Court diverts addicts to a better alternative

By LIBBY AVERYT

State District Judge Sandra Watts is responsible for a small slice of success in our criminal justice system. Only one person out of the 38 graduates from her divert court, or drug court, for alcoholics and addicts has been re-arrested since the program began two years ago.

That gives Judge Watts’ graduates a recidivism rate of about 3 percent, which is shockingly below the 60 percent of released convicts nationwide who are arrested again.

Judge Watts, who celebrated the program’s two-year anniversary on Tuesday, says that successfully treating inmates with drug and alcohol problems is the key to reducing crime.

“Eighty percent of what I do on a daily basis in district court is drug related,” she said. “Burglary, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle . . .It’s all dealing with having to get the money to do the drugs.”

Watts on Tuesday told the divert court participants, their families and supporters that 80 percent of the people incarcerated have had some type of drug or alcohol problem.  “We are using brick and mortar to address an addiction problem and it’s not working,” she said.

But Watts’ strategy is. Drug court is held each Tuesday at 6 p.m. with help of the district attorney’s office, probation department and jail.  The program is voluntary, and, in many ways, more difficult for the accused than allowing a criminal case to work its way through the system with probation as the likely outcome.

Phase One, the orientation phase, involves regular drug testing, a 9 p.m.  curfew and meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

Phase Two, the Relapse Prevention Program, involves testing, a 10 p.m.  curfew and more meetings.

In Phase Three, the Transition Phase, the drug testing continues but curfew is lifted. Participants in the one-year program also must pay a $1,000 fee and get a job. Those who don’t comply with the rules find themselves starting the phases over, sitting in jail for 24 hours, or a week or longer, or being kicked out of the program altogether.

Those who succeed can carry on with their lives with no criminal conviction on their record.

Judge Watts also has worked with city officials to get city fines dismissed for successful participants.

“I didn’t know what my life was going to be,” said a 17-year-old high-school student who graduated from the program Tuesday. “It showed me how to become a man, and now, thanks to this program, I have a second chance.”

Another participant who is in the third phase after a few relapses said he remembered reading a Caller-Times article about divert court.  “I thought, ‘That’s great for those who get caught,’ “ he said. “A week later, I was driving and I saw lights behind me and it wasn’t a carnival or a parade.  “Now I’m waking up every day and thanking God for this. I live each day as my last and I try to be the best that I can be.”

A graduate of the program, who was stoned at his first court appearance, described how his life had changed since getting clean. He has a good job working in the oil industry and has been promoted twice.  “I have a little boy that I love. I have a family that I love,” he said, “That’s why I do this.”

Judge Watts hands each graduate a laminated congratulatory card with a quote by an unknown author:  “There is no person walking the face of the earth who demonstrates more courage, dignity and integrity, on a daily basis, than an addict in recovery.”

In return, she receives hugs, cards from grateful family members and thanks for believing in a person when no one else did.

State Rep. Vilma Luna, D-Corpus Christi, encouraged the participants to continue their commitment to help boost support for such programs statewide. The federal government is cutting $15 million for drug and alcohol counseling for inmates, she said, which could affect funding for efforts such as Watts’. Proving the program’s success helps her argue for funding.

The Legislature recently mandated drug court programs for counties of 500,000 people or more, although no such law exists for smaller counties.

But Watts’ actions have drawn attention from nearby rural communities, with representatives from Alice and San Patricio County attending last week’s meeting.

While some other local judges have supported Watts by presiding over divert court when she is unavailable, no one has adopted the same commitment in their own courts.

I’m sure there aren’t enough eligible cases in Nueces County to warrant all judges establishing a divert court, but becoming more interested and supportive of the program surely would benefit our criminal justice system.

It’s time other judges followed Watts’ lead.

Libby Averyt is vice president and editor of the Caller-Times.

Phone: 886-3681; e-mail: averytl@ caller.com.

Article online at:

http://www.caller.com/ccct/opinion_columnists/article/0,1641,CCCT_843_45 72100,00.html