Offenders graduate to community

AUGUSTA -- Kennebec County Superior Court, where criminals usually find justice in the form of a jail sentence and prosecutors and defense attorneys do battle before a gavel-wielding judge, was a different place Friday afternoon.

The courtroom served as the site for a graduation ceremony for two local men, both convicted of crimes and both with histories of mental illness and/or substance abuse.

The two men are the first to complete an experimental court-sentencing program that gives participants lighter prison terms if they follow a program providing them treatment for mental illness and drug or alcohol problems as well as close monitoring and counseling.

Just as the courtroom was a different place Friday, with frequent applause breaking out and flowers decorating a table filled with deli meat, cheese and bottled water, District Attorney Evert Fowle said the two men, Floyd and Jim, are different men because of the new program.

"We've turned two lives around, from the abyss," Fowle said of the program's first two graduates. "For 21 years, I've incarcerated mentally ill people, without any alternative. Now, with the appropriate people, I have an alternative."

The Kennebec Journal agreed to identify the two men using only their first names.

Jim's crimes, Fowle said, included reckless conduct, assault, terrorizing, violation of bail conditions and operating under the influence. He had no prior criminal record, but easily could have been facing a couple years in jail for his crimes.

Instead, he served 78 days in jail and became one of the first participants in the new "Co-occurring Disorders Court."

Court officials, mental health advocates and volunteers, including Justice Nancy Mills, monitored Jim's progress closely, making sure he went to treatment sessions and asking if he needed any help on a weekly basis.

Mills proudly introduced Jim on Friday, noting his daughter had recently moved back in with him and he was attending classes at the University of Maine in Augusta, pursuing a bachelor's degree in business.

Floyd, Fowle said, has a long criminal history including his most recent charges of domestic assault and obstructing the reporting of a crime.

He could have been facing as many as five years in jail. Instead, he went through the program and now has two years of probation ahead of him, not jail time.

He has gotten back together with his wife, who accompanied him to court Friday, and has re-established a relationship with his daughter. He takes his elderly mother for groceries. And he was able to attend the funeral of his brother during a time when he likely would have been in prison if he had not been in the new program.

"He's a completely different person," Fowle said. "These two people are success stories of this program. I'm a true believer."

The court is known as Co-occurring Disorders Court because many people with mental illness also have problems with alcohol or drugs.

Floyd and Jim, each dressed in pressed shirts and ties, both declined to talk to reporters Friday.

The program is funded by a $500,000 Department of Justice grant, which Mills said should provide funding for two more years.

The funding allowed a case manager to be hired to work with participants in the program.

Mills said she hopes the state will expand the program to other courtrooms. She praised Chief Justice Leigh Saufley for supporting the experimental Kennebec County program.

Participants must plead guilty to be allowed into the program. They are given two sentences -- one with stiffer jail time if they don't stick with the program and another, lighter sentence if they stick with the program for at least a year and meet its many requirements, which include drug and alcohol testing.

Mills said the bail contract listing restrictions participants must comply with can be "pages and pages" long. Fowle noted Jim had 44 requirements he had to meet for the program.

Only one of 19 people to enter the program so far didn't follow its requirements, Fowle said, so that convict was removed from the program and is now serving about a four-year prison term in Cumberland County.

There is no restriction on what sort of crimes are committed for those admitted into the program. Mills said the 18 participants now in the program were convicted of crimes including unlawful sexual contact, operating under the influence, eluding an officer, robbery, theft, forgery, escape, drug possession, and criminal threatening.

Both Mills and Fowle have veto power to deny access to the program for any applicant, for any reason.

Mills noted the program could be a way to divert mentally ill people from prison. She said National Alliance for the Mentally Ill statistics indicate 25 percent of the nation's prisoners have mental illness, with that figure rising to 35 percent in Maine.

"The largest provider of mental health services in Maine is the Cumberland County Jail," Mills said. "It was clear we can't build enough jails in Maine if we don't do something else."

Mills wrapped up the court proceedings Friday by giving both Floyd and Jim certificates and keys marked with the day's date.

"The key is to let you know you continue to hold the key to your success," Mills said.

Reader Comments
Share your thoughts about this story.