement was born of trying to ascertain
the best way to rehabilitate and deal with drug offenders.

"Drug court is different. It starts off the same: They get arrested
for a crime or they're identified as a drug abuser where they're
stealing stuff to support their drug habit. . .They'll come through
the system and it's still way in the planning stages as far as what
Randolph County's going to use but one way is that they go ahead and
plead guilty. Another way is they defer prosecution which means the
prosecutor won't file on them if they go into drug court. The drug
court team needs to get together and see which works best," Hayes
explained. "Eventually they go through the system and they're
identified through diversion or they're identified through a plea of
guilty. They come in the drug court. Drug court, basically what
happens is that we have the prosecuting attorney on board, a private
attorney or a public defender if need be. We have the treatment people
and preferred family health care on board and we have probation and
parole on board. And they get basically we call it a super-intensive
probation. They're tested three, four, five times a week depending on
what treatment phase. They have to go get a job, they have to go get
various things in their life corrected that's caused them this path of
drug addiction. The main thing is it's hands-on every week for the
first phase of this three-phase program. The first phase of drug court
every week they're before the judge answering for what they've done
the week prior. Instead of on a normal probation, if they don't get in
trouble, after they've plead guilty and they're placed on probation or
they don't get any serious violations, they never see the judge again.
On a drug court, they see the judge every week whether they're in
trouble or not. If they're not in trouble, they'll get an atta boy,
positive reinforcement. Some of these people have never had positive
reinforcement in their lives. . .They'll get some positive
reinforcement. We hope the community will be behind it. We can give
them free movie tickets for making different phases. In AA you get
coins for making it so far, it's the same principle. Small hurdles to
overcome."

Hayes said then the staff involved will get together and discuss each
case on a week-by-week basis and mark progress or identify areas that
need improvement.

"You've got to consider in drug court, the process is sort of like
boot camp. You've got a certain time that eventually you break them.
They'll realize they can no longer play the game and they'll start
accepting the treatment issues," Hayes said. "And seeing the light
come on in some of these who've graduated - you know, I'm out here,
I'm paying taxes, I'm doing things that normal people do, I get up of
a morning, I don't stay up all night and party for days. Some of these
people have never had a job."

Hayes said the difference between drug court and regular court is that
it's hands on. He called the process a "carrot and stick approach."

"The carrot is they're allowed to possibly . . .Withdraw their guilty
plea to where, especially if they're a first timer, it's not a
conviction on their record if they make it through drug court," Hayes
said. "And the stick approach are through various sanctions if they do
things or if they don't get a job fast enough, making them do
community service, making them do anything, even push a broom in a
circle if need be. Make them actually go out, get up of a morning,
report, apply at so many places. If they fail to do that, throwing
them in jail for a couple of days as sanctions."

Hayes said Boone county has been utilizing a drug court for quite a
while and that there are 95 drug courts in the state operating or in
the planning stages. Hayes is able to attend training for drug court
through federal funds and is hoping that federal funding will pay for
the program's establishment. Hayes would preside over the drug court
in Randolph County. He said he is not sure if the court would provide
services to the entire circuit (which would include Howard County) or
be limited to Randolph County. The drug court model, if adopted, would
most likely be established next year.

The commission also met with Road and Bridges engineer John Mann to
discuss a review of his contract. Associate Commissioner Jack Franklin
expressed concern over asking Mann to show qualifications for his position.

"Mann has been through so much," Franklin directed at Presiding
Commissioner Jim Myles.

"He was paid $208,000 last year to go through it," Myles
countered

Myles concluded that there was no malicious intent in asking Mann to
update his qualifications; the procedure is in accordance with regular
auditing practices and is required every two years, he said. Mann was
instructed to provide the commission with his current qualifications.