By Trent Rosser
The 181st District Courtroom was standing room only last Friday. There were extra chairs brought in for the crowd that showed up. Just before the doors opened to let everyone in, there was a meeting with Judge John Board. He was going over the case load with advisors and counselors from the probation dept and other groups like drug and alcohol counselor and mental health counselors, and people from the V.A. They go over every single case before the doors even open to let everyone in. They advise each person that is to appear before the Judge Board that day and recommend the outcome and give updates on what the participant has or has not done since the previous visit.
Approximately 10 to 12 years ago Accountability Court was formed. It has evolved into the more appropriately named “Drug Court” Amarillo drug court serves 3 different counties: Potter, Randall, and Armstrong. Defendants who are on probation or being sentenced to probation can enroll in the drug court if they qualify. All qualifications are done with the probation department. The program can last from 12 to 16 months. The time in the program varies on the defendant’s participation and abstinence from alcohol and drugs. Some are required to wear ankle bracelets called SCRAM which measures not only alcohol intake, but blood pressure, and other vitals of the body. It also comes with a GPS so the defendants whereabouts are known throughout the week.
Back in the foyer, the crowd slowly started to trickle in. You could feel the anxiety in some as they paced back and forth. You could also see that a couple were excited and eager to get inside. When the doors opened, three people were instructed to sit in front of the crowd. These three were graduating today. After everyone was settled in, Robert Byrd, (the bailiff of the court) stood and loudly exclaimed “All Rise!” Everyone stood as Judge Board walked in. He told everyone to be seated and Drug Court was officially in session. One by one, the Judge called each defendant to the front of the courtroom. They walked past the attorney tables and stood right up to the Judge’s desk. They did not sit at the stand or even look in the jury box (this is where the other advisors were seated at). Judge Board would start talking with them and asking how their week went. He would touch up on some thing that they might have had trouble in the past or congratulate them on a new job. After spending a couple of minutes talking with them he would set their next appt and then they would leave. Certain individuals would receive a token from Judge Board and some would turn over tokens back to him. Later, when I was talking to Judge Board, he educated me on the tokens. If a defendant does everything that they are supposed to do between the court dates, they will receive a token. After a certain number of tokens collected, they can turn them back in to have community service hours deducted and in certain cases, their fines can be deducted as well.
But it is now always rewarding. There was one defendant that ended up going to jail for the weekend. If the defendant is not compliant with what Judge Board had express in the prior court appearance, there will be consequences. It is not always jail time. It could be having to write an essay or more community service hours. Judge Board did say “Studies show that, in jail in particular, anything more than a week is counterproductive. So, we try to keep the jail time thing as small as we can and see if that gets the response that we want. We want to make an impression on them, but we do not want to crush their spirit.” He went on to say that “Drug courts have been studied now, for over twenty years, and just really shown to be more successful than any other kind of program. At least in the criminal justice system.”
The reward of becoming clean and sober are not just reserved for the participants either. Judge Board volunteered to be a part of this program. He went to a program at the National Judicial College in Reno, NV. “Part of that program, we went and watched a drug court in Reno and I never seen that before and it made an impression on me. There was a woman that was seated beside me that was a participant in the program and she had this packet in her hands and you could tell that she was just so excited to be there and anxious to get up there and talk to the judge like the people do here. And I was very curious to know, what is going on with this woman’s life. The story was, she had been a horrible addict and lost her kids at one point and been homeless and everything else, and she had just graduated from paralegal school. She could not wait to show the judge that paralegal certificate. You could tell that she really wanted him to be impressed, and he was! I thought “Wow” wouldn’t it be awesome to be involved where people wanting to come see me, as opposed to see me. And that got me interested.” I watched the proceedings and noticed that while Judge Board talked with the participates, he did not look down upon them as some others do. He talked with them like a couple of old friends who have not seen each other in a while. He seemed to geniality care.
At the end of Drug Court that day, Judge Board congratulated the three participants that were graduating. One by one they stood before the judge and he went over everything that happened while they were participating. He then presented them with a small plaque and they each made a speech to the remaining participant and everyone else in the court room. All three praised the Drug Court for helping them get sober. Shortly after that, a large cake was brought out and the court room celebrated with everyone. Even the ones that were going to jail for the weekend, were able to get a slice of cake and rejoice with the graduates.
Judge Board said that “I know that there are critics out there and the criticism is they call these programs a “Hug a Thug” and they think you are being soft on crime and I would just say that the people in these programs are the opposite of being soft on crime. These folks have to do much more than a person on regular probation would have to do, in terms of all the commitments that we created for them. We are trying to be appropriate on crime, be smart on crime, as opposed to just throw everybody in jail and throw away the key. I really do appreciate all the support that we have in the community”. Judge Board would not take all the credit for the success of Amarillo Drug Court, he stated that “Natalie White gives me some much information on the participant’s, she’s the bedrock of this thing. Everyone in here plays a role.”
Leaving the courthouse, I realized that court, jail time, probation, all of that can be scary. Judge Board and the rest of the crew at the drug court are helping people for the better. They are not judging someone due to their drug or alcohol problem. They are working on a solution to help each one that steps up to his bench. With the help of numerous groups in Amarillo, like the Downtown Women's Center, and Another Chance House. There is hope.
If you or someone you know has a problem with alcohol or drugs, please seek help. There are resources to help and you do not have to deal with it alone. Call your local A.A. or N.A. group.
