Special Bd. of Aldermen — 02/27/2017 Page 4
Community Counsel are the therapists that are part of our team. There are also case managers that are part
of the team. Program coordinators are part of the team. Judge Jacalyn Colburn is the drug court judge here in
Nashua.
If someone is compliant during the week, they get an incentive. The incentive can be something as small as
just a round of applause from everyone who attends the drug court that week, which for some people, is a little
pat on the back, a little pick me up and its helpful for them to get through their next week without using. There
are other incentives that have been developed as small as a candy bar. Once they have four weeks of full
compliance, they are incentivized to choose from other incentives such as gift cards that have been donated.
Everyone who goes through drug court has to pay dues of $20 a week to help defray the costs of the program.
The big prize used to be $80 off your dues which a lot of people appreciated. They are not big, but as Peg
Gilmour mentioned there are a lot of other ways that the drug court is able to help participants going through
the program with scholarships or potentially funds for housing.
In order to graduate drug court, someone has to have all of their restitution paid off for all of their underlying
charges and any loans to the drug court has to be paid back as well. One of the things that case managers do
is they work with folks on general life skils. Things like how to get an apartment or a job or pay down your debt
which is helpful to them.
These are someone the numbers that the Hillsborough County Adult Drug Court has seen in Nashua since it
started back in 2014: 115 participants — 66% male, 34% female, 36 graduates — 67% male, 33% female; 89%
of graduates employed at graduation; 44% of graduates participated in an educational or vocational activity
(HISET classes, Nashua Community College or other vocational training). The program is generally about 18
months long. 18 months is probably on the lower end of things, some may stay longer for about two years. As
they go through the program, their requirements aren't as stringent if they are doing well throughout the
program.
The mug shot of the woman at the beginning of the presentation, this is her at her drug court graduation. One
of the things they say about drug court is it really is a family court because so many of the folks who come
through do have family members. A lot of them are estranged from their family members when they start drug
court because of all the issues that they have gone through and the trust issues and the lack of trust that has
developed between them and their families. Once they get clean and start doing what they are supposed to
be doing, to their family credit, trust builds back up and they are able to reconnect with parents, children and
have that part of their life back which is great.
There is currently about 50 people in drug court right now. The drug court was originally funded by federal
grants. One of them was a grant by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The other was a grant by from the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. Recently the state has decided that they are going to
fund drug court throughout the state so there is some uniformity among the counties. Part of this was spurred
because Hillsborough County would not commit to funding the drug court here in Hillsborough County. Luckily
the state did step us, and now we have a program that we are hoping to expand to about 75 participants which
would be great because, again, there is definitely a need.
| was in front of the judge the other day. She said there’s a wait list of about 20 people to get into drug court
just here in Nashua. There’s also been a push because every county now has a drug court. It’s easier to
transfer. If someone is arrested in Nashua but they live in Manchester or out in Rockingham County, it’s easy
to transfer them out there and put them in the county from where they are from. We're also hoping to
strengthen gender-specific treatment to better serve female participants. In Merrimack County all of their
treatment is done separately. The men are treated in one location and the women are treated in another
location. Other than court, | don’t think they interact much which is probably a best practice.
Finally, another way that the city has been helpful and the drug court can support what the city is doing is
there’s a lot of participants who once they get done the program want to help and give back to the community
