When most would want to give up on an addict?
That’s when area drug courts step in.DeKalb, LaGrange and Noble counties all offer drug courts — part of a nationwide program that uses a proven methodology of intensive supervision and investment as an option for incarceration.
Noble County’s Drug Court program currently has 34 participants in various phases. DeKalb’s program currently has eight participants, but Judge Adam Squiller would like to see it grow. LaGrange County’s program graduated 10 last summer, said Superior Court Judge Lisa Bowen-Slaven. It currently has 16 participants working their way through the various phases.
It’s not a program for the faint of heart.
“It’s geared toward people who have been through the system before,” Noble Circuit Court Judge Michael Kramer said. “Drug court is designed for people with high needs … and with a high risk of reoffending.”
Every week, Kramer holds two sessions of drug court, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. While they are in the first phrase of the program, the offenders appear every week.
Along with those weekly court sessions, participants have to make progress on their chemical dependence classes and other coursework which helps them learn to identify thinking patterns that feed their addictions.
Each participant in Noble County has to work on a special workbook which is designed for their specific addiction, family situation and educational level. Throw in daily drug screening calls and substance abuse recovery meetings, and it’s a full slate.
“That’s quite a bit,” Kramer said.
As participants pass benchmarks, they may only appear in front of the judge once every two weeks in Phase II and once every three weeks in Phase III, according to DeKalb Superior Court I Judge Adam Squiller.
Before taking office on Jan. 1, 2021, Squiller set a goal of starting a drug court in DeKalb County. COVID slowed that goal some, but the program started up in July.
Six months in, Squiller is beyond impressed.
“The progress and change in people is staggering,” Squiller said. “You can literally see people change before your eyes.”
Weekly meetings
In Phase I, participants have to appear in front of a judge every week — though COVID has often made those meetings virtual. And they aren’t just appearing before a judge.
Drug courts have a team of individuals involved. In Noble County, that team consists of representatives of the Northeastern Center and Bowen Center, half-way houses, law enforcement, public defenders, a prosecutor’s office and probation officers.
LaGrange County’s drug court team includes a pharmacist, according to Bowen-Slaven.
Squiller’s drug court team includes Auburn Mayor Mike Ley.
Each member brings different attributes to the program, different insights.
In all counties, large meetings between drug team members and the judge are held prior to every official court meeting.
“We all go over the participants’ progress,” Bowen-Slaven said, “anything that needs to be discussed.”
During the meeting in front of the judge, each participant’s week is recapped. If there has been a misstep, the participant faces hard questions from any of the team members in attendance and often the judge.
Sanctions
There are lapses, and it shouldn’t be surprising because these are high-risk offenders. Finding the straight and narrow path often involves a journey of deviations, of single steps backward after a couple of steps ahead.
The sanctions for those missteps can range from a simple verbal reprimand for minor offenses to essay assignments, community service and the loss of certain privileges. Kramer has made people who commit infractions sit in the jury box during an afternoon of court proceedings where they can watch other members of the program be returned to prison.
One recent Wednesday session in Noble County’s program found a drug court participant who had run afoul of the rules in a major way. The participant called a roommate at the halfway house he was living in and had the roommate falsify the time he had left.
The halfway house had gotten wise to the ruse and the participant was evicted. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and he appeared via video conference from the Noble County Jail.
Kramer was not amused, particularly when the participant tried to say he didn’t actually commit the violation, it was his roommate who had actually falsified the time.
“It sounds like you are blaming somebody else,” Kramer said. “You knew what the rules were. And you violated them by getting someone to change them for you.”
Kramer went on to challenge the participant’s intentions.
“Do you want to be in the program?” Kramer asked.
“Yeah, I do,” the participant said.
Kramer eventually told the man he would have to spend the week in jail. While incarcerated, he ordered the man to write an essay detailing what the participant wanted to get out of the drug court program.
Two weeks later, and that individual was still cooling his heels in jail, waiting on a placement to another halfway house.
“I’m going to have him on house arrest with GPS monitoring so we limit where he can go and we knew where he goes,” Kramer said.
How it works
The purpose of drug court isn’t just to stop a behavior, Kramer said, it is also to get the participant to change the thought patterns which led to the substance abuse in the first place. It can be a long, arduous journey.
“It’s not easy,” Kramer said. “It’s behavior modification.”
The emphasis is placed not on mistakes, but on correcting the thought processes that led to the mistake.
The driving factors behind that modification are intense supervision and holding the participants accountable, Bowen-Slaven said.
A key ingredient to that modification is a strong desire to turn one’s life around.
“Most of them hate their life in using and being a slave to getting their next high,” Kramer said.
In the same drug court session in which one man was left in jail, another man was applauded by the judge and a couple of other drug court team members for how he had begun to repair the relationships in his life, relationships which had been left in tatters because of his substance abuse.
That kind of praise is a key component to the program, Kramer said.
“I do think the positive reinforcement (is important),” Kramer said. “When people do something positive, they should be recognized for that.”
“It’s wonderful to see that change happen,” Kramer said of a participant’s different thought process.
For some participants, drug court may be the most positive relationship they’ve experienced, Squiller said.
While the regular criminal justice system is more stick than carrot, drug court delves into the root cause of behavior rather than just punishment for an action or behavior.
“You can an emotional connection with them,” Squiller said. “They’ve never had people express that much of an interest in them.”
The program involves intensive supervision, but it does so in a real-world situation rather than just sobering up a person with a lengthy jail sentence and throwing them back into the world with no better skills to cope with life than when they were first incarcerated.
Kramer said it sounds counter intuitive, but too much supervision can actually hinder a participant’s progress.
“You can do too much with somebody,” Kramer said.
Giving a person time in jail is a level of punishment that can actually do more harm than good. Many drug court participants have done their share of time incarceration and aren’t intimidated by that kind of experience.
It may go against conventional thinking, but the program has a proven national track record.
“If you follow the model that’s been established — it does work,” Squiller said.
The program can last anywhere from 18-48 months depending on the individual and the progress they have made. Graduates have their cases dismissed.
But to sign up for drug court, a person has to plead straight up to their charges. The individual who falsified his time out record is facing a Level 3 felony charge, which could result in an extensive stint in prison.
By taking part in the program, the individuals waive their right to a plea deal.
“If they don’t get it, they end of doing the time,” Kramer said. “Almost half of the people fail and are sent to prison. It depends on the person’s mindset.”
Worth the effort
Noble County Sheriff Max Weber said he appreciates the work that the drug team members put in to each participant.
“They have very caring hearts,” Weber said. “They want to see every participant succeed.”
Weber said the program is worth the effort.
“There have been some surprises,” Weber said.
He remembers one participant in particular who he knew quite well.
“There’s no way that participant is going to make it through,” he remembered thinking. “He has done a marvelous job. If you have one person that gets through, the program is a success.”
Bowen-Slaven has similar experiences in her drug court. She recalls early on thinking that a person wasn’t going to last.
“They turned out to be the superstar of the program,” she said. “I have learned to keep an open mind.”
“Sometimes, people surprise you,” Squiller said. “Nobody is good at predicting … how someone is going to do.”
The people involved in the program invest a lot, and Bowen-Slaven insisted there is payback. It is very expensive to house someone in jail. And the program can also turn a person who has been a drain on the system into a productive worker, someone who pays taxes and enjoys giving back to the community for the chances they have been given.