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Walworth County plan aims to get drunken drivers off road, out of jail

ELKHORN — Paul’s got a new house, a fiancee and his old job back. He’s been sober for 39 months.

In June 2007, Paul, 39, was caught driving drunk for a third time.

He’s resisted the toxic funk of alcohol abuse and self pity through an intensive, yearlong court program for habitual drunken drivers—an initiative now being considered for use in Walworth County.

Concerns of jail crowding and public safety from rising incidents of drunken driving—especially offenders caught for third, fourth and fifth violations—have Walworth County law enforcement and court officials searching for ways to quash a behavior that heightens risk of deadly crashes.

In alcohol court, convicted drunken drivers volunteer to undergo rigorous initiatives to achieve and maintain sobriety. If completed, drunken drivers spend significantly less time in jail.

The Walworth County group also is looking into a possible drug court that provides similar benefits to a different troubled group, but the alcohol court study has more momentum.

The benefit to the public of an alcohol court is fewer inmates in jail, which might translate to less cost, and increased public safety with fewer inebriated drivers on the road, Walworth County District Attorney Phillip Koss said.

Only drunken drivers with three violations would be eligible, Koss said. Enrollment would be sought by an attorney at the request of the defendant and approved by the case’s presiding judge, he said.

Koss is chairman of the Walworth County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, the group studying the possibility of introducing an alcohol court.

“Clearly, Walworth County suffers a high rate of OWI (operating while intoxicated), and a high number of homicide and injury OWIs,” Koss said. “This is a county where people come for recreation at the lakes or Alpine Valley.

“I think we need an alternative to long term jail to alleviate overcrowding but foremost to address public safety.”

County records show that its jail is nearing capacity. Drunken drivers doing jail time is one reason, Koss said. Drunken driving arrests went from 441 in 2008 to 377 in 2009 and have soared to 458 so far this year.

The county’s coordinating committee has approved in principal using the alcohol court program and is seeking a grant for training, Koss said.

The program being considered has operated in Waukesha County since May 2006.

Paul of northwestern Waukesha County is a graduate of the county’s program.

“The program isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card,” Paul said. “You get what you put into it. I’m a huge supporter because it helped me stay sober.”

It’s helped Waukesha County, too. The program has spared Waukesha County jail from having to incarcerate drunken drivers for 16,834 days.

Since May 2006, Waukesha’s alcohol court has accepted 202 drunken drivers into the course and graduated 123. The program now has 42 participants and has lost 37 participants who re-offended, dropped out or were told to leave.

Paul was first pinched for drunken driving sometime the mid-1990s. The second was in Milwaukee in 2004. In June of 2007, Paul was caught a third time, starting a drunken slide in which he lost his sales job and nearly lost his family. He sat home collecting unemployment and drinking.

Paul got sober before his March 2008 conviction, and he enrolled in the alcohol court program because he wanted help staying sober. He graduated in June 2009.

Paul said the twice-weekly self-help meetings and regular court review meetings, both required by the program, helped him the most.

Sarah Carpenter of Wisconsin Community Services said the program takes on average 14 months to complete.

Applicants must be 18, have pled guilty to their third drunken driving charge and have no prior violent felony conviction, Carpenter said. Wisconsin Community Services manages program participants for the courts.

Waukesha recently received a $1.2 million federal grant to include fourth-time drunken drivers in the program.

Participants must serve a minimum of 15 days in jail. For the first 90 days of the program, they must appear before a judge at least once every two weeks and for at least 30 days wear electronic bracelets that monitor alcohol consumption, Carpenter said.

Participants are subject to twice-a-week scheduled and random drug and alcohol tests. They must meet with case managers at least once a week.

As progress is made, fewer judicial and case manager visits are needed. The required self-help meetings and drug and alcohol tests remain constant. Participants must attend a session of the Drunk Driving Victim Impact Panel, where drunken driving victims tell offenders about the consequences of their behavior.

Paul said he has his family back, is engaged to be married in two months and proudly calls himself a property taxpayer.

“My employer hired me back and is happy and proud that I’m sober,” Paul said. “I have a driver’s license. The program has given me a lot.”