HELPING INMATES ESCAPE DRUGS

Expanding prison and county programs target the high percentage of
nonviolent offenders in N.J.

NEWARK, N.J. - Preston Mitchell Townsend's living quarters look a lot like
his old Marine Corps barracks: 96 bunks tucked so tight you could bounce a
quarter off them, personal effects neatly stowed in foot lockers, floors and
bathrooms scrubbed shiny clean.

The difference is that Townsend is no longer serving his country, as he did
from 1983 to 1987. Now he is serving an 11-year sentence at Northern State
Prison after robbing a South Jersey record store for money to buy cocaine.

"I'm an addict," Townsend, 38, a divorced father of three teenagers he
rarely sees, said in an interview at the Newark prison, where he is enrolled
in the Fresh Start drug-treatment program.

Townsend has lots of company among addicts behind bars in the state.

The national Drug Policy Alliance says New Jersey had the nation's highest
proportion of state inmates incarcerated on drug charges - 36 percent - in
2001. The national rate was 20 percent.

The alliance, which advocates decriminalization of drug use, blames New
Jersey's rate on the state's tough drug laws and sentencing requirements.
Opponents of jailing nonviolent drug offenders contend that treatment inside
prison is more expensive than treatment outside it.

In recognition, all but five counties have adopted "drug court" programs, in
which nonviolent offenders submit to weekly drug testing for 18 months
instead of going to jail. Atlantic, Cape May, Middlesex, Burlington and
Hudson Counties are likely to adopt such programs by this spring, according
to the state Public Defender's Office.

In addition, a commission to review the state's drug laws, which have not
been revised since 1986, would be created under a bill sponsored by
Assemblyman Peter Barnes (D., Middlesex), a retired FBI agent who heads the
Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee.

In the meantime, the state has expanded its prison drug-treatment programs,
and some county jails offer more modest, short-term treatment programs.

Research suggests the programs work.

For example, University of Delaware researchers found that 40 percent of
graduates of prison programs remained drug-free a year after their release,
compared with 25 percent of nongraduates. Program graduates also stayed
clean longer than nongraduates and were less likely to be arrested again.

The Drug Policy Alliance praised New Jersey for its prison drug programs,
which have increased their number of beds fivefold to 1,464 since 1998.
Sixty more beds are to be added soon, said James Wojtowicz, director of the
Corrections Department's Office of Community and Drug Programs.

"If drug treatment is successful in terms of recidivism alone, that means
less crime and costs of crime, and the cost of incarceration," Wojtowicz
said.

The programs are run by the Newark-based Gateway Foundation, which has a
three-year contract with the state worth $4.2 million a year.

The resemblance between the Fresh Start cell block and Townsend's Marine
barracks on Parris Island, S.C., is no coincidence. The programs blend
military-style order and discipline with more conventional group and
individual drug counseling and training in personal finance, grooming and
other areas.

"I see this as a barracks/learning institution," Townsend said. "I don't
want the next 38 years of my life to be like the last 38."

When Fresh Start participants are assembled, they address fellow inmates
with a thundering "Good morning!" followed by "Mister" and the person's
name, creating an atmosphere of respect and shared aspiration. The program
also warns inmates to avoid old acquaintances likely to draw them back into
the behavior that put them behind bars.

"If you want to stay clean and sober, you've got to get with that community,
instead of with the drinking and drugging community," Otto Williams, a Fresh
Start counselor, said during a group session.

Police and prosecutors tend to support any treatment programs, knowing that
drug use often motivates more violent crime. But some people who oppose
jailing nonviolent drug offenders are wary of placing too much emphasis on
prison-based programs.

"What I don't like about prison-based treatment," said Ethan Nadelmann,
executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, "is that more and more
people are saying: 'We've got to send them to prison so they can get drug
treatment."