DRUG COURTS COULD SAVE STATE $5 MILLION A YEAR

JACKSON (AP) -- Five new drug courts across Mississippi have been proposed
as a way for the cash-strapped prison system to save more than $5 million a
year.

A number of judges look for treatment of convicted drug offenders instead of
prison sentences.

"We've got to start looking for alternatives to incarceration," Circuit
Judge Bob Helfrich of Hattiesburg said. "We want them to become meaningful
members of society once again."

A recent report by the state auditor found it costs about $16,800 a year to
keep a drug offender in prison, compared to $5,000 to go through the drug
court program.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections expects to run a deficit of nearly
$70 million for the coming year.

A state law that became effective July 1 allows the establishment of drug
courts statewide

The proposed drug courts would serve 11 counties.

Five drug courts already operate in the state, serving eight counties.

In drug court, criminal charges are dismissed if the defendant completes the
program of rehabilitation, intensive supervision and regular drug-testing.

The program is mostly for first-time offenders and is not for people charged
with selling drugs.

The first drug court was started by Circuit Judge Keith Starrett in Lincoln,
Walthall and Pike counties in 1999.

Starrett says that about nine of 10 people who go through drug court -- 89
percent -- have stayed clean and sober.