“How are you doing?” Rarely does a judge speak in such a convivial manner to a perpetrator, but that’s exactly what happens every Thursday morning in Charlottesville-Albemarle Drug Court, a treatment and rehabilitation program for nonviolent felons who are also addicts.
 Jeff Gould administers the local "drug court," an alternative to jail time for convicted illegal drug addicts that includes drug testing, addiction treatment and weekly check-ins with a judge. |
As an alternative to incarceration, addicts can pay a fee and undergo a rigorous 12-24 month program. The first phase requires drug testing five days a week and treatment from Region Ten up to four times weekly. Subjects must also report to Circuit Court Judge Edward Hogshire once a week.
“What are you doing for the holidays?” Hogshire asked almost every client who came before him Wednesday, November 22 (court was held a day early because of Thanksgiving). “Are you staying clean and sober? Are you staying away from people, places and things?” If felons fail a urine test or miss an appointment, they can end up in jail. Three Drug Court participants are currently serving time. The program places particular stress on finding gainful employment—failure to do so merits community service.
“Every minute of the day is accounted for,” explains Jeff Gould, the Drug Court administrator for the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. There are currently 47 people in the local program, with 31 on the docket last week.
Virginia has 12 such programs across the state, a fraction of the approximately 1,700 nationwide. “The program was started 16 years ago in Florida because judges were seeing the same faces over and over again,” says Gould. At 9 years old, the local drug court is the second oldest in Virginia.
“We save lives, we save money and we bring people back as contributing members of society,” Gould says, offering as proof a 11.5 percent recidivism rate, compared to 29 percent in the state as a whole, as well as the $5,000 annual cost per person in contrast to the $30,000 per person cost for prison.
Back in court, Judge Hogshire listened to one of the Drug Court’s two officers give a female participant a glowing assessment. “Good report. Keep it up,” he urged her and then smiled. “See you next time.”