Conn. Budget Cuts Impact Drug Courts, Treatment July 3, 2003
News Summary
Experts say the prison population and related costs will increase in Connecticut as the state cuts drug courts, treatment programs, and alternative-to-prison programs to address its budget crisis, the Associated Press reported June 28.With the state facing an estimated $1-billion deficit this fiscal year, and the legislature failing to pass a new tax-and-spending plan, the Judicial Branch, the Department of Correction, the Board of Parole, and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services have begun cutting staff and funding related to first-time, nonviolent drug offenders.
But legislators, drug counselors, attorneys, judges, and prison officials said the cuts will cost the state more in the long run because treatment programs and alternatives to prison for first-time offenders are much cheaper to run compared to incarceration.
"In my opinion, by default we end up incarcerating too many people whose main problem is drug and alcohol dependency," said state Rep. Mike Lawlor (D-East Haven), co-chairman of the legislature's Judiciary Committee. "The system is really overwhelmed with problems it wasn't designed to solve."
A 2002 Brown University study on the effect of treatment in Connecticut prisons found that offenders provided with addiction treatment were less likely to have repeat arrests. The study also showed that treatment and other alternative programs provided considerable savings to taxpayers compared to prison costs.
Currently, a group of lawmakers are pushing a bill called "Building Bridges." It would increase drug treatment for offenders and provide alternatives to prison for parole and probation violators.
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