The City of Indianola will reportedly be one of only three municipalities in the state to conduct a municipal misdemeanor intervention court.
The expectation of the program’s deviser and the coordinator is that it will address the issues surrounding people battling addictions and accused of misdemeanor infractions before they become felons.
Assisted by Brown & Associates’ President, Dr. Adrian Brown, Municipal Court Judge Kuykendall Horne-Murry has been diligently working towards getting the program operational for more than a year and the court is near ready to begin servicing local clients.
As part of the mandatory process, the duo, along with Carver Randle Jr., who was hired as the intervention court’s coordinator, met with the state Supreme Court’s Administrative Office of Courts in Jackson recently to discuss policies and procedures and more. “We visited them for training purposes to talk about requirements (and) reporting,” Randle said.
He said the session centered on budgeting, deadlines and policies. “The things you would pretty much need in order to get off of the ground,” he said, “And this is on the state side, we still have to do the DOJ training.”
Since that convening, Randle has put together a policies and procedures manual, which he has presented to Horne-Murry for initial review before sending it on to the state AOC for final approval. He updated the city leaders on Monday night as to the program’s progress.
Randle said previously this type of program was referred to as a drug court, but he asserts that the new model—intervention court—has a more expansive objective.
He implied that the term “drug court” is outdated because the municipal intervention program deals with more than just drug addiction-related misdemeanors.
Randle outlined the intake process as so, “It starts with a participant being placed under arrest for a drug or alcohol-related crime.”
He noted that crimes involving violence are disqualifiers and added that there are basically two ways that a person can be brought into the program.
They can be brought before the traditional court and referred to the intervention program. “Or, you take the same, where they come in and plead guilty, get a suspended sentence and go through the process,” he said.
He said once the process is successfully completed, the participants’ charges are dismissed and the related record is expunged. “It’s like a non-adjudication in the felony sense,” he said.
In his position as coordinator, it is up to Randle to perform the initial assessments; however, he acknowledged that the final selection process would involve the entire intervention court team, which consists of the prosecuting attorney and public defender, plus input from law enforcement officers with the judge making the definitive decision.
“We’ll just kind of get together and decide collectively and at the end the judge will ultimately make the choice as to whether they enter or not enter,” Randle said.
In addition to the court personnel, he said the group will also be partnering with mental health officials, substance abuse counselors and other persons to tackle the individual’s needs. “The purpose is to address the whole person,” said Randle.
He mentioned poverty, mental health issues and other factors associated with the addictions as driving factors and said they all needed to be attended to. “And that’s the purpose of having everybody involved,” he said.
Their aim is to address the whole person. “We want to really rehabilitate. If you don’t deal with the issue, you’re going to have that same person,” Randle said.
He asserted that incarceration only inhibits their access to the substance because once they are released they return to their old habits.
Inclusion in the program will embrace educational concerns such as if a participant needs to acquire a GED, if they need help getting to and from sessions, unemployment assistance, physical health concerns, plus the individual’s economic situation. “We want to try to put as little on them as possible and let them concentrate on the road to recovery,” said Randle.
He said the intake process will determine if the individual needs residential treatment service or outpatient treatment.
He said the individual’s overall treatment would include counseling, addiction group meetings, and random drug testing.
He added that another goal is to limit sanctions as much as possible.
“We want to try to steer as clear from incarceration as much as we can, we want to do things like community service.” Randle said they only want to use jail time as a last alternative. “Of course, the very last option is for them to be removed,” he said.
Randle said house arrest could also be a possible sanction.
“We may increase their reporting time, we may tighten the curfew, because typically in this program curfews are levied.” Randle said nothing is set in stone. “I am still in the policies and procedures and handbook phase,” he said.
Randle stated if removal from the program became the only option, the participant would simply leave the program and be returned to the traditional criminal justice system as they would if they had not been in the program.
In addition to all of the benefits to the participant, Randle asserted that the program aids the public’s safety and also saves money.
“It’s been proven through statistics that these courts, I would probably say 35 to 40 percent, reduce recidivism. It lessens the chance that they will be back through the system,” he said.
Randle said his observance of and experiences with the Fourth District drug courts has made a believer out of him as to what positive effects these type programs are capable of accomplishing.
He praised Judge Margaret Carey-McCray and her efforts in that area. And applauded Horne-Murry for initiating the local intervention court.
Randle added, “It gave me an opportunity to come back home and to be a part of something in my community to try to make a difference.” He acknowledged that the success of the program would have to be an ongoing community effort. “Everybody can do something,” he said.
Although the program has strict rules and policies regarding the participant’s privacy, Randle said he will constantly be seeking out persons within the community to assist and possibly volunteer in some capacity.
Randle spent the last 11 years of his 26-year law enforcement career as a field officer (formerly known as a parole officer) for the Mississippi Department of Corrections where he supervised and managed hundreds of individuals and cases, which he says was good preparation for his new position as court coordinator.
