Corrections Community

Does anyone do pretrial drug testing. If so, which clients get them, why and if they violate how do you deal with it. Or should I say what is your policy on drug testing. Any info you have would be useful.

Thanks

We drug test moderate to high risk individuals who have a history of drug use or those who express a desire for treatment.  We try to impose the least restrictive conditions as possible, therefore, all defendants are screened individually.  Because we don't want to set up our clients for failure, we do not count the test taken at their intake appointment.  After three positive screens, we send a violation to the court.  We do not count residual use for those who test positive for cannabinoids.  Our violation letter can include a recommendation for outpatient/inpatient drug treatment, bond revocation, or increased level of supervision.   Hope this helps.

Kelli,

 Thanks for getting back to me so fast. Our program just got back from NAPSA and we are trying to update the way we do things. Right now we drug test all pretrial clients. After going to NAPSA most in my organization would feel we are very conservative so we are trying to see were we can adjust ourselves. So thank you again for getting back to me, and any other information you might have out this topic would be very helpful.

Pinal County, Arizona has drug testing.  If the judge orders testing, it is usually for drug related cases.  We have great difficulty here with eliciting drug history information because our public defender's office will not allow their clients to answer any questions regarding drug or alcohol use or history.  If a person does test positive, all we do is to submit a report to the judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney.  It is up to the prosecutor to take further action.