RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT IS KEY TO SUCCESSFUL DRUG COURT, SAYS US DA

Residential drug treatment programmes can slash crime, a visiting US
District Attorney told The Royal Gazette.

Charles Hynes, DA for King's County in Brooklyn, New York, believes
long-term drug programmes are a cheap and effective way to solve the
increasing problem of drug-related crime.

And magistrates and court workers in Bermuda agree that a long-term
residential programme would be a good idea, although the cost and location
of the facility could be a problem.

Mr. Hynes contacted Drug Court in Bermuda after reading in The Royal
Gazette about a career criminal who was sent to jail after failing to
respond to the rehabilitation treatment offered as an alternative to
incarceration.

He will now be sending Court Services a raft of information on how
residential drug programmes in the US have helped to cut crime rates
dramatically.

"In 1990 we had the fifth most violent municipality in the country," said
Mr Hynes, returning to Bermuda where he honeymooned 40 years ago.

"We had 750 murders a year and 170,000 index crimes, which are the seven
most serious types of crime like murder, rape, grand theft auto.

"But now there are just 240 murders and under 60,000 serious crimes a year
and it's related directly to the reduction of drugs in our community.

"We introduced this Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison Programme (DTAP)
13 years ago on the premise that defendants would return to society in a
better position to resist drugs and crime after treatment than if they had
spent a comparable time in prison at nearly twice the cost.

"It costs around $40,000 a year to keep a man in prison but only $20,000 in
one of these residential drug treatment centres."

As well as drug treatment, the centres also provide career advice to help
integrate the graduates of the programme back into society.

"DTAP is the first prosecution-run programme in the country to divert
prison-bound felony offenders to residential drug treatment," Mr. Hynes
continued.

"The programme targets drug-addicted defendants arrested for non-violent
felony offences who have previously been convicted of one or more
non-violent felonies.

"Qualified defendants enter a guilty plea and receive a deferred sentence
that allows them to participate in a residential therapeutic community drug
treatment programme for a period of 15 to 24 months. Those who successfully
complete the programme have their charges dismissed; those who fail are
brought back to court by a special warrant enforcement team and sentenced
to prison."

Since the programme's inception, 1,865 defendants have been accepted into
the programme, 393 are still in treatment and 699 have completed the
programme and have had their charges dismissed.

When told about the scheme, Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves, who
oversees Drug Court, said: "I think it is an excellent idea and I would
dearly love to speak to this man.

"It could be of enormous benefit and it's something we have tried to look
at. Particularly for those who are addicted to a drug like heroin, which is
very hard to shake off, a long-term programme would be a beautiful way of
dealing with it."

In Bermuda, as part of the Alternative to Incarceration programme,
offenders can be placed in a treatment programme through Drug Court in lieu
of a jail sentence.

The programme includes regular drug tests, mandatory counselling sessions
and appearances at Drug Court.

Bermuda's residential equivalent is Camp Spirit, a residential treatment
programme housed on Darrell's Island, which offers addicts a 90-day
complete break from the temptations of the mainland.

Up to 14 residents at a time can be housed at the facility which has five
counsellors to help integrate addicts back into the community.

The Harbour Lights Centre also provides a 90-day residential treatment
programme.

Drug Court Coordinator Calvin Ming also believes a long-term programme
would be an effective way of dealing with offenders as an alternative to
incarceration - but believes it would be difficult to implement here.

"Bermuda really needs to look closely at this sort of treatment programme,"
he told The Royal Gazette.

"We have to look at ways of expanding the Alternative to Incarceration
programme and this would be one way.

It would be particularly effective for those suffering from dual disorders
and those with mental health and substance abuse problems.

"The cost of the facility would be a problem as would the location. On an
island like Bermuda it's a case of not-in-my-backyard.

"But these are problems that are not insurmountable and, yes, in certain
cases, it's something that would be desirable."