Mark Bejar graduates from the Bexar County Drug Court Program. Photo Credit: Eileen Pace (TPR)
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The largest group of former drug offenders in Bexar County’s history graduated from the Drug Court Rehabilitation Program yesterday. TPR’s Eileen Pace reports.
August 9, 2010 · Each of the 65 drug offenders who graduated Thursday went through an intensely supervised rehabilitation program that required them to keep a job for a year and to get a G.E.D. if they had not finished high school. The drug rehabilitation program has graduated nearly 600 former drug users since the drug court was established, with a low recidivism rate of 8 percent for felony cases and 20 percent for misdemeanors. Drug court Judge Ernie Glenn calls it "smart Justice."
“Yeah, it’s very good, especially when you consider that, according to the T.C.U. statistics, statewide, that if you take someone who’s a drug addict and you put him in the penitentiary, that 97 percent will recidivate,” Glenn said. “It’s successful for many reasons. I think it has a lot to do with supervision from the probation office, the treatment providers, with the fact that we have a staff that can show them that we not only care about them but that we can be firm with them too,” Glenn said, “and that we will keep working with them while they make changes in their lives.”
The drug court is grant-funded, but it saves money in several ways. For example, 48 babies have been born to graduates, and county statistics indicate each baby born drug-free can save taxpayers up to a million dollars in medical and related costs.
For graduate Terry Holmes, it was the promise of a new life on the way that made it easier for him to kick the habit.
“When I first started Drug Court, it was when I found out I had my first child on the way,” Holmes said. “And even though it’s not part of the Drug Court, that’s really what helped me the most. I knew I wanted to be there for my child.”
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