Mississippi, long known for having one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation, hit a corrections milestone of a different sort this month.
It registered its 10,000th graduate from drug courts.
Piloted in 1999 as an alternative to incarceration and gradually rolled out statewide, drug courts have proven to be beneficial for those who break the law due to their addiction and also to the taxpayers.
Instead of being locked up, those sentenced to drug court receive treatment for their addiction and steered toward being responsible, working citizens. Their progress is regularly monitored by the court, and if they don’t say drug-free and follow the rules, they are sent to prison.
For the most recent year recorded, drug courts saved about $58 million in incarceration costs while generating $3.2 million in fines and fees.
The program has been such a huge success that Mississippi began something similar this year with mental health courts, again treating the illness more effectively and compassionately than would prison or other traditional court procedures.
