Ogeechee Judicial Circuit's Adult Treatment Court Enhancement Initiative

ABSTRACT
The Ogeechee Judicial Circuit of Georgia (Bulloch County population: 79,608,
Effingham County population: 64,296, Jenkins County population: 8,793, and Screven County
population: 13,989), in partnership with the four counties sheriff’s offices, local treatment
providers, community supervision, and university based scientific consultants, requests $739,172
from the US BJA FY 22 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program (Category 2:
Enhancement. Competition ID: C-BJA-2022-00018-PROD) to enhance our adult treatment
court (ATC) program through the proposed Ogeechee Judicial Circuit Adult Treatment Court
Enhancement Initiative. The Ogeechee Judicial Circuit ATC is a rolling admission, postadjudication,
five-phase, 24-month treatment program for offenders experiencing substance use
disorders and co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (CMHSUD). Currently the
ATC operations are modeled after drug court principles and best practice standards, but several
programming gaps remain that are addressed in the proposed evidence based enhancement
activities aligned with best practices: I. Target Population; II. Equity and Inclusion; III. Roles
and Responsibilities of the Judge; IV. Incentives, Sanctions, and Therapeutic Adjustments; VI.
Complementary Treatment and Social Services; VIII. Multidisciplinary Team; IX. Census and
Caseloads; and X. Monitoring and Evaluation. Proposed primary activities include evidencebased
screening to determine mental health and substance abuse needs to further identify those
needing treatment; expansion of the program in response to increased demand for services
targeting additional non-violent needful clients in the jurisdiction (to increase size 20% to 65
clients, serving 195 total over the grant); early identification and enrollment of targeted
participants; providing enhanced co-occurring disorder training for the ATC workgroup; adding
a psychological clinical assessment to provide enhanced mental health services including
treatment for PTSD; and executing a scientifically rigorous program evaluation of ATC to
determine enhancement impacts and identify treatment barriers. Project goals respond to OJP
priority area 1(A) and rural jurisdiction priorities to include 1) evidence-based screening to
enhance equity and inclusion; 2) expanding ATC enrollment per increased need for services; 3)
providing increased training, 4) the delivery of evidence based individualized treatment for
CMHSUD; and 5) effect relapse and recidivism reduction among ATC graduates. The research
team will provide a final technical report to include an executive summary and program
suggestions, as well as disseminate results to practitioner and scientific stakeholders through
journal publications and conference presentations. The jurisdiction has not received any BJA
funding in the past for the Adult Treatment Court.