Tag Archives: Drug Courts Problems

Drug Court Participants Mandated To Narcotics Anonymous Sent To Prison

Posted on by
5

Many people do not realize with all the puff pieces on Drug Courts, how many participants actually fail in the program. Drug courts results are only based on the people who completed the entire program. These men who were sent to prison that were in the Drug Court program will not be counted, because they did not complete it in it’s entirety. This is not a proper way to see drug courts success or failure.

This article also points out that many people participating in Drug Court are still committing crimes and using drugs while in the program. They do not need to be mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings where many vulnerable members of society including minors attend. They end up in our parks and playgrounds in Holly Hill Fl.

Two who failed drug court sent to prison

Brett Ellis/Fremont Tribune | Posted: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 8:33 am

Two people who failed to complete drug court were sentenced to prison on Monday.
Judge Geoffrey Hall sentenced 29-year-old Ricardo Mendez of Fremont to 20 months to 5 years in prison for possession of methamphetamine, a Class IV felony.Mendez admitted to selling bath salts to fellow drug court participants and using synthetic marijuana while he was in the program.

“He turned drug court into a criminal enterprise,” Deputy Dodge County Attorney Mark Boyer said. “I can’t think of a much worse thing to do in drug court than trying to drag other people in the program down the drain.”
Mendez said he accepted responsibility for his actions but said the people he sold bath salts to chose to make those purchases.Hall, though, said Mendez was a “devious leader” who had a bad influence on other drug court participants.

“I believe your conduct in drug court is the worst kind possible because you took other people down with you,” Hall said. Hall also sentenced 20-year-old Zackery Carlstrom of Fremont to 20 months to 5 years in prison for terroristic threats, a Class IV felony. Boyer said Carlstrom reported using methamphetamine, cocaine, alcohol and marijuana while in drug court. Carlstrom also absconded twice from the program. “You had some successes,” Hall said. “However, the failures far outweigh those successes.” Hall also encouraged Carlstrom to use his talents in positive ways in the future. “Grow a backbone,” the judge said. “Do the hard right instead of the easy wrong.” Also on Monday, 26-year-old Anthony Martinez of Fremont was sentenced to 20 months to 5 years for terroristic threats and a year in prison for third-degree domestic assault, a Class I misdemeanor. The sentences will run consecutive to each other.

Martinez also was sentenced to 90 days in jail for criminal mischief, a Class II misdemeanor, and that will run concurrent with the other sentence. Hall also ordered Martinez to pay $400 in restitution.Chief Deputy Dodge County Attorney Stacey Hultquist asked for the maximum sentence based Martinez’s criminal history, which includes multiple arrests every year since 2004.

“This is a person who cannot be a productive person in our society and continues to get in trouble,” Hultquist said.
Martinez apologized to the female victim and her family. “That’s not how I was raised,” he said. “I know better than that.” Hall said probation was not an option for Martinez because of his criminal history.

http://fremonttribune.com/news/local/two-who-failed-drug-court-sent-to-prison/article_7eaca096-6799-11e1-b8d5-001871e3ce6c.html?mode=comments

Drug Court Judge Amanda F. Williams Quits over Judicial Misconduct Charges

Posted on by
8

Drug Court participants can breath a sigh of relief now that mean and cruel Judge Amanda F. Williams has quit over numerous allegations. This shows how Drug Courts abuse their power. She was the wicked witch of the Drug Courts.
She drove Lindsey Dills to attempt suicide in jail.

Judge Amanda F. Williams

Linddsey Dills was one of her Drug Court victims. An unbelievable story of abuse.

http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2012-03-01/story/new-life-woman-middle-former-glynn-judges-ethics-case

Very Tough Love article goes into great detail about the living hell she created for Lindsey Dills and other Drug Court participants.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/430/very-tough-love

Judge Amanda Williams quitting before hearing on judicial misconduct charges
January 10, 2012 – 7:51am

Amanda F. Williams is accused of judicial misconduct.

By Terry Dickson
BRUNSWICK – Chief Superior Court Judge Amanda F. Williams, who once sentenced a man to two weeks in jail for challenging a drug test, will leave office Jan. 2 just nine days before a deadline to answer numerous charges of judicial misconduct, including tyrannical behavior.

Williams, 64, advised Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal of her intent to resign after 21 years on the bench.

In return for the Judicial Qualifications Commission dropping charges against her, Williams agreed not seek another judicial office or senior judge status.

That prohibition is immediate and permanent, the consent order says.

By virtue of his seniority, Superior Court Judge E.M. Wilkes III will replace Williams as chief judge of the five-county Brunswick Judicial Circuit.

The charges against Williams included that she lied to investigators, a crime under Georgia law.

If Williams had not resigned, the commission would have conducted a hearing on all 14 counts and could have sought her removal from the bench.

Last week, the commission amended its Nov. 9 complaint in which it accused her of tyrannical behavior, especially in running her drug court, the state’s largest.

Williams had imposed indefinite jail terms on drug court defendants, deprived some of contact with their lawyers and jailed one man 14 days for questioning a positive drug test, which the commission said he had the absolute right to do without fear of reprisal.

The commission also accused her of giving favorable treatment to the family members of friends and those of high social standing by admitting them into drug court although they did not qualify.

snip

The commission complaint also accused Williams of nepotism for allowing family members to practice before her. In one case, Williams warned parties they would be subject to contempt should they fail to pay a $1,000 fee to her daughter, Frances Dyal, within 30 days. Dyal was acting as a court-appointed guardian in the case and in others that were before Williams.

Other charges include:

– Ordering that drug court defendant Lindsey Dills be held in solitary confinement with no mail, phones calls and no visitors except her drug counselor. While Dills was in jail, she attempted suicide.

– Ordering drug court defendants held indefinitely without a hearing.

– Sending defendant Lisa Branch to Bridges of Hope, a remote residential drug treatment center between Waycross and Homerville, with orders Branch have contact with no one but her drug counselor for a year. The commission said Williams’ action deprived Branch of her right to see her lawyer.

– Approving court motions prepared by her husband and daughter without the court record showing any notice of a conflict of interest.

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2011-12-20/story/judge-amanda-williams-quitting-hearing-judicial-misconduct-charges

GAO Report States Almost Half Of Drug Courts Do Not Decrease Recidivism

Posted on by
3

Washington, D.C. – The Government Accountability Office last week released a report, in which it finds that only 18 of 32 drug courts – or just over 50% – showed statistically significant reductions in recidivism among participants. That is, almost half of drug courts do not reduce re-arrest rates of their participants below the rates of people who went through the normal criminal justice process.

“The message here is: enter a drug court at your own risk. The chance that you’ll enter a drug court that might help you avoid getting arrested again is about 50-50, the equivalent of a coin toss,” said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director in Southern California for the Drug Policy Alliance. “Clearly, the popularity that drug courts enjoy is not supported by the evidence.”

The GAO’s findings echo those of the Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE), the longest and largest ever study of drug courts. Funded by the National Institute of Justice, MADCE recently reported a re-arrest rate for drug court participants that was 10 percentage points below that of the comparison group, but that the difference was not statistically significant. This means that the study effectively found no difference in re-arrest rates between the groups, as the decrease may be the result of chance.

“Drug courts have actually helped to increase, not decrease, the criminal justice entanglement of people who struggle with drugs and have failed to provide quality treatment,” said Daniel Abrahamson, Drug Policy Alliance’s Director of Legal Affairs. “Only sentencing reform and expanded investment in health approaches to drug use will stem the flow of drug arrests and incarceration. The feel-good nature of drug courts hasn’t translated into results. U.S. drug policy must be based not on good intentions, but on robust, reliable research.”

The Drug Policy Alliance this year released Drug Courts are Not the Answer: Toward a Health-Centered Approach to Drug Use, which found that drug courts have not demonstrated cost savings, reduced incarceration, or improved public safety; leave many people worse off for trying; and have actually made the criminal justice system more punitive toward addiction – not less. For example, people who struggle the most with a drug problem are more likely to be kicked out of a drug court and incarcerated. Although relapse is a common and predictable occurrence during treatment, drug courts often punish relapse with jail time.

The GAO’s study is available at: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-53. Results from MADCE are available at: http://www.urban.org/publications/412353.html.

Tony Newman 646-335-5384 or Margaret Dooley-Sammuli 213-291 4190

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2011/12/government-study-finds-nearly-half-drug-courts-do-not-reduce-recidivism