ROGERS CITY — The 53rd Circuit Court plans to apply to the Michigan Supreme Court so it can begin the renewal process of its “swift and sure” grant.

The 53rd Circuit Court serves the residents of Presque Isle and Cheboygan counties, but the roughly $20,000 grant would be for Presque Isle County.

The Swift and Sure Sanctions Probation Program is an intensive probation supervision program that targets high-risk felony offenders with a history of probation violations or failures, according to the Michigan State Court Administrative Office.

Participants in the program are closely monitored and attend frequent meetings with their probation officer or case management staff. They are also required to complete frequent random testing for drug and alcohol use.

Presque Isle County Clerk Ann Marie told the county Board of Commissioners on Friday the grant would reimburse the county 100% of the costs associated with supplies used for the drug testing and wages of personnel administering the program.

Circuit Court Judge Aaron Gauthier told commissioners about the program as part of his annual update. Gauthier said the program was implemented in the county last year.

“The program is in its infancy,” he said. “I’m hopeful that that will get approved by the state court administrator, because I think it’s a good program, I think it can reduce recidivism by using more evidence-based practices of how to deal with these type of offenders.”

He said the program’s participants pose a high risk of committing more crimes, but that they are not violent crimes that would pose a risk to the community. He said participants are committing lower-level crimes, such as drug offenses or resisting police or lower-level larceny.

Gauthier explained that, when a person violates their probation in a traditional model, they get a heavy response of jail or prison.

“For some offenders, that makes sense, but for other offenders, we can reduce recidivism without that type of response,” he said. “So the swift and sure program was designed to be a swift response and a sure response, but a measured one.”

Gauthier said that, when a participant violates his or her probation, they get an immediate hearing before the judge, usually with Probate Judge Erik Stone. If the offender admits to violating the probation, they get a standard three-day jail sentence. If the offender denies it but it’s later proven he or she violated probation, the offender gets a 15-day jail sanction.

“They know in advance what the schedule of sanctions are, because they’re designed not to derail the progress in their life but it’s designed to give them something to hold them accountable,” he said, adding they meet much more regularly with the probation officer than typical probationer.

Gauthier also said he would like to implement something similar to Cheboygan County’s drug court, which meets on a weekly basis and allows judges to receive an update on participants’ progress, giving the participants a talking-to if necessary or an “attaboy” or “attagirl.”

“We find, with the drug court in Cheboygan, praise incentives work sometimes just as well or better than punishment and sanctions,” he said.

County Commissioner John Chappa told Gauthier he appreciated his emphasis on treatment versus incarceration.

” I’m glad to hear that that’s your focus,” he said.

Additionally, Gauthier told commissioners he would like to see Cheboygan’s drug court transition into a regional drug court so residents of Presque Isle County could participate in it. Presque Isle County currently does not have a drug court to serve its residents.

Gauthier told commissioners the cost of having a drug court is far less than the cost of incarceration. He said it costs taxpayers about $32,000 to house someone in state prison for a year and that a three-year sentence ends up costing nearly $100,000.

He said about half of the participants don’t make it through drug court successfully, but that the recidivism rates are much lower for the ones who are able to make it through the program.

“The vast majority of people who graduate from our drug court program are not back in court ever again for committing a crime, so it works” he said, adding that the bottom line is it works better than “just sticking them in jail.”

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.