New drug program to help non-violent addicts get back to society

By Liz Forrest
MILFORD — Non-violent drug offenders in Pike County will soon have an alternative to automatic jail time.
An intensive supervision program called the Pike Criminal Addiction Response Effort, or PCARE, as it will be known, is jointly funded with $175,000 from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) and $35,029 from the county. PCARE aims to reduce the high cost of incarceration, as well as the financial and social toll of incarceration on the offender and offender's family.
The PCCD confirmed the grant award via a letter dated July 1, but only received on Sept. 27.
According to a funding application provided by the Pike County Commissioners, the program will “seek to protect the community, hold offenders accountable for their actions, provide for victim restitution, provide drug and alcohol treatment services to level three/four offenders, assist offenders with life skills, reduce recidivism and ultimately reduce costs associated with the incarceration of offenders.”
A new probation officer and case manager will need to be hired. But the program is expected to cut incarceration costs by approximately $3,000 per offender for a jail term of 90 days. Over the last three years, 42 Pike County residents committed “either a drug offense or an offense regularly associated with drug addiction,” according to the application. Of 197 probation or parole violators in the county in 2015, 119 involved a drug-related offense.
The program would also provide $74,000 for detox and rehabilitation services authorized through the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission, to help a budget stretched to the pointing of breaking. Program funding will “allow more individuals to remain in services at an in-patient level of care and receive the appropriate needed treatment to enable a better foundation for their recovery," the application states.

Who would be eligible?

The list of requirements for program participation is long. But Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin said individuals must live in the county, have some level of addiction, admit guilt, and express a desire to enter the program.
The individuals will then be screened to find additional violations or other potential issues that could prove detrimental to their success in the mandatory six-month term of the program, which can be extended if needed.
During that period, individuals must submit to intensive monitoring by their probation officer and case manager. This may include electronic monitoring and house arrest, as well as meeting at least twice per week with the probation officer, case manager or treatment counselor. Interaction with the court would occur only at sentencing, or if the individual violates the terms of the program.
County Commissioner Matt Osterberg said programs with this level of intensive interaction between offenders and counselors have shown a reduction in recidivism. Editor's note: This story has been updated.