At 12 years of age, Renà Mimes took her first drink. That led to marijuana, heroin and finally crack cocaine. She had been in denial about her drug addiction all of her life. But on Feb. 19, 2006, her addiction caught up with her.
Mimes had gotten up early that day to make breakfast for her daughter, who was flying in from Texas to visit her. While making breakfast, Mimes decided to go around the corner and buy some crack. That’s when her life changed forever.
She was busted for possession. After one day in city jail, she was asked to go to drug court.
A case like Mimes’ typically would have been handled by a judge in Circuit Court. She would face probation or prison time, court costs and fines. But since she had never been in trouble and her charge was related to drug use – not distribution or sales – she was arranged to go to drug court. Drug Court Commissioner James Sullivan accepted her.
“I didn’t know what drug court was or what it was about,” said Mimes, now 54. “But if it wasn’t for drug court, I probably still would have been getting high, and at my age that would have killed me.”
Mimes now serves as president of the St. Louis Alumni City Drug Court Association. Today, she will be saluted for her commitment at a national conference for drug court professionals, along with other drug court graduates and activists.
Drug court is designed to redirect people arrested for non-violent alcohol and drug offenses. Instead of facing sentencing, participants are required to make frequent court appearances, undergo substance abuse treatment, keep a job or go to school, and submit to random drug testing.
It aims to give participants tools necessary to get into recovery, stay in recovery and lead a productive, crime-free life.
Those who break the rules or who are arrested on new charges while in the program are kicked out and face immediate sentencing on their original charges. But if they complete the program, the charges are dropped and their record is cleared.
Drug courts have focused on non-violent first-time offenders and those who have the best chance of beating their addictions and staying out of the criminal justice system. Most drug court participants were arrested for marijuana or cocaine possession.
The program takes at least 11 months, if all goes well. Sanctions for noncompliance range from community service to a few days in jail to being sent back to criminal court. If an individual does well in the program, he or she could get credits towards the $250 court fee or be placed early on the docket.
Missouri has 98 drug courts in operation (more per capita than any other state), with more than 2,700 people participating each year (and the number is growing). These are some 1,500 such programs across the country.
Participation in the program is voluntary. Initially people sign up to clear their record or to bypass jail, but then they wind up kicking their addiction, said drug court paralegal Matt Mahaffey, who handles about 270 drug court clients.
“I didn’t sign up to get the year off,” said H. Eastling, a drug court participant. “I’m ready to better myself.”
Eastling, 31, had a 15-year struggle with heroin before he found his way to drug court in April. He was arrested on a gun charge related to his drug addiction. His probation officer Roxanne Jolly looked at drug court as a better deal than other options.
“I’ve tried rehabilitation centers in the past, but they weren’t as successful,” Eastling said. “It feels different going to court and getting helped instead of getting punished.”
Although Eastling said he was hesitant about drug court at the beginning, he said he now looks forward to seeing the “drug court team,” which is made up of prosecutors, probation officers, public defenders, counselors and the commissioners.
“I’ve never had this many people in one program that is willing to work with a person,” Eastling said. “They don’t just brush you off, but they make you want to do right.”
The drug court system is proven to work, Sullivan said. According to a 2004 cost-benefit analysis, drug courts are cheaper (in the long run) than incarceration and probation. The recidivism rate for adult drug court graduates in St. Louis is 11 percent compared to 45 percent for those not in drug court, he said.
Jolly said she has seen the positive impact that drug court has had on several of her clients. “Every person I have worked with has said that they walk into court and expect good things to happen,” she said.
The first drug courts, initiated by former Jackson County Prosecutor and now U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), were created in response to increasing crime rates and prison overcrowding. Adult drug courts were so successful that juvenile courts decided the model could work for juvenile offenders as well. Juvenile drug courts gained in popularity and now include family drug courts that deal primarily with abuse and neglect cases.
St. Louis adult drug court has about 370 participants, while the juvenile court has 15 to 20.
One key component of drug court is the co-occurring docket that treats a person’s underlying mental illness, if there is one, as well as their drug addiction.
Since St. Louis Drug Court started in 1997, it has graduated more than 1,000 participants. Although participants in drug court are from all ages, races and backgrounds, between 75 and 80 percent of them are African Americans, according to Judge Sullivan.
Drug Court Prosecutor Rochelle Woodiest said she has seen everyone from schoolteachers to high school dropouts pass through the drug court system. The program has helped reconnect families and fulfill dreams such as going to college or getting a driver’s license after 10 years, she said.
“We consider it all a step towards recovering from their addiction and getting a hold of their lives,” Woodiest said.
Once Mimes got into drug court, she asked her Diversion Manager Stanley Dondle if she could go to a treatment center to help with her recovery. She didn’t realize how severe her addiction was until her first self-help meeting.
Mimes said, “That’s when I found out drug court was a blessing in my life.”
Getting clean meant changing her attitude and her friends. A lot of her new friends are from drug court, she said. She credits drug court for giving her a new beginning in life. With the help of the drug court team, she was able to kick her habit and become a better mother to her three daughters. She completed drug court in May 2007.
“I’m living proof of hope,” Mimes said.
For adult drug court information contact the Drug Court administrator at 314-589-6702. For juvenile and family drug court information contact the drug court coordinator at 314-641-8653.
For a complete schedule of conference events (May 29-31) or to register, visit www.nadcp.org.