SID SALTER: DRUG COURTS CUT PRISON COSTS AND CRIME RATES

As Gov.-elect Haley Barbour prepares to take office in January, he
faces the conundrum of his no-new-taxes pledge on the campaign trail
against the reality of a whopping $70 million deficit in the state's
Department of Corrections.

Simply put, Mississippi can't afford to house the prisoners we already
have in the state's penal system - much less the new ones pouring in
each day under the state's "85 percent" rule that mandates that
prisoners serve at least that percentage of their original sentence
before being eligible for parole.

One alternative to the runaway costs of operating the state's prison
system is the statewide implementation of drug courts on the model of
the successful program that has been operated since 1999 in the
state's 14th Circuit Court District by Judge Keith Starrett in
Lincoln, Pike and Walthall counties.

Like Starrett, there are a number of enlightened, pragmatic judges in
Mississippi who have started or are attempting to organize drugs
courts in their venues - including recent converts Madison County
Youth Court Judge William Agin and Eighth District Circuit Judge
Vernon Cotton of Carthage.

Drug courts function after an offender pleads guilty to possession of
illegal drugs. If the defendant is not a repeat or violent offender,
and if he has not been charged with selling drugs, he can serve his
sentence through intense supervision and treatment mandated by the
court rather than in prison.

In addition to those cited above, drug courts already function in
Hinds, Hancock, Harrison, Stone, Leflore, Sunflower, Washington,
George and Greene counties. Adams County Youth Court and Ridgeland
Municipal Court also have drug courts.

Five more drug courts are planned to serve Adams, Amite, Franklin,
Wilkinson, Bolivar, Coahoma, Quitman, Tunica, Forrest and Perry
counties and the youth court in Forrest County.

How is the drug court experiment working? The U.S. Justice Department
cites the following national statistics:

. An estimated 61,000 (16 percent) convicted jail inmates committed
their offenses to get money for drugs.

. An individual who has a severe addiction commits nearly 63 crimes a
year.

. Incarceration of drug-using offenders costs between $20,000 and
$50,000 per person per year. The capital costs of building a prison
cell can be as much as $80,000. In contrast, a comprehensive drug
court system typically costs less than $2,500 annually for each offender.

. In 2001, drug offenders accounted for 20.4 percent of sentenced
state inmates and 55 percent of sentenced federal inmates.

. Drug use is substantially reduced among defendants while they are in
drug court programs. For most participants who graduate from the
programs (ranging from 50 to 65 percent), drug use is eliminated altogether.

. According to a preliminary report entitled "Estimate of Drug Court
Recidivism Rates," which followed more than 2,000 graduates from 100
drug courts - the recidivism rate for one year after graduation was
16.4 percent and 27.5 percent two years after graduation. Figures for
individuals who were imprisoned for drug offenses are 43.5 percent and
58.6 percent, respectively.

Some judges and lawmakers reject the worth of drug courts. But none of
those politicians - frightened to be perceived as "soft" on crime -
have offered any advice to taxpayers on how to make up the Corrections
deficit.