This court in East Pierce County will help treat those struggling with substance use
Bonney Lake Municipal Court will soon provide services it hasn’t offered before.
The court received a $395,293 grant from the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts in October 2021 to provide therapeutic court services for people who have substance use disorders or behavioral health needs.
The court handles misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors in Bonney Lake, Eatonville, South Prairie and Sumner. Court administrator Kathy Seymour said services like this are “very limited.”
“Our goal is to start this on Feb. 14,” Seymour said.
The grant will provide $217,681 for personnel salaries and benefits, $11,235 for staff equipment and training, $147,790 for treatment services, and $18,587 for other participant services.
Seymour said the services will operate similarly to community court programs that already exist in other courts.
Municipal Court Judge Joanna Daniels said courts in places such as Olympia and Spokane already offer therapeutic court services.
“Statistics nationwide show that the recidivism rate is quite low for people that have actually successfully completed the therapeutic court program,” Daniels said.
And in Pierce County District Court, as of October 2018, the Drug Addiction Reduction Team Court had 72.5 percent of participants who went through the program and maintained law abiding behavior, according to the county’s website.
“... research proves utilizing evidence-based practices to change behavior is more cost efficient and has better success rates at reducing recidivism than incarceration,” the website says.
Bonney Lake’s program will have case managers who will oversee, review and assess things that are happening in the program, Seymour said. The managers will also help determine the type of treatment a person should receive, she said.
Daniels said the process for the program is still a work in progress. However, they are anticipating that the prosecutor will be the “initial gatekeeper” and decide if a person should receive services based on their criminal history and facts surrounding their current case.
The prosecutor would notify the case manager and see if they agree with the prosecutor’s opinion, Daniels said. The defense attorney would notify their client, who will then decide if they are interested in participating.
Daniels said if the client agrees, they would enter a stipulated order of continuance — an agreement with the court that says the prosecutor will dismiss the charges if the participant meets various conditions and that the participant waives their right to a speedy trial.
“The individual now isn’t going to be referred to as the defendant anymore,” Daniels said. “We’re going to call them the participant because ... we’re trying to get away from that punitive tone of things.”
The person would have to make an appointment for a substance use or behavioral health evaluation, Daniels said. Then, the case manager would assist the person by giving references and referrals to receive treatment.
“They have to meet these timelines and then they have to come back to court and show that they’ve done what they were supposed to do,” Daniels said. “It’s sort of a piecemeal process.”
If a person does not successfully complete the program, the prosecutor would ask the court to revoke the stipulated order of continuance, Daniels said. The person would have to return to their regular court calendar and face the consequences, she said, which generally means they’d be sentenced on the original charges.
Details such as the specific types of treatment the court will be able to offer as well as the number of times people must appear in the courtroom have yet to be finalized, Seymour said. In addition to mental health and substance use treatment, the court will help participants get their GEDs, put together resumes and find employment.
“I personally have been interested in this type of a court for a long time,” Daniels said. “Our community could really benefit from something like this.”
The grant stemmed from a Senate bill the state legislature passed in 2021, Seymour said. Senate Bill 5476 is in response to the State v. Blake decision, which ruled that the state’s simple drug possession law was unconstitutional.
Funding for the therapeutic court services program will only last until summer 2023.
“We hope that it’ll be extended,” Seymour said.
This story was originally published January 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
