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Mission Programs, Population, and Georgraphy Profile
Barnstable Action for New Directions (BAND) is a coalition of the Barnstable County District Attorney, Barnstable County Probation, Judge Joseph J. Reardon of the First District Court of Barnstable, Community Corrections and the Gosnold Treatment Center formed to create a Drug Court beginning January 1, 2002. Drug Court is an alternative to incarceration and integrates substance abuse treatment, sanctions and incentives with case processing to place nonviolent drug-involved defendants in judicially supervised habilitation programs. The drug court concept is a significant departure from traditional court practice.
Mission
To improve the quality of life in Barnstable County by reducing drug use and recidivist crime by providing the convicted substance abuser with an opportunity to maintain a normal and positive lifestyle as an alternative to incarceration in such a way that minimizes the cost to the criminal justice system without increasing the risk to the community.
Programs, Population and Geography
Program involvement requires that clients be at the drug-testing sites a minimum of three times per week and drug court once a week. Clients may also be required to visit other community service providers as part of their treatment plan. Failure to meet the requirements of the treatment plan will result in the issuance of a bench warrant, dismissal from the program and incarceration.
Barnstable County's first drug court will be in the First District, which serves the towns of Sandwich, Barnstable and Yarmouth. If successful, it will be reproduced in the Second and Third Districts. Clients will be non-violent repeat substance abusers. Pat Stewart, clerk in the First District reports approximately 4500 criminal cases per year, of which 5% or 225 would be eligible to participate in BAND. Judge Joseph J. Reardon estimates that of these, sixty individuals would actually qualify for and participate in BAND.
Profile
Members of the coalition will provide client services as in-kind contributions. Private insurance or Mass Health will cover most drug testing costs. There is no funding for transportation at this time. We are seeking funding in the amount of $2,500 to assist those clients who have a demonstrated need for transportation. This represents one month's projected transportation cost. The Provisional Transportation component will consist of (1) bus passes for appropriate Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority routes (2) CCRTA B-Bus vouchers and (3) private transportation using a per trip taxi voucher system. Gosnold will administer the initial intake evaluation and Community Corrections will administer the bus/voucher system .
Maureen Rischitelli, Director of Barnstable County Community Corrections program, states that the overriding problem facing a number of potential clients of the BAND Drug Court program is transportation. One in ten individuals responding to the most recent Cape Cod transportation survey, The Human Condition, 2001 report no access to transportation, public or private. The most common reasons for "travel resulting in hardship", are getting to jobs and to medical or dental appointments, chiropractic care or to other social service offices. Clients will be encouraged to provide their own transportation if at all possible. Family, friends or employers may be willing to help. Clients who are employed and for whom public transportation is feasible can afford the cost of public transportation. Subsidized transportation is needed for those clients who have no access to private transportation or for whom public transportation is unfeasible or inaccessible, all or part of the time. Public transportation on Cape Cod is limited in routes, numbers of runs and the times of the runs. If clients are employed, counseling and drug testing sessions are scheduled after work hours and may last beyond the time of the late bus. These clients can get themselves to their appointments but need assistance to get home. If the client cannot access public transportation, transportation by B-Bus or private taxi must be provided. Many clients will manage their own transportation needs but may need assistance in the event of an emergency. The difference between success and failure in the BAND drug court may be access to reliable transportation.
Barnstable County spends approximately $30,000 per year to incarcerate a convicted drug abuser. Alternative sentencing programs average $5,000 per capita per year. Successful participation in and completion of drug court will save the taxpayers $25,000 per offender over the 12 month duration of a drug court sentence.
All BAND clients will undergo an intake procedure during which a number of areas, including transportation needs will be assessed. An estimated 50 to 75% of the BAND clients will be on Mass Health. Mass Health subsidizes transportation costs to and from some medical appointments and intake will determine which clients are eligible for assistance. Grant applications are being prepared for Federal Drug Court Grant for FY2003. However, Federal funding will not become available until October 1, 2002 if the grant application is successful