From the Omaha World-Herald:
Published Thursday
March 3, 2005
New use proposed for Norfolk facility
BY MARTHA STODDARD
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN - Norfolk State Sen. Mike Flood proposed tackling two problems at once Wednesday by turning the Norfolk Regional Center into an inpatient methamphetamine treatment center for nonviolent offenders.
Such a center could help Nebraska deal with the growing scourge of meth, he said.
It also would provide jobs for regional center staff who lose their positions as the state's mental health reform progresses.
A reform plan approved last year calls for closing the Norfolk and Hastings regional centers as psychiatric hospitals.
The Hastings facility has found new life as the home of a program for people with both developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. The facility also has a substance abuse program for juveniles and residential treatment for adults.
Flood described a similar plan for the Norfolk center to members of the Appropriations Committee. His plan would make use of about 105 beds.
"We have a choice in Madison County whether we want to be proactive and part of these reforms or whether we want to lay down and say 'over my dead body,'" he said.
Flood offered the proposal during testimony about Legislative Bill 539, introduced by State Sen. Kermit Brashear of Omaha.
The bill would appropriate money for substance abuse treatment of adults charged with felony drug crimes. The original bill called for $5.1 million per year. Brashear said the total could be reduced to $3.7 million because other funds could help.
Treating drug and alcohol abuse is a key part of efforts to keep nonviolent offenders out of prison, Brashear said.
Fees charged to people on probation and parole will help fund another part of the effort - increased supervision and community services to teach new skills.
In the long run, Brashear said, substance abuse treatment and other community services will reduce the numbers of people in prison and prevent the state from having to spend more than $85 million to build a new prison.
He cautioned that fiscal results will not be immediate but said results from other states show that the approach can be effective.
"We're not the first people to the party," Brashear said. "This is a long-term project with long-term goals."
Kevin Piske, a psychologist at the Norfolk center, said Flood's proposal would fit with the broader effort to treat drug offenders.
Studies have shown that offenders who go through treatment programs have a 25 percent chance of getting in trouble with the law again. That compares with 80 percent or more among untreated drug offenders, Piske said.
Norfolk Regional Center staff already are familiar with methamphetamine's effects, he said. About a quarter of the patients at Norfolk have meth addictions along with mental illnesses.
David Wegner, interim state probation administrator, said he wasn't familiar with Flood's proposal. But he said that meth treatment can be difficult and that inpatient treatment might be something to look at.
Flood did not have a cost for his proposal. But based on experience from Wyoming, inpatient treatment could cost about $69 per day, he said. Imprisonment at the Nebraska State Penitentiary costs about $76 per day.
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©2005 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved.
This is a great idea -- except for one thing. The money is for for people convicted of felony drug crimes. When are they going to realize, if more treatment were available, there would be fewer felonies??? Most of the forgeries, car break-ins, burglaries, etc. are drug-related. People stealing sh*t to sell for dope money or trade for dope. That was Nick's problem — but because the first time he was locked up, they didn't do anything about his drug problem, he got out and went right back to what he was doing. They could have saved themselves $60,000+ if the system didn't have its head up its ass. But what can you expect in a Republican state?
posted by decemberx 11:31 AM[edit]
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