Miami Circuit Court is set to start a program this September to help methamphetamine abusers heal without jail time.
“Sixty-eight percent of drug cases in circuit court are related to meth,” said Chief Probation Officer Susan Rice. “A large portion of them sent to prison because the prosecutor felt like that was the only way they could get treatment.”
A release from the probation office stated $185,000 from the Indiana Judicial Center was “earmarked to provide intensive community based treatment and supervision services to felony offenders facing prison time as a result of offenses related to the use and/or dealing of methamphetamine.”
In 2013, Miami County had 49 clandestine lab incidents handled by Indiana law enforcement, enough to rank eighth most in the state out of 91 other counties.
Miami County Prosecutor Bruce Embrey previously said there “no programs in Miami County for methamphetamine. Period.” A recent conviction involving 33-year-old meth dealer Jeffrey Johnson during a May 22 hearing, had him sent to prison when he could have qualified for probation or home detention. Embrey said Johnsons “best chance for rehabilitation” and “best opportunity to be a productive citizen” was in prison.
Embrey said Wednesday he was “thrilled” with the grant.
“We’ve needed a treatment program for a long time,” he said, adding that meth was “different from any other addiction.”
“It’s very important we have a program specifically designed for meth,” Embrey said. “It has to be long term, has to be rigorous hopefully. We’ll be able to accomplish it.”
The release stated that probation, Miami County Community Corrections Program, and Four County Counseling Center would “be collaborating to provide services to approximately 10 offenders over the course of the next 18 months.”
Rice said the offenders served would be newly convicted ones.
“Offenders selected to participate in the program will be offered an array of services including intensive substance abuse treatment, home based client services, employment services, and drug screening,” the release stated. “Additionally, all clients will serve a minimum of one year on electronic monitoring and they will meet with community corrections caseworkers and probation officers on a regular basis.”
Rice said she had been working with Laurie Robertson, head of Four County Counseling Center’s addictions program, in applying for the grant and deciding criteria.
“We’re working on a screening process,” Rice said. “They’ll have to go through assessments with Four County, probation, community corrections and a team (of others),” she said. “And they have to fill out an application.”
She said that although there was treatment available in the county to such offenders, it was difficult for offenders to get into it because they were unemployed or underemployed.
“We were concerned the lack of treatment in the community for some of our serious drug offenders,” she said. “We saw an opportunity to possibly get some funding to help with that.”
According to the release, Miami County was one of 32 jurisdictions to apply for grant funding.
“Initially, it was estimated there would be 8 grants awarded in amounts not to exceed $300,000,” the release stated. “Due to the large number of applications received, the Judicial Center chose fund 12 grant applications in smaller amounts.”
She said they would “absolutely” try to keep the program going in the future. The general assembly awarded the IJC with the funds in 2013 for use in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
“We hope that it’s successful. We hope the money will be there again,” Rice said of the upcoming program. “This was a onetime thing through the legislature so hopefully in the next session they’ll appropriate more money to be used. But you never know with the legislature.”