COUNTY GETS OFFENDER RE-ENTRY GRANT

Chester County received a federal grant for a re-entry program for prisoners with controlled substance addictions.

The announcement of the three year/$1.2 million grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), was made by Kimberly Bowman, Chester County's Director of Drug and Alcohol Services at last Wednesday's Drug Court graduation, in which 10 participants successfully completed the 1-to-2 year program for non-violent drug offenders to not only provide structure and discipline in leading a drug-free life, but to also afford the opportunity for their cases to be expunged upon completion.

The program will benefit the "Treatment Court" program, which is similar to Drug Court. However, participants in that program are under the county's version of the "Restrictive Intermediate Punishment" probationary program for convicted offenders with a substance abuse program. Specifically, the grant would aid inmate being released from Chester County Prison and allow them to be placed into in-patient treatment programs rather than keep them lodged at the prison.

The Treatment Court, like many other programs across the county and the Commonwealth that help those with substance abuse problems, has been suffering under the state budget impasse. Bowman told the attendees – both graduates and active participants in the Drug Court program – to "reach out to their elected officials and tell them your stories" about the impact on Drug Court and other programs that have help reduce the recidivism rates and the prison population.

"This is not only the right thing," Bowman said of the treatment programs, "but it pays for itself." She also noted that there are some inmates awaiting parole from CCP as the county awaits funding from Harrisburg for these rehab programs.

The county programs are not the only ones impacted by the budget standoff in Harrisburg. Treatment providers, such as Gaudenzia House, have also felt the pinch of a lack of state funding.

Mike Harle, the director of treatment services for Gaudenzia in West Goshen, noted that the group hasn't been forced to stop services yet, however they have taken other actions to try and maintain their services.

Those actions include the layoff of non-essential personnel within the next 30 days.

"We are very good stewards of our programs," Harle said, which has enabled Gaudenzia to secure loans to aid in funding the programs. However, he noted, smaller programs across Pennsylvania may not have access to lines of credit, which could force those organizations into making serious decisions that could impact their programs.

Harle did remain confident that services would be the last thing to face cuts, should it get to that point.