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Drug
Court Observations
Blount County Drug Court's motto is
"Time for Change". Change
was
definitely
evident as I observed in two sessions this fall.
Change was evident in the
attitude of the judge. Change
was evident as community programs tied in with
the court. Change was evident
based on what clients had to say about group
meetings. Change was evident
in the courtroom set up and program.
Change
was evident as each client talked about trying times but also talked about
being successful through those trying times. Change is evident because of
the professionals and community organizations that had a new approach in
dealing with the judicial system.
Change was the focus here. Putting
offenders in jail was not helping
clients in the real world when they got out.
Programs such as these help the
client to stay away from deviant behavior and substance abuse.
The program
that each client must go through was divided up into four phases.
Each phase
was divided into steps that clients had to complete. The average time
estimated to complete these phases is four months. Clients presented steps
or
phases to Circuit Court Judge D. Kelly Thomas Jr. every Monday at 8:00 am,
after their cases are reviewed by the judge, the treatment staff, the drug
court staff, and probation officers in a 7:30 meeting. Certificates are
presented to those who complete a phase, and an honorary breakfast is
given
once a month to honor those who have completed a phase of a program.
In addition to going to drug court hearings every Monday, the
program
also required many other elements. Clients
were drug tested randomly at the
hearings. Clients often have
to do community service. By
observing, I
noticed that clients were assigned four hours of community service for
each
step that they missed or something they did.
For instance, a client who
missed two meetings had to do eight hours community service, or a client
who
forgot to contact someone would do four hours community service.
Most of the
community service was done at Goodwill.
Clients who tested positive for drug
screens or were driving on a revoked licenses were required to serve
forty-eight hours jail time. The
jail time takes effectively immediately
after the clients' hearing but is significantly reduced based on the time
a
client would normally spend in jail if not in drug court.
Also, clients must participate
in group meetings. Offenders
in Phase 1
have to go to a group meeting twice a week.
Clients in Phase 2 have to go to
a group meeting every other week, whereas clients in Phase 3 have to go to
group meetings once every three weeks.
These programs not only deal
immediately with the addiction, but they also focus on getting the clients
life together. Clients are
often effected in all areas of their life by
their addiction that the group and phases deal with.
Clients must be eighteen years
or older to be in the program. Currently,
the youngest member is eighteen years old, whereas the oldest member of
the
program is fifty-six years old. Clients
come from a variety of ethnic
backgrounds, but primarily Caucasian.
Some clients seem to be business
professionals and in the upper class, while other professionals appear to
be
homeless or in the lowest class. However,
they all interacted freely with
one another. Cliques between
races, classes, or age by no means seemed
apparent. They seemed eager
to participate in the program and happy to have
someone helped them get their lives back on track.
Clients present to the judge on
Monday mornings how their progress is
going. The judge often asks
about family situations. Families
either offer
support to the client which the judge encourages, or they may be a temptation
because they are dealing with substance abuse problems themselves.
The judge
often recommends the family comes to counseling with the clients and keeps
a
close eye on the living situation. He
apologized once for not paying close
enough attention to one client's living situation.
As the evaluator told me,
he had problems abusing his wife. He
realized it was a bad situation and was
either going to move into a halfway house or jail to avoid that.
The judge
recommended that he moved to jail because he had no transportation to the
programs. Family is an
important issue through drug court. Through
the
client rehabilitating, the client's family problems may disappear as well.
Clients also have to make a change in the career or school world.
Their
offense may have cost them a job or caused them to get kicked out of
school.
The judged continuously encouraged one client to stay in the night class
he
enrolled in and arrange another time for his group meetings. Most clients in
phase two are to be working. The
judge always asks how the job is going.
The job is important for financial income but sometimes the job schedule
is
having to be rearranged to make time for drug court hearings and meetings.
Clients' progress is obvious
through observation. One guy,
who was in
the program since the beginning in June of 1999, recently became the first
graduate. Not only did he
complete all of the requirements, but now he
decided to be a spokesperson to local agencies about the drug court and
how
effective it is. One client
is interested in being a mentor for the Juvenile
Drug Court. Many clients go
throughout the program with all negative drug
screens which means they stopped their substance abuse under motivation.
Many clients talk about problems but say how they can overcome the rough
times, which they probably learned in group meetings (client empowerment).
Many clients seem to socialize with all the others and applaud when a
client
does something extraordinary. This
implies that they are making social
connections and helping each other through the rough times, much like a
support network. Clients seem
to make better living arrangements, get back
into school, and/or find a good, firm job.
Through the program,
professionals, and community partnerships, clients are changing their life
around.
The clients cannot change their
life around without the help of the
professionals and community outreach programs.
The professionals of the
judicial system reach out to the community to form partnerships to help
the
clients. The community
reaches out to the judicial system and offers many
services to offenders that jail could never offer.
The judge reaches out to the
clients. This judge is no
ordinary judge.
He does not act all stiff and firm as most judge have the reputation of
doing. He is a friend to the
client. He is a counselor,
advisor, mentor,
and friend. He always finds
an area or several areas to compliment a client
on for the progress he or she made. He
does this every time with everyone
that comes before him. He
asks and follows up on different aspects of the
clients' lives such as their family, living arrangements, transportation,
job, or education. He advises
clients' on what they need to do and where
they need to go. He reassures
them that everything will be fine if clients
just think before they do, accept reality, keep moving forward, and stay
focus on the long-term benefits of having a stable life rather than the
short-term enjoyment of drug use. He
even presented one client with a key
that said "Commitment" to help remind her to stay committed
through the ups
and downs of life.
Obviously, the judge is not the
only one who helps the clients turn their
lives around. A panel of
professionals, whose positions I was unable to
determine, also helps the clients. They
often offer advice to the judge
during the session on what the client should or should not do in a certain
situation. I believe District
Attorneys sit on the panel as well as
probation officers. A clerk
and a police officer are present in the
courtroom as in a usual court setting.
A public defender sits behind the
client to represent them for legal rights and issues, but usually makes
little or no commentary.
In addition to these people, the drug court establishes partnerships both
formal and informal to help clients in all aspects.
Their main partnership
is one with Blount Memorial Hospital.
They charge $6,000 for a client to go
through the program, whereas the usual charge is $30,000 dollars.
The
programs offered are in substance abuse, anger management, stress
management,
and art therapy. There
is also an informal partnership with Goodwill where
many clients complete their community service.
Some clients stay in halfway
houses, which offers closer supervision.
There are none in Blount County but
the professionals in Knoxville help transport the clients who stay there
to
programs and court hearings. The
change has occurred that the community
programs are now working hand in hand with the judicial system
professionals
for the clients best interest, whereas they used to be separate.
The program overall seems to be
changing lives and very effective into
getting the client on the right track.
A few minor problems are yet to be
worked out. Sometimes, many
clients show up for one hearing. Because
there
are more clients, the review board takes longer than thirty minutes to
review. Therefore, the court
may start twenty minutes after eight.
The
court then goes over 9:00 and puts all regular court sessions behind the
rest
of the day. The court is
talking about having another session at 4:00 in the
afternoon. Some clients have
to bring their children because childcare can
be an issue. Another major
problem is transportation. Many
clients have
their license revoked and have a hard time finding a way to the programs
and
court hearings. In addition
to these, Blount County has no halfway houses to
offer to clients. There are
some in Knoxville, however, that clients may
use.
A time for change is most
definitely right. Community
agencies getting
involved with the justice system are working so well that the trend of
drug
courts is catching on nationwide. People
with a problem are truly getting
the help they need to get back on the right track, and at the same time
taxpayers are saving money by not paying for jail costs.
There is a change
in the way the community programs relate to the justice system.
There is a
change in the way professionals, especially the judge, deals with the
clients. There is a change in
the clients who are able to get their life
back on track in all aspects because of the structure of the program, the
willingness of their attitude, and all the professionals and community
program workers who give their life to helping non-violent drug offenders
of
all races, gender, age, and class.
Oct.
1, 2000
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