ST. LOUIS (AP) - Missouri was faced with an alarming report in 2017 that said either spend $189 million over the next five years - primarily by improving treatment options for people with behavioral health problems - or risk paying $485 million to build and run two new prisons.
Officials took the Council of State Governments Justice Center report seriously. After all, former Republican Gov. Eric Greitens and other leaders had asked for the comprehensive study, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
A task force of lawmakers, judges, police, leaders of state departments of mental health and corrections, and council employees unanimously approved recommendations to address ineffective drug treatment for inmates and other problems that lead people back to prison.
After a tumultuous time in Jefferson City that included the resignation of Greitens, state officials ultimately approved $5 million for the Justice Reinvestment Initiative Treatment Pilot, which will start soon in Buchanan, Butler and Boone counties. The council's report calls for $133.5 million in so-called "recovery supports" to be spent in the next five years.
"By itself, it's not enough to fundamentally change the long-term trajectory," Andy Barbee, director of research at the council, said about the pilot program.
He hopes the community-based treatment model will be expanded and funded to include major areas of Missouri.
"Given the pretty big findings of the report, I expected more of a reaction," said Emily Stahly, an analyst at the Show-Me Institute. "But I am not sure the lack of reaction was because of lack of interest in criminal justice reform, or just everything else going on this spring."
Department of Corrections Director Anne Precythe described the $5 million investment as a blessing because of state budgetary constraints, and a needed first step toward treating ex-offenders in their home communities rather than in the "artificial environment" of prison.
"We had to start small," Precythe said in an interview Monday during a break at the Southern Legislative Conference annual meeting in St. Louis. "I am hoping to go back to the Legislature this coming year and say, 'So here's what we've done, here are some preliminary results, it's working. We need more money to expand across the state.'"
As she spoke, a lawmaker and former state trooper from South Carolina questioned her about riots, high incarceration costs and a desire to lean more on probation and parole, after prisoners are released.
"Corrections is a continuum," Precythe told him. "What happens inside has got to transfer to the community. That's where we are going to get savings of our money."
Missouri's prison system was recently running at about 105 percent of capacity, with more than 36,000 people spread across 21 prisons, including those temporarily passing through for screening, treatment and other reasons.
Of 19,000 people admitted in 2016, just 15 percent of offenders were new to prison. Half of them had violated terms of supervised release and more than a third were sentenced to prison just for drug treatment, which is increasingly the case for women, according to the council's report.
The pilot program will offer drug treatment, and other services, mainly for women in the three counties who are on probation or parole and are at risk of going back to prison.
"This is a program that is really going to be focusing on individuals who are struggling on supervision for a variety of reasons," said Laura van der Lugt, senior policy analyst for the council. "The goal is to wrap around these individuals and say, 'We are going to try as hard as we can to keep these people out of prison and get the resources that they need in the community.'"
The number of participants is not certain, but organizers said 1,118 people recently fit program requirements.
"We would like to move to be able to take on individuals who are being released directly from prison," van der Lugt said. "Right now, we'll be focusing on those people who are already in the community."
Program organizers said the three counties were chosen for test locations for a variety of reasons: Costs there are less expensive than in urban areas. There are existing drug and mental health treatment providers. There is a need, indicated by high property crime rates, which can be a signal of drug addiction, and parole revocations.
Dwight Scroggins, of St. Joseph, the longtime prosecuting attorney in Buchanan County, said offenders might take steps toward sobriety in prison, but there is no help once they get out.
"The initial decision is really good, but the long-term support is what actually makes it work and is what this program is designed to do," he said.
The pilot program will formalize the relationship between the Department of Corrections and the Department of Mental Health, which is in the process of reviewing applications from community treatment providers, van der Lugt said. She said representatives of each agency will meet regularly to discuss the progress of each client.
"Getting everyone working from the same sheet of music, that is something new," she said. "That is an exciting piece, but it's going to take a little bit of work."
Services are scheduled to begin Sept. 4 and run to June 30.
Jeanette Mott Oxford, executive director of Empower Missouri and a former state lawmaker, described the government's response in this case as "blazing fast." The prison and criminal justice task force started meeting last summer. Some of its recommendations made in December were subsequently addressed with House Bill 1355 that Greitens signed into law.
"Compared to the normal pace of government, this is lightning speed, believe me," she said. "Government usually doesn't move that quickly."
Audrain County Presiding Commissioner Steve Hobbs was a member of the prison task force.
"You have to start someplace," he said of the pilot program. "The worst thing you can do is stick your head in the sand and say we are going to do the same thing and expect a different outcome."
The goal is to get desired results and replicate those in other counties, he said. "That's our hope. At the end of the day, it's all about outcomes."