Freeborn County hopes to become the first rural county in the state to use a special accelerated court program for habitual drug and alcohol offenders – and if it works, if could clear up room in the court system.

Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Freeborn County hopes to become the first rural county in the state to use a special accelerated court program for habitual drug and alcohol offenders – and if it works, if could clear up room in the court system.

The county board Tuesday authorized Tom Jensen of the court services department to apply for a $10,000 planning grant to pursue what’s commonly known as a &uot;drug court.&uot;

The program is designed for certain substance offenders who are willing to cooperate. If they agree, they plead guilty to the crime and are placed on a heavily supervised form of probation with treatment programs, regular appearances before a judge and immediate jail time if they fail to stay clean.

Violent or dangerous offenders would not be eligible. Jensen said the program is designed for habitual users who understand they have a problem and commit crimes to support their habit.

&uot;In theory, it’s going to give a little more room for the courts,&uot; said County Attorney Craig Nelson.

The $10,000 grant requires a $2,500 cash match from the county, which will come from reserves in the Court Services budget.

The only other county in Minnesota with a drug court is urban Hennepin County, Jensen said. The programs may be difficult in rural areas because there are many fewer offenders than in a large city.

&uot;We’re breaking new ground to try to do this in a rural county,&uot; Jensen said.

Albert Lea is fortunate to have all the resources needed to make the program work, Jensen said. The county has a jail, a sentence-to-service crew, a chemical-dependency treatment center

The planning grant will fund research to determine if the concept is feasible in Freeborn County. If the county decides to try the program, it can get help from more grants through the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Jensen said.