Innovative court tackles drug use

Cindy Davis jokes that her life today is like a country song playing backward.

“I got my dog back, I got my kid back,” the Coeur d’Alene woman said. “I got my independence and self-sufficiency.”

She tries to have a sense of humor about it. But there isn’t a country song that could do justice to the way Davis used to live, before she realized that way of living was no longer an option.

She attributes her life today – and the relationship she has regained with her son after a 10-year absence – to Kootenai County Mental Health Drug Court. Davis, 42, was the third graduate of the program, an alternative to prison that addresses both drug addiction and mental illness.

“It’s such a drastic change from the way my life was before to the way my life is now,” said Davis, who slit her arms to the bone in a suicide attempt in 2000. “I can’t believe I was ever there to begin with.”

Twelve people have graduated from the program since the first commencement in January 2006. It will be a few more years before there are hard statistics to show the program’s success, but 1st District Judge John T. Mitchell said none of the program’s graduates has been caught committing a crime.

Kootenai County’s program was the second in the state. Now there are nine Mental Health Drug Court programs in Idaho, with two more in the planning stages, according to Norma Jaeger, statewide coordinator for drug court and mental health courts.

“Anything we can do to keep a mentally ill defendant out of prison is a huge savings – in terms of financially to the state and in humanitarian costs,” Jaeger said.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said he was initially skeptical of Mental Health Drug Court. But now Douglas is a supporter.

“I think it’s well-run,” he said. “I think it’s effective. I think there are those that are truly in need of that chance for rehabilitation.”

Jaeger said a mental health court for juvenile offenders will be piloted in eastern Idaho this summer.

In Kootenai County, the program may be expanded to serve those who commit misdemeanor offenses. Now it’s open to felons, though two misdemeanor offenders are in the program on a trial basis.

“We teach kids from a young age: Don’t steal and don’t misbehave,” Misdemeanor Probation Officer Mary Marano said. That’s the idea behind adding a mental health drug court for misdemeanor offenders, she said.

“If you can get them on a level before they commit a felony,” Marano said, “we’re that much better off.”

Tough standards enforced

Davis didn’t enter Mental Health Drug Court as a willing participant. It was an ultimatum from her probation officer: the program, or lockup for violating the terms of probation she was given for drug-related crimes.

She struggled during the first few months of the program, which has strict requirements, including multiple counseling and treatment sessions each week, attending daily 12-step meetings, homework assignments, random drug testing, etc. Participants are closely supervised and initially required to make weekly court appearances.

Coordinator Suzanne Witlicki said the weekly court appearances are a way to engage participants in the program and a chance to review their individual cases and progress. It also allows the judge to address problems and mete out punishment as soon as possible.

Participants who break the rules – for instance, miss a counseling appointment or don’t show for a court date – are sanctioned. Punishment ranges from serving time in jail to writing an essay and reading it before the other participants.

Every Thursday morning, Mitchell, probation officers, individual caseworkers and other professionals – 14 total – meet before court starts to discuss the progress of each participant.

At one point Davis, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was sent to jail as a sanction for missing a therapy session. While Davis was locked up, her mother was hospitalized and died.

“I messed up and I wasn’t there for her,” Davis said. “It finally clicked for me.”

After 18 months in the program, Davis graduated. She’s holding down two jobs – an associate at Pre-Paid Legal and cleaning upscale homes – and says she’s “enjoying the heck out of being a great mom and grandmother.”

She even has become an advocate for people who suffer from mental illness, speaking before community groups about her own struggles and to lobby for increased support and availability of treatment for those with mental illness.

Davis is thankful she got the chance to clean up her life.

“Judge Mitchell is my hero,” she said. “I just wish there were more judges inclined to rehabilitation, especially for people with mental illness.

“Jail isn’t rehab.”

Close bonds help participants

In the course of the program, Mitchell said he develops a relationship with each participant. He trusts them so much that he’s even offered use of his lake cabin as an incentive for them to stop smoking.

Mitchell has considered imposing a requirement that smokers in the program give up cigarettes. He cites a study that found people with addiction and mental illness, and who still smoke, are twice as likely to relapse as nonsmokers.

When a participant does relapse into drug use, Mitchell said it’s heart-breaking.

Typically, a judge sentences a defendant and doesn’t see him again unless he violates the terms of probation or commits another crime. Mitchell said the weekly contact with participants in Mental Health Drug Court creates an unusually close relationship between the judge and the defendant.

Adam Rebeck of Coeur d’Alene had been in and out of jail and state hospitals and says he couldn’t stop his drinking or drug habit until he entered the Mental Health Drug Court.

“The beauty of this program is it treats drug addiction and mental illness,” Rebeck said. “I heard voices … telling me, you will fail. It was a serious time in my life, but God was with me and I heard God’s voice, too.”

Rebeck graduated from the program last spring and has begun sharing his story of mental illness and addiction with the community.

“It really was a triumph over mental illness and drug addiction to graduate this program,” he said.

He is attending North Idaho College and hopes to get into the college’s architectural design program. The 25-year-old was recently a guest speaker at a Post Falls Chamber of Commerce event, sharing his story through the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Someone asked Rebeck who the most influential person in his life was, and he replied, “Judge Mitchell.”

“How could I ever stop doing this program?” Mitchell said. “I’m just incredibly proud. Every week you see someone do something they’ve never done before, whether it’s speaking in front of everybody or getting a job. It’s so cool.”