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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; For one Plymouth woman, entering the Luzerne County Treatment Court wasn&#8217;t a way to get clean.</p><p>It was a way to try to beat a felony charge.</p><p>While in the program she slipped up, the woman said Friday, and eventually found herself in a prison cell. Separated for 48 days from her children, away from them for the first time in their lives, the 34-year-old mother of four said she finally found a reason to leave drugs behind.</p><p>&#8220;This could be my life,&#8221; she said she thought. &#8220;Being here, being kept from them in an endless cycle.&#8221;</p><p>And when Jennifer W. &#8212; who asked that her last name be withheld &#8212; decided it was time to sober up, the treatment court team was eager to help her get clean and stay clean, she said.</p><p>Jennifer graduated from the program Friday after 29 months of drug tests, community service and weekly court visits. She joined 10 others, all of whom participated in the program for a minimum of one year, at a short ceremony during which Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. formally dismissed the criminal charges against them.</p><p>The program has graduated 155 participants since taking its first case in January 2006.</p><p>&#8220;This may not be the traditional pomp-and-circumstance graduation ceremony, but it has much in common with gown-and-mortarboard events,&#8221; said keynote speaker state Sen. Lisa Baker.</p><p>Addressing a Luzerne County courtroom full of treatment court participants, their families and supporters, the Lehman Township Republican opened up briefly about the addiction problems she has witnessed, and sympathized with the participants who, because of their struggles, she said weather &#8220;judgmental attitudes&#8221; and &#8220;erroneous assumptions.&#8221;</p><p>She invited the graduates to celebrate the &#8220;joys of redemption&#8221; and the &#8220;renewal of personal responsibility.&#8221;</p><p>But Baker hinted that defendants aren&#8217;t the only ones wrestling with addictions.</p><p>&#8220;Government has to break its addiction with being punitive as the primary option,&#8221; she said.</p><p>The treatment court program&#8217;s supervising judge, Sklarosky said the program&#8217;s less conventional, less adversarial approach to criminal justice drew him to the post when it opened several years ago.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s really an accountability court,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We reward people when they have successes and we sanction them when they fall short.&#8221;</p><p>According to Assistant District Attorney Jim McMonagle, those sanctions involve penalties which vary in severity from simply being made to sit singled-out in a jury box during court hearings to &#8212; as in Jennifer W.&#8217;s case &#8212; prison stints.</p><p>But he said while the program remains necessarily tough on its participants, it also looks to be forgiving and understanding. Slipping or relapsing do not equate to failure, McMonagle said, so a failed drug test, for instance, doesn&#8217;t ensure expulsion.</p><p>Still, some people do fail the program and are sentenced on their charges under the standard sentencing guidelines.</p><p>&#8220;There are some people who need to be punished. There are some people who need to be put in a cell and left there,&#8221; McMonagle said.</p><p>District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis agreed, saying while treatment court provides an opportunity to make positive improvements in the lives of defendants with addictions, public safety must remain a priority.</p><p>&#8220;There are those that do belong behind bars,&#8221; Salavantis said.</p><p>Further, defendants must meet a set of requirements to participate in the program. To be considered, a defendant must be a Luzerne County resident over 18 with no pending charges in other counties. A certified clinician must then determine a defendant has an addiction before the person&#8217;s case is put to a vote before the treatment court team.</p><p>People accused of violent crimes or of drug trafficking offenses currently are not allowed into treatment court, though McMonagle said the program is constantly under review and may eventually expand its requirements.</p><p>He said the court may fill the vacancies left by each of Friday&#8217;s graduates by the end of the year.</p><p>A longtime member of the county treatment court team, McMonagle also serves as president of the Pennsylvania Association of Drug Court Professionals. The organization, which provides drug court training and acts a resource throughout the state, will conduct its annual conference next week.</p><p>McMonagle said recent PADCP activity has focused heavily on reaching out to legislators to stress the importance and effectiveness of the programs.</p><p>Luzerne County&#8217;s treatment court currently receives no line-item state funding, McMonagle said, and any state funds it does receive are funneled through the county or other sources. And on the federal front, he said plenty of funding exists to start drug courts, but not to continue operating.</p><p>McMonagle said funding shortfalls may keep the county&#8217;s program from expanding.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL101715drugcourt1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">State Sen. Lisa Baker addresses a full courtroom Friday at a graduation ceremony for Luzerne County Treatment Cout. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL101715drugcourt1.jpg</photo0><caption0>State Sen. Lisa Baker addresses a full courtroom Friday at a graduation ceremony for Luzerne County Treatment Cout. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Luzerne County Treatment Court graduates 11</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By James O&#8217;Malley</p><p>jomalley@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Treatment court facts</strong></p><p>&#8226; Luzerne County Treatment Court estimates it has saved taxpayers nearly $5.5 million in prison costs since 2006.</p><p>&#8226; A treatment court participant costs the county $12 per day on average, versus $94 per day if incarcerated at Luzerne County Correctional Facility.</p><p>&#8226; The program boasts a first-year recidivism rate of just 12 percent, with second and third-year rates of just 7 and 5 percent.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach James O&#8217;Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.</p></shirttailMeta></div>