INC NEWS - Budget plan would hurt local courts (H-S)

[Newman Aguiar]

Budget plan would hurt local courts

By John Stevenson, The Herald-Sun
May 8, 2005   8:31 pm 

DURHAM -- James Leak credits Durham's drug treatment court for allowing him
to become a self-respecting nursing assistant rather than the homeless
cocaine addict he was five years ago. 

But under a 2005-07 Senate budget presented last week, $4 million would be
cut from the judicial system's already depleted coffers, and three
trend-setting treatment courts in Durham -- including the one that helped
Leak -- might have to shut down. 

The budget also threatens one of four positions in a local family court,
along with Durham's Sentencing Services Program and other judicial
functions. The sentencing program claims to save $1.6 million a year by
coming up with alternatives to prison for many low-level, nonviolent
criminals. 

The proposed funding cuts are part of an effort to plug a billion-dollar gap
in the state budget. 

Leak doesn't claim to have a global perspective on such things. He just
knows what happened to him. 

"I had a cocaine problem. Period," said the 40-year-old, admitting he was
addicted for two decades and committed numerous crimes to support his
$300-a-day habit. 

"Then the drug court came to me as a rescue from God," he told The
Herald-Sun last week. "I took advantage of it. I am a miracle. Drug court
helped me stay focused. It taught me responsibility and showed me that
people cared about me. No matter what I was going through, they were there
for me." 

Leak will mark his fourth anniversary of being drug-free on Sept. 5. 

"Life is getting better," he said. "Each day is an adventure. We truly need
drug court. It turned my whole life around." 

Durham is one of only a handful of communities in the state that has drug
treatment courts. There is one for adults, another for youths and a third
that takes a family-oriented approach. 

The annual operating budget for all three is about $300,000. 

A stick-and-carrot method is used. Successful participants receive praise
from their peers and from judges. But the penalties, including jail, are
stiff for those who disobey the rules and fail to stay clean. 

In an interview last week, Director Peter Baker said 35 to 40 participants
are in the adult program at any given time, while 15 to 20 people each are
in the youth and family components. 

It costs $2,000 to $2,500 a year to treat a participant, compared to an
annual tab of $24,000 for imprisoning someone, according to Baker. 

"There is an old saying that you can pay now or you can pay later," Baker
added. "But in the situation we are talking about, it's pay now or pay now.
We must pay now for people to be in drug court or pay now to incarcerate
them." 

Baker said the proposed budget cuts are worrisome for more than one reason. 

"My concern is bigger than drug court, bigger than dollars and cents," he
said. "My concern is that we as a state are going in the wrong direction as
regards the way we respond to people in need." 

The proposed 2005-07 budget does not mark the first time the treatment
courts have been financially threatened. The same thing happened four years
ago, but necessary funding was restored at the last minute. 

Baker is more apprehensive now than he was then, however. 

"We are facing a longer shot than ever before," he said. "I am not
optimistic." 

District Court Judge Richard G. Chaney, who presides over Durham's adult
treatment court, said the Senate was misguided in its fiscal approach. 

"It's short-sighted to think they will save money by eliminating this
program," he told The Herald-Sun. "Without it, these people will go to
prison. It costs a lot more to send them to prison. The savings are
imaginary. There aren't any savings. Also, we're not just talking about
money. We're talking about people's lives. Many of them lost everything and
are basically living in the streets. Treatment courts restore their
self-respect. You can't measure that in terms of dollars." 

Another district court judge, Marcia Morey, said she had 600 cases in
traffic court on Thursday. Dozens of people were told to come back another
day because one judge and a few clerks couldn't deal with them all, she
said. 

"What we have is already inadequate," Morey griped. "It's irresponsible to
take away any of our resources. It's reprehensible." 

District Court Judge Craig Brown said essentially the same thing. 

"The judicial system has received no substantial additional resources in
half a decade," he noted. "We cannot keep Band-Aiding a system that is
strained and about to break. There is no fat in our court budget. 

"Another important point is that we can't just punish people," said Brown.
"We've got to help people, too. But they're taking away the most creative
items in our toolbox for doing that." 

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