Misunderstandings about the Lake County Drug Court

It is campaign season, and I have heard some statements about the Lake County Drug Court that I wanted to correct.

Since 2013, the Lake County felony filings went from about 220 cases a year to 500-600 a year. The increase is due entirely to the drug epidemic and drug-related crimes. The old method of just sending people to prison was failing badly, at great human and financial cost. Putting someone in prison costs about $34,310 a year for men and $42,500 for women. Prison in-patient treatment programs cost a lot more. I estimate the recidivism rate was about 75 percent (defined as people who commit a new felony within two years of release).

The system costs are enormous. If we conservatively estimate the total cost of each new felony drug case is $100,000 (including costs for police, prosecutors, jail, defense attorneys, judge, prison, treatment, parole officer, etc.), then 500 new felonies a year will cost $50 million. Those costs are spread through many agencies so we don’t see it, but, to put it in perspective, that is about the amount of the total budget to run Lake County government and the Polson School District budget, put together. That money comes entirely from local property taxes and state income taxes. You can do the math to determine the wasted resources.

Then there are the human costs. Most of these people are parents.If they are just sent to prison and come out with the same addictions, their children suffer; that is, if they have not already been placed in the foster care system.

So two years ago I formed a drug court team to study this and find out if anyone had a better approach. The team included a prosecutor, defense attorney, parole officer, chemical dependency counselor, tribal councilwoman, coordinator with experience with drug courts, the undersheriff, and a drug testing specialist. I bought everyone a copy of the book “Chasing the Scream” and we had weekly “book club” meetings. We worked hard for a year with no pay. We traveled all over Montana studying other systems. Attached is the picture of our present drug court team. Other than the coordinator’s pay, and a small monthly amount for the private practice attorneys, everyone works without pay for this extra work because we believe in this.

We learned that the better drug courts are having success in the range of 60-80 percent.

Last year we received a grant from the Gianforte Family Foundation and hired a coordinator, and got started with a budget of zero. We learned a lot from our (my) early mistakes. Then this year, we received a federal justice department grant of $399,000 over three years ($133,000 a year). The money goes to pay for the coordinator, drug testing and treatment. We will probably be returning some of that money.

We now have 12 people in drug court and accept two to four new people a month, and expect to eventually have 30-40.

Our participants were all on their way to prison, or back to prison, when they entered our program. If we prevent even four or five people a year from going to prison, this program saves taxpayer money. If we can successfully prevent 20 people a year from going to prison, that will save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, plus the much greater costs of future recidivism.

The program is based on two things: accountability and treatment. The requirements are way more difficult than probation or parole. The participants must:

- Attend drug court once a week

- Attend 3 group counseling sessions a week

- Attend 3 self-help sessions a week

- Participate in community service activities

- Be drug tested at least twice a week, both scheduled and random

- Pay $15 a week to help pay for testing, and

- Be employed and, if the job does not pay a living wage, also be in an education or training program.

It will take most people 12-24 months to get through all four phases. To graduate the person must be drug free for a certain period of time, self-supporting, and living in an alcohol- and drug-free home that they are paying for. We had our first graduation last week. The team and participants also spent a day cleaning up Blue Bay, as a way to thank CSKT Councilwoman /drug court team member Carole Lankford for all she does for us.

I am very proud of how hard and unselfishly our drug team works. The most surprising thing though, for me, is how much I have come to know and like our drug court participants. When you get past the “addict” stereotype, you learn that these are good people who are trying very hard to get better.