Special Bd. of Aldermen — 02/27/2017 Page 2
covered by the drug court, either the federal grant funding or through the state allocation. The steering committee
has secured money for security deposits for housing. We have a fund that purchases incentives for people as
rewards in the drug court. We have been able to get a scholarship fund at the community college so that some of
our participants are able to access their higher education. We are community members. There’s seven of us:
myself, Mr. Monahan, who is the chair, Marylou Blaisdell, whom you all know, is with me here tonight, Torry Hack,
Jim Tollner, Jay Leonard, are all members of the steering committee.
What we would like to do tonight is tell you how the drug court works from the inside. Alderman Tencza, who used
to be on the drug court team, has the best knowledge in this room about what it is like from the inside and what the
parameters are for people to participate. Also with us is Julie Christianson Collins. She is the coordinator hired to
coordinate the drug court, to keep the trains running on time to keep everybody on track. She is also here to
answer any questions. David can tell you what happens on a day-to-day basis.
Alderman Tencza
As Senator Gilmour mentioned, | was on the Drug Court Team when it started here in Nashua. Back in 2014 is
when it really got up and running. As part of that the whole team attended local and national trainings to be
prepared to implement the drug court model locally. We have some slides prepared. One of the things | wanted
to let everyone know is | think there’s misperception about drug court that drug court is appropriate for people who
are just starting off in the criminal justice system and who may need some extra services to ensure that they don’t
continue in the criminal justice system. The Drug Court model is actually the exact opposite of that. The model is
you take the most high risk offenders, you take the people who are in most need of drug treatment and try to get
them this intense supervision and intense judicial intervention so they are rehabilitated to the point where they are
not continuing to commit crimes in our community, they are healthier and we are all safer because of that. We
also have Tina Smart here tonight who is a lifelong resident of Nashua who is a graduate of the Drug Court
program. Tina will be able to speak a lot more eloquently about the impacts that drugs have on individuals who go
through the program.
| think the other thing to point out too is what the city is doing now with the Safe Station’s and the various other
programs, the Mayor's Opioid Task Force, is very complimentary to what the drug court is doing. It serves a
much different population thought. Why drug court? 80% of offenders abuse drugs or alcohol. Nearly 50% of
jail and prison inmates are clinically addicted, it’s these additions, the substance abuse that is bringing them
back into the criminal justice system. About 60 percent of the individuals arrested test positive for illicit drugs,
and 60 to 80 percent of drug abusers commit a new crime after release from incarceration. Folks who are
addicted aren’t deterred by jail sentences. Sometimes a jail sentence is the easiest thing for them to do to get
off the street to get clean. It is easier to stay clean in jail. Once you are clean a lot of people have good
intentions about coming out and remaining clean, but it’s a much different situation when they are placed back
into the communities, back into the environments that led them to commit crimes and do drugs. | don’t think
anyone would argue there’s not a need for intense supervision especially now in our communities.
This is a participant, not from Nashua, in a drug court. You will see a booking photo of her. There is another
picture at the end of her completion of drug court later on in the presentation. The Drug court model ensures
compliance with treatment, significantly lower treatment dropout rates compared with non-judicially supervised
treatment. The way the drug court works is once someone pleas into drug court, it is typically someone who is
going to serve a state prison sentence, meaning a sentence longer than 12 months at the House of Correction.
They are going to go to the state prison in Concord or Berlin if they are a man. If they are a woman, they are
going to go to the state prison in Goffstown for now. They are going to serve these sentences because they
have been through the system so much because they are committing not necessarily petty crimes but
essentially non-violent crimes, but they are committing them all the time. The people who we see have their
names in the paper for third-strike thefts over and over and over again or burglaries, a lot of property crimes,
drug possession, things like that.
