Drug court: A life changing experience for some

For the daily gate city

Sentencing decisions are among the most difficult a judge must make. Fewer community-based sentencing options increase this difficulty.

For example, the Iowa Department of Corrections has recently eliminated its youthful offender program and violators program due to budget cuts. However, the DOC started a drug court program in the 8B Judicial District in 2010, giving judges another sentencing option for offenders addicted to drugs.

More than 22 million Americans are believed to have substance abuse problems. According to the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Advisory Council, nearly 60 percent of all offenders entering Iowa prisons have substance abuse risk factors.

Many judges would likely say this estimate is too low. Iowas current inmate population stands at about 8,504 inmates. Thus, more than 5,000 prison inmates are likely to have substance abuse problems. The annual cost to incarcerate one inmate is estimated to be $30,000.

To respond to the large number of offenders with substance abuse issues and the substantial financial cost to incarcerate them, many states, including Iowa, have established drug courts. The 8B Judicial District, comprised of Des Moines, Henry, North Lee, South Lee and Louisa counties, started its drug court in 2010 using a drug court implementation grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance Adult Drug Court discretionary grant program. The drug court is now funded by the State of Iowa. The drug court program is designed to enhance public safety and benefit communities in Southeast Iowa through a judicially supervised, team approach to more efficiently work with non-violent substance abuse offenders.

The drug court program for the 8B Judicial District is funded as a prison diversion program. Only offenders who would otherwise be sentenced to prison are eligible for admission.

Admission is based upon established evidence-based criteria. For example, a candidate must not be a violent offender or a person who has a mental health history, which would make completion of the program difficult. Defendants are referred to the drug court by judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, family members and probation officers.

The candidate is then screened by two members of the drug court team, an experienced probation officer and substance abuse treatment director, who make an admission recommendation to the remaining drug court members: the prosecutor, defense attorney and judge. All drug court team members have an equal voice in the admission decision.

In 2011, 66 offenders were screened; 23 were accepted into drug court. Nineteen of the offenders accepted were actually sentenced to drug court; the other four received prison sentences. The program has grown from a single offender in February 2010 to 25 active participants, the programs maximum capacity. The participants include 20 males and five females. Three of the participants are African American and the remainder are Caucasian. The average age of the offenders is 41.

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Drug court: A life changing experience for some