New Hampshire Supreme Court Budget Eliminates Drug Court Program

By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepth NH

In May of this year, New Hampshire’s Drug Court celebrated its 1,000th graduate, a milestone for the recovery program that’s saved lives and helped people struggling with addiction hope for a better future.

But that could all be lost thanks to the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s new budget proposal that eliminates the entire treatment court system.

“It is a stunning move,” Retired Superior Court Chief Justice Tina Nadeau told InDepthNH.org. “I didn’t realize it was in danger.”

Nadeau and Retired Associate Superior Court Judge Jacalyn Colburn sent a letter to the Supreme Court this week urging the justices to put the treatment court money back into the budget.

“At a time when substance use and mental health needs are at an all-time high, your decision to defund treatment courts disregards a program that addresses those critical needs, and sets New Hampshire back decades,” Nadeau and Colburn wrote.

According to the letter, the decision to cut the funding was made without talking to any of the treatment court professionals or treatment court judges.

“Those professionals would tell you that in addition to returning offenders to the community as contributing members, treatment courts save money and reduce crime more successfully than any other available criminal justice response,” Nadeau and Colburn wrote.

The program costs the state about $15,000 per offender, while the costs to keep someone in prison is about $80,000 a year, Nadeau said. There are currently 300 people in the drug program currently, representing about $4.5 million. The Judicial Branch budget is more than $130 million. Balanced against that money are the numbers showing how well the program works, Nadeau said.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” she said.

According to Nadeau and Colburn’s letter, drug court graduates reoffend at a rate of 19 percent compared to offenders leaving prison who reoffend at a rate of at least 45 percent.

“Cutting funding for this necessary program will result in increased costs to the Judicial Branch to address repeat offenders,” Nadeau and Colburn wrote.

InDepthNH.org reached out to the Judicial Branch Wednesday, and was told there would be a response to queries by Thursday. That response did not materialize.

While the Supreme Court’s proposed budget removes the Drug Court altogether, it could come back. The efficiency budget is the first budget agencies submit as part of the budgeting process, though they do help shape the overall budget proposal Gov. Kelly Ayotte will bring to lawmakers this year.

The funding could make it back into the final budget proposal, but Nadeau and Colburn don’t want to see the program and the people in the program used as a bargaining chip.

“Even if you consider this approach to be politically expedient, there will be months of uncertainty in the interim. This uncertainty will likely cause current participants to struggle in the program, wondering whether it will remain available. Case managers, drug court coordinators and treatment providers will understandably consider leaving their jobs for more security. Prosecutors and defense attorneys will be reluctant to recommend any defendants for entry into the program, and the programs will fail, even if funding is ultimately restored,” Nadeau and Colburn wrote.

House Democrats, soon to be in the majority, are aware of the Supreme Court’s proposed cuts. A source told InDepthNH.org Democratic leadership wants to see the funding returned.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill (D-District 2) told InDepthNH.org she’s worried about the 300 people in the program now.

“I am particularly concerned about the approximately 300 participants whose sentences are conditioned on successful completion of treatment court. What happens to them if these programs disappear?” Liot Hill said. “I intend to look into this further. At a minimum, I believe the Judicial Branch owes the Legislature and the public a clear explanation of its decision and its consequences.”

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.