Florida’s Drug Courts To Expand
Florida drug courts will likely expand in the next year after lawmakers decided to put more than $21 million into the programs. Report from the Miami Herald.
Politicians believe the money will be enough to keep some 3,000 people out of prison, saving the state more than $4 million. The hope is that graduates will also be less likely to re-offend. Right now, programs like the one in Panama City for offenders headed to prison are rare. Fewer than half of Florida’s counties have drug courts targeted at offenders who would otherwise go to prison. That’s even though Florida started the nation’s first drug court in Miami in 1989 and was marking its 20th anniversary Friday with graduations and speeches. “When it does work it really does work,” said judge Sirmons, who has been running the drug court in Panama City for 12 years.
Lawmakers didn’t work out all the details of the drug court expansion plan during the legislative session that ended a week ago. They agreed, however, to pay for treatment for more offenders as well as more prosecutors and defense attorneys. An office within the Florida Supreme Court will decide which counties actually get the money. Gov. Charlie Crist still needs to sign the provisions into law, but people like Department of Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil already support the legislation.
Florida has more than 100,000 inmates in its prisons, and two-thirds or more enter prison with drug problems, the Department of Corrections said. Most don’t get treatment before they leave, and this year lawmakers cut both prison and probation drug treatment programs. “We think that the drug courts are a front-end intervention,” McNeil said near the end of the legislative session.
Two-thirds of all counties have some type of drug court program. But many are like the one in Miami, which takes people who may be first time offenders and would likely be sentenced to parole. Less common are programs for people with prior convictions, many of them parole violators who would otherwise be headed to prison. Participation in both types of programs is voluntary, but offenders can’t be drug dealers or have prior convictions for violent felonies like murder or rape. Once in the program, participants attend therapy classes, have frequent drug tests and meet regularly with a judge. Unlike offenders on parole, there’s an understanding that participants may mess up.
There is a lot more detail and background in the full article at the Miami Herald.
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