Marshall County Drug Court

Proposal Abstract

Marshall County has been operating a very small, completely unfunded Drug Court program (Enhanced Community Supervision Court- ESC) since 2016. The program has existed purely through the desire of Drug Court Team members to provide an effective alternative to prison for Marshall County residents.  Led by the vision of District Court Judge John Haney and cooperative efforts of the Marshall County Attorney Office, State of Iowa Public Defender Office, Second Judicial District Department of Correctional Services, Marshalltown Chief of Police and Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of Central Iowa (SATUCI), the program has been able to serve a maximum of five clients at any one time. This project application seeks to achieve the following related to the Drug Court in Marshall County:

GOAl 1: To increase program capacity with corresponding treatment, supervision and complementary services. (Standards 1 and 6- see page 14). 

GOAl 2: To ensure adherence to Drug Court Best Practices and evaluate the effectiveness of the expanded program (Standard 10- see pages 19-20)

GOAL 3: Program participants will represent the diverse population of Marshall County. (Standard 2- see page 1 and 18)

This application seeks Category 3: Adult Drug Court federal assistance totaling $500,000 to expand the existing post-adjudicatory program, with an emphasis on delivery of evidence-based treatment services to 90 high risk/high need clients during the grant period. As currently designed, the minimum length of program participation is 14 months. While there is no maximum established, it is clearly understood that recovery from substance abuse issues and corresponding behavioral changes may take much longer.

The program is aligned with a variety of services, including all levels of substance abuse treatment, trauma informed care, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, individual licensed therapy, Moral Reconation Therapy and several other cognitive-based modalities. Medication Assisted Therapy is well established in Marshall County, led by SATUCI and Primary Health Care and will be available to Drug Court clients requiring this level of care. All Drug Court participants will complete a substance abuse evaluation and Comprehensive Treatment Assessment to inform the drug court team on issues of  case management, substance abuse treatment, drug testing and other needed interventions for the participant.

Having completed the Adult Drug Court Planning Initiative in 2019, the Drug Court Team is excited and well-positioned to expand the availability of evidence-based Drug Court services to residents of Marshall County.