Woonsocket police, judge to focus on addiction treatment, not arrests
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The opioid crisis has ravaged the lives of many Rhode Islanders. A record 384 lives in the state were lost to overdoses in 2020, and substance-use disorders have locked hundreds in a cycle of arrest-release-repeat — often for petty offenses driven by addiction.
When Superior Court Judge Kristin E. Rodgers assumed the bench in 2009, she took the view that the crimes themselves must be punished, regardless of the driving force behind them.
“I was one of those people who believed in progressive punishment,” Rodgers said in a recent interview. As the judge presiding over the courtroom that handled people accused of violating their probation, that was exactly what she did.
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Rodgers’ perspective on criminal justice and the use of heroin or other illicit drugs began to shift in 2019 with her participation in the New England Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell selected Rodgers and Family Court Magistrate Paul Jones to take part in a regional discussion contemplating how state courts could better respond to the opioid epidemic.
With that grew her understanding and appreciation that substance-use disorders are a medical condition, not a moral failing, she said.
“Substance-use disorder is an illness. When a person has cancer, we don’t penalize them. We treat it with kindness and compassion,” Rodgers said in her chambers in the Licht Judicial Complex.
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Rodgers went on a listening tour to familiarize herself with the statewide efforts to combat the crisis. She learned about the pioneering medication-assisted treatment program at the Adult Correctional Institutions, legal-medical partnerships, and the Heroin-Opioid Prevention Effort Initiative, an outreach program in which law-enforcement officers pair with substance-use specialists to connect people with treatment and resources.
She heard from experts about the decriminalization of narcotics in Portugal.
“Without having to be part of the criminal justice system, they got the help they needed,” she said.
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With that in mind and the realization that courts are not equipped to deal with substance-use disorders, Rodgers proposed a diversion program to direct people facing addiction to a treatment provider and away from the criminal-justice system.
The concept centered on a police department steering people charged with nonviolent crimes, such as trespass or simple possession that the officer believes is linked to a substance-use disorder, toward treatment and other needed social services.
Why is Judge Kristin E. Rodgers working with Woonsocket?
She reached out first to West Warwick and then to Woonsocket, where Police Chief Thomas F. Oates III was receptive to giving it a try in a city that saw 32 accidental overdose deaths in 2020. Woonsocket has been among the communities hardest hit by the opioid crisis in Rhode Island.
“We’re never going to arrest our way out of this,” Oates said. “I truly believe it’s a medical issue, not a criminal issue.”
His department sees a constant cycle of people committing criminal acts to support a drug habit, he said.
“What we’re doing right now is not working,” said Oates, who saw substance abuse first hand during his years with the narcotics unit in the Providence Police Department.
The initiative — the Law Enforcement Assisted Deflection, Engagement and Retention in Treatment, or LEADER program — has secured a three-year, $819,109 grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to support the effort.
The program is expected to also benefit residents of Lincoln, Cumberland, North Smithfield, Pawtucket, Central Falls and Providence who are routinely arrested by Woonsocket police for drug offenses.
“For the many families touched by addiction, the opioid epidemic is yet another worry layered on top of the stress of the pandemic,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said in a statement announcing the grant. “I’m hopeful Woonsocket’s program will help divert people from jail into treatment and get more Rhode Islanders on the long, noble road to recovery.”
The program is in its infancy. The Woonsocket police are coordinating with the Community Care Alliance, a nonprofit community-action program that provides substance-use treatment, along with other services such as assistance with housing, mental-health counseling and employment.
“[The clients] work with us on whatever their needs are,” said Benedict F. Lessing Jr., CEO of Community Care Alliance. “They don’t come to us for any one thing. It’s four or five things. … Our job is to figure out what is the core issue.”
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Blessing credited Oates for his willingness to work with a vulnerable community in which addiction and mental-health issues are often intertwined and homeless numbers are increasing daily.
“This kind of approach really does have long-term implications. Once you have a record, it does follow you around,” Blessing said.
How will the substance-use diversion program work?
The plan is for the police to connect clinicians and outreach workers each month with an estimated 10 to 12 people with substance-use disorders who typically would be arrested and charged with petty offenses to improve their odds of getting treatment and support.
“We have more contact than anyone to help someone,” Oates said.
Diverting an individual to help instead of arresting him or her avoids entanglement with the criminal justice system and the associated costs of court appearances and sometimes incarceration, he said.
“I think it benefits everyone,” Oates said.
What charges will be eligible for diversion remains in discussion, but ideally it will pertain to nonviolent, victimless crimes, Oates said. He acknowledges there will be a learning curve associated with determining who makes a good program candidate and assessing when an individual is noncompliant with his or her treatment.
“This is just a new approach. I think it’s worth a try. I can see the great potential to help a lot of people,” Oates said. “To truly be successful, you have to want it.”
How this program is unique
The program has the support of the Rhode Island Public Defender’s office. Unlike other efforts, such as the truancy and drug calendars, the program will divert people before they land in court. As such, the bulk of the grant money will be directed toward treatment, not administrative costs.
“The statistics show the quicker you get them into treatment, the better the outcomes are. It’s really a nod to trying something different,” said Matthew B. Toro, Rhode Island’s deputy public defender.
Rodgers is working with the public defender’s and the attorney general’s offices in drafting a participation agreement for potential arrestees, Toro said.
“We’re giving the service provider a lot of control over cases. They look at it through a different lens than the criminal justice system,” he said.
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While the first such diversion program took shape in Seattle, the Woonsocket initiative will be the second in New England behind Gloucester, Massachusetts. The district attorney there designed a program in 2007 to offer treatment instead of prosecution for young adult nonviolent offenders with substance-use issues.
For Rodgers, helping the diversion program take shape is an extracurricular project that falls outside her judicial duties. She refers to it as an “anti-court” initiative.
“We want to get the people all the help they need. Hopefully, we can get better outcomes.” Rodgers said.
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