CRIMINAL PARTNERSHIP IS FACING BUDGET CUT

He did it all - marijuana, crack, heroine. He was the youngest of five in
his family and a promising basketball star at the local high school. Then
he started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Instead of focusing on college
and the game he loved, he began selling drugs and stealing - he did
whatever it took to get drugs. He was in and out of courtrooms, three times
in jail awaiting bond and arrested finally again two years ago for a
probation violation.

But today, Richard (not his real name), 36, just received his driver's
license for the first time in more than 10 years. And he just celebrated
his own personal anniversary - being clean from drugs for already one
entire year. And having his first steady job.

Richard is one of hundreds of recovering drug addicts whose life changed
after they walked over the doorstep of the modest looking home on North
Elliot Street - the office of the Criminal Justice Partnership Program.

And until Wednesday the entire program, which saves taxpayers up to $2
million a year based on jail space, was threatened to fall victim to budget
cuts.

When Gov. Mike Easley submitted his proposed budget for the fiscal year
2002-03 to the North Carolina Legislature, he recommended the elimination
of the Criminal Justice Partnership Program among other programs statewide.

"We are still in shutdown mode," said Stephanie Archer, the program's
pre-trial releasecoordinator, on Thursday. "We are not taking any new
releases. We are still in limbo."

Rep. William Culpepper, D-N.C., who is also the chairman of the House
Appropriations Subcommittee on Justice and Public Safety, said the state
senate did not do away with the program because it was too important. And
he predicts the N.C. House will do likewise.

"It's a necessary program. It offers a community alternative to prison," he
said. "They can't do away with the program and put all these people in prison."

Amy Fulk, spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare,
said that every agency saw budget reductions this year simply because of
the magnitude of the state's economic problems.

"We tried to keep budget cuts as low as possible for education, public
safety and other critical services," she said. "The Criminal Justice
Partnership Program is important. It lets state and county government work
together to improve the criminal justice system, and it helps keep
communities safe."

The Criminal Justice Partnership, a division of the North Carolina
Department of Correction, first opened its doors in Elizabeth City in
October 1995 serving Pasquotank, Currituck, Camden, Perquimans, Chowan and
Gates County.

The organization offers a so-called pre-trial release program and a
sentenced offenders program.

The pre-trial release program is a community alternative program to
incarceration for court judges and community Correction Centers. The
service is primarily for individuals who can be released on bond from
correctional centers and ordered to attend the program until they appear
for their court date.

This is a program that saves up to $2 million a year based on jail space,
said Michael M. Furey, the partnership's director.

This number is based on the fact that it costs an average of $46 per day to
house an inmate in jail with the offender spending an average of one to six
months in jail until a bond hearing is scheduled.

Staying out of jail was a priority for Richard who also wanted to change
his life.

He started to come to the partnership's office on a regular bases, at first
almost everyday. He saw a counselor who went with him to court. He attended
a substance abuse treatment group and a vocational rehabilitation program.

"I couldn't keep a job," he said. "Now, the program gave me strength and
hope and an idea what life is all about - clean and sober."

Today, he still stops by at least once a week, holds a steady job for the
first time and pays taxes.

Stephanie Archer, the coordinator for the pre-trial release program said
she helps offenders to ask the courts for bond reduction.

"I provide information to the court about the individual's residence,
criminal record and ties to the community," Archer said.

If a person qualifies for the program, the person will be released from
jail, but has to stay in constant contact with the partnership. Archer said
the office monitors the offender's activities very closely.

"Each individual has to report at least once a month. We do a curfew
checks, and they have to provide pay stubs or time cards as a proof that
they either hold a job or go to school," Archer said.

The program offers substance abuse prevention education, substance abuse
counseling, anger management groups, cognitive behavioral intervention
groups, GED assessments, job placement assistance and referrals such as to
vocational rehabilitation.

Case Manager Tracie Riddick, who supervises the sentenced offenders
program, said she helps already sentenced offenders getting job assistance
or placement into job training, sets up a resume or just helps them how to
deal with everyday life.

"We try to give them the tools to make their life better and to get them
back into the system again," Riddick said. "They have somebody here that
understands their situation and tries to help them to help themselves."

Almost 95 percent of the partnership's clients have a history of substance
abuse, Furey said.

"Folks here have developed their own way of dealing with stress in their
life by drinking or taking drugs," he said. "We know we have a problem with
drugs here in our area, but people would rather stick their heads in the
sand and hope it goes away."

More than 75 percent of the partnerships clientele are unemployed, 50
percent never graduated from high school.

"Most of the people we deal with don't have a good support system. Members
of the family are doing drugs. They see this everyday," Riddick said. "It's
a continuous cycle. You don't choose to do drugs. But they don't know any
other way, and we have to help them to function in society again."

Since word came out that the program will be eliminated, Peggy Watts,
advisory board member of the partnership, began a letter writing campaign
contacting the governor and state representatives. Some legislators
promised her they will fight for the program.

"By going to state prison, nobody gets better," Watts said. "You want to
make the department a true 'department of correction', and not a department
of prisons."

If the program gets shut down, Watts is worried that a majority of the
partnership's former clients will end up in state prisons as lifetime
criminals. They will not be productive members of society, but will cost
the taxpayer.

"This program is much cheaper. Just do the math," she said. "By keeping
them working, they are paying taxes. Nobody in jail pays taxes."

Still living in limbo and anxiously awaiting the House's final budget
approval, the partnership is still afraid they might have to close their
office and send their clients home.

"We all here will be OK. We all will find jobs when they shut down the
program, " Furey said. "But these people", pointing to Richard across the
room, "these people won't have anybody."