Drug Court Established in Pushmataha & Choctaw Counties

May 25, 2011

It is official, Pushmataha County and Choctaw County have received a grant to establish their own drug court systems.  As soon as Judge Jana Wallace found out that the grant was approved she began the process of getting the ground work started to get drug court up and running in both counties.   Through hard work and dedication, Wallace was able to put together a drug court team and is happy to say drug court is up and running in both counties.

Drug Court is a district court supervised substance abuse treatment program that offers nonviolent, felony offenders an opportunity to return to the community as productive members of society instead of being incarcerated in prison.  Through this court system they will try to treat addicts and change their behaviors and slow the traditional revolving door of drug offenders into the criminal justice system.

Drug Court is made up of a team that includes a district court judge, district attorney, defense counsel, coordinator, substance abuse treatment provider, and law enforcement. The team puts aside traditional adversarial roles to focus on the best interests of the participant. Every Drug Court’s success depends upon each member of the team approaching the participant in a non-adversarial, problem-solving way.

Although Drug Court has become a common thing in Oklahoma, no two Drug Court programs are exactly alike.  They must address the unique needs of the jurisdiction in which they exist, taking into account local resources, political realities, and the traits of the participants.  State statutes set certain parameters for Drug Court operations, and state administrators monitor compliance with these laws.

Drug Courts create an environment of clear and certain rules and expect exact compliance. Unlike regular probation where supervision duties are turned over to state corrections officials, in Drug Court the court and team are the hands-on supervisors. The rules are absolute, easy to understand, and, most important, within the individual’s control to comply.  For example, the participant either appears in court or does not, attends treatment sessions or does not; drug tests reveal drug use or abstinence.  Performance is immediately and directly communicated to the judge, who rewards progress or penalizes noncompliance. 

Tax payers also benefit from this program by the thousands of dollars the state saves each year.  Sending one person to prison costs the state $16,000.00 per year versus $5,000.00 per person in drug court per year.   Participants themselves must pay a supervision and urinalysis fee each month.  They also have many requirements to meet each week to be in compliance with the program, such as hold down a job or do community service, meet with treatment twice a week, attend AA/NA meetings.  Drug court is very invasive in the lives of each participant, if conducted correctly, not ply do they have all the above requirements bit also Compliance Officer Shelly Hendrix searches their homes, cars any technology they may have and makes sure they are home by their 8 o'clock curfew.

District Attorney, Mark Matloff and Judge Jana Wallace have shown to be adamant about pursuing drug offenses and utilizing drug court when possible.  Hopefully this will soon be reflected in our community.