Last month's arrest of 26-year-old Andrew Bagley at SavMor Pharmacy raised questions about how a drug offender could wander so far afield of the law while on probation under the DOC's supervision. In Bagley's case, the Missoula man is charged with committing an offense identical to the one he was convicted of in August 2007 - breaking into the pharmacy at night and stealing narcotic pain medications.
But Ron Alsbury, chief of Montana's Probation and Parole Bureau, said drug testing is one of many tools used by probation officers to supervise offenders, and not an absolute means of enforcement. Rather, officers review a range of factors when assessing an offender's community placement, and establish a blueprint for continued supervision.
Those efforts did not include drug screening, Alsbury said, which is often reserved for addicts in denial, or for offenders exhibiting the “collateral effects” of drug use, like missing work or skipping appointments with probation officers.
Bagley said he was never asked for a urine sample after leaving the Butte Pre-release Center and returning to Missoula on conditional release, but he was attending chemical dependency groups such as Narcotics Anonymous and meeting regularly with a counselor. Bagley never missed appointments with his probation officer and, by all official accounts, was taking advantage of the resources available to him.
Dave Boyd, director of chemical dependency programs for Community, Counseling and Correctional Services Inc., described Bagley as a “shining star.”
While attending the Connections Corrections program, an intensive 60-day residential treatment program in Butte, Bagley participated in a “hierarchy program,” in which offenders who have made significant progress help mentor other addicts with less footing.
“He has a ton of potential,” said Boyd, himself a recovering opiate addict. “But he dropped the ball somewhere. At some point, he made a choice; a sober, collected decision to start using again.”
Boyd described
Montana as being “light
years ahead” of other states in terms of community corrections services.
The Department of Corrections' next budget asks for 37 prison beds, compared to 183 alternative treatment beds. It also asks for an increased capacity in the Probation and Parole Bureau for an additional 1,128 offenders.
During the past four years, the department has added 193 beds in prerelease centers and 120 beds in two separate meth treatment centers for men and women. The DOC also developed nine contracts with substance abuse and mental health providers, serving more than 300 offenders monthly out of probation and parole offices. And the department hired 33 probation and parole officers to accommodate the 24 percent growth in the number of parolees and probationers.
“You can see where the emphasis is in Montana,” Alsbury said.
According to Boyd,
62 percent of the 3,000 offenders who have completed Connections Corrections programs have remained abstinent.
In fact, Boyd said, addicts in the criminal justice system have better access to chemical dependency treatment than those who have not been convicted of a crime.
“The average drug user out on the street in Montana pretty much has to commit a felony before he or she can get help, unless they've got a good job,” he said. “It's really sad.”
Boyd said addicts should report their relapses to their probation or parole officer. Instead of having their suspended sentences revoked, he said, they'll go back to Connections Corrections.
Alsbury acknowledges that drug testing Bagley could have been a helpful tool, but said Bagley didn't fit the model for an offender who requires weekly urine screens.
“Because of his openness, there wasn't a real feeling that he was hiding anything,” he said.
Alsbury said offenders who come clean to their probation officers will be referred to other treatment services, without having their probation revoked. Because Missoula has a high demand for treatment services, however, there is typically a waiting period of six to eight weeks.
While on the waiting list for inpatient treatment, Alsbury said, offenders have the option to attend a weekly “relapse group,” working with licensed addiction counselors and talking with other offenders.
“That's a nice service,” he said. “We sleep a lot better when we're not worrying about offenders floundering with their addiction.”
Boyd thinks Bagley has a good shot at being admitted into the Nexus Treatment Center in Lewistown, which primarily treats meth addicts but has the resources to treat all addictions.
Bagley worries that he's out of chances.
Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com
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