Wyoming's drug-court system needs better recordkeeping, particularly in measuring client success rates, a new audit concludes.

The Associated Press reported July 28 that an independent audit concluded that the drug courts lacked a consistent data-reporting system, and the head of the Wyoming Department of Health said that such a system would be developed.

"Many persons we interviewed believe that drug courts are effective, but without clear definitions of success and adequate statewide data, we can neither confirm nor refute this perception," the Legislative Service Office (LSO) audit report said. An LSO analysis of drug-court records found that about 30 percent of graduates were later rearrested.

Brent Sherard, director of the health department, said a new case-management system that took effect July 1 should improve tracking of drug-court clients. The case-management system will let judges and case workers in the drug-court system monitor treatment compliance, drug-test results, and client involvement with law enforcement, said Steve Gilmore, director of the Wyoming Substance Abuse Division.

"I think the drug courts will have much more immediate access to individual client information, treatment that they're going through, success rates, as well as failures, and be able to impose the appropriate rewards as well as sanctions on those clients," Gilmore said.