“It’s not reinventing the wheel,” Ruppert said. “Courts have had this for awhile and follows the same general pattern.”
Ruppert created the docket in an effort to fight rampant heroin epidemic in the court’s jurisdiction that encompasses Franklin, Carlisle and Franklin Twp. to help users overcome their addiction and become productive citizens.
He said he’s seen people who have been in prison for two years that get out and are quickly back on heroin because it’s such a strong addiction. Ruppert said in 2014, 21 people died from overdoses within the court’s jurisdiction. He said the court’s jurisdiction is about 12 percent of Warren County’s population but had 60 percent of the county’s heroin overdose deaths.
Drug courts are judicially supervised court dockets that handle the cases of non-violent, substance-abusing offenders. Typically, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, probation and law enforcement officials, drug treatment centers and social service and mental health agencies work together to help the offenders in their recovery and restoration process.
Drug courts have been the subject of intense research and debate over the years, and there are some 2,800 of them across the U.S. Advocates of drug courts say they reduce crime and save money.
According to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, 75 percent of drug court graduates remain arrest-free at least two years after leaving the program. And for every $1 invested in a drug court, taxpayers save as much as $3.36 in avoided criminal justice costs, according to the nonprofit advocacy group. Those cost savings reflect reduced prison costs, reduced revolving-door arrests and trials, and reduced victimization.
Most drug courts in Ohio are for felony offenders.
Municipal judges in Butler and Warren counties have estimated that 80 percent of the cases that come before them are rooted in drug addiction.
Ruppert said the Franklin intensive probation docket is a hybrid of other courts that were observed in Butler, Montgomery, and Hocking counties, as well as attending seminars, reviewing probation/treatment contracts from across the nation, and doing a lot of reading and research of the topics in the area.
“If a person can get through the 18-month to two-year program and stay clean, statistics tell us that there is an 80 percent chance they’ll stay out of jail,” Ruppert said. “It’s an intensive program, but it has to be to get them through. But the biggest thing is keeping them from dying and restoring them to becoming useful in life, being productive citizens and hopefully reducing crime.”
He said a handful of people are being evaluated for a Vivitrol program. Vivitrol is a prescription drug that acts as a “blocker” attaching to certain opioid receptors in the brain and blocking the pleasurable feelings associated with taking opioids. Ruppert expects to add one to two more people a week to receive that treatment and could have as many as 50 in the first year to 18 months of the new docket.
The court declined to allow a Journal-News reporter to observe a session with a group of probationers, citing the probationer’s federal HIPPA rights to privacy while in treatment. No probationers accepted a Journal-News request via the court for an interview.
Magistrate Gregory Demos presides over this docket and the court’s civil docket. Demos, as the magistrate, is the “stick” to ensure the compliance of probationers and could send people to jail for noncompliance, a probation violation. Demos, along with the support staff and probation officers, work with probationers who are wanting to get their lives back on track by undergoing the three-phase program which could range from 19 to 27 months.
There are a number of requirements. Just in the three- to five-month first phase to complete that include weekly meetings with Demos and the probation officer, complying with all treatment services and other services directed by the probation department, weekly random and witnessed drug tests, attending Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, getting a sponsor, and 60 consecutive days of clean drug/alcohol tests.
A probationer’s first session is with Demos and court staff to go over each and every paragraph of the eight-page contract, which is initialed by the probationer, and the rules and regulations of being on probation. In addition, there is a drug test as well as education and counseling sessions and follow up meetings.
The contract also requires probationers to waive various Constitutional rights; to have one primary care physician and one authorized pharmacy to obtain prescriptions; to have the court approve whatever medications are prescribed unless it is in an emergency situation; have court approval to use any over the counter medications of any kind, and consent to have the magistrate preside over their case and to be bound with his decisions and orders, including the imposition of sanctions.
Phase two of the program can last six to eight months, while phase three can last 10 to 14 months, according the eight-page contract the probationer signs with the court.
Demos said only one of 15 probationers who appeared were not interested in the program after the docket’s first two days.
“These people (who agree to enter the program) are very eager to accept the the help,” Demos said. “… It’s not for everyone and the court won’t be able to help everyone. but it does present an opportunity, and I hope the vast number (of probationers) accept the opportunity. I really think it’s going to be successful.”
Staff Writer Lauren Pack contributed to this report.
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