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Judicial Branch Awarded Grant to Establish Adult Drug Treatment Courts in Six Maine Counties
Date: 1/28/2022
The Maine Judicial Branch announced today that it has been awarded two four-year grants totaling $1.1 million from the U.S. Department of Justice to establish and run Adult Drug Treatment courts in Judicial Regions 3 (Oxford and Franklin counties) and 6 (Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, and Sagadahoc counties). Grant funds will be used to pay for treatment, case management, random drug testing, peer mentoring, and other related services for high-risk individuals who have been convicted of serious crimes.
"The treatment courts will follow the evidenced-based best practice standards of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals," said Anne H. Jordan, Judicial Branch Manager of Criminal Process and Specialty Dockets. District Attorneys Andrew Robinson (Oxford and Franklin counties), Natasha Irving (Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, and Sagadahoc counties), trained criminal defense counsel, Judicial Branch Coordinator of Specialty Dockets Richard Gordon, and Elizabeth Simoni from Maine Pretrial Services, along with assigned District Court Judges John Martin and Tammy Ham-Thompson, are in the planning process to launch the courts. It is expected that the courts will be up and running by March 2022.
These grant funds will now allow the Maine Judicial Branch to operate Adult Drug Treatment Courts in 15 of the 16 counties in Maine.
A recent analysis and study of Maine's existing Adult Drug Treatment Courts found the courts to be very effective, reducing recidivism rates by more than half compared to similarly situated individuals. The report can be found at: https://www.courts.maine.gov/about/reports/adtc-evaluation-report-2020.pdf.
Information on treatment courts can be found on the National Association of Drug Court Professionals here: https://www.nadcp.org/.
More information on Maine Treatment Courts can be found on the Maine Judicial Branch website here: https://www.courts.maine.gov/courts/treatment/index.html.