DRUG TREATMENT ALTERNATIVE-TO-PRISON PROGRAM (DTAP)

 

         As District Attorney, I feel an obligation to help keep our children out of trouble and away from a life of crime.  I look forward to a day when our children enter the criminal justice system not as defendants, but as police officers, court officers, correction officers, lawyers and judges.  Our obligation as a community is to guide our children on the right path to peace, justice and success.  In order to save children at risk, I have devoted the last nearly 19 years as District Attorney to providing opportunities and hope to those to whom hope is denied.

 

Criminals often start their lives of crime at an early age so I want to reach out to them before they get involved in criminal activity and deter them from mixing in with the wrong crowd. There are temptations to do drugs or commit other crimes.   Sometimes circumstances in our lives such as financial problems or a death in the family can influence us to do things that we know are illegal or immoral.  These individuals deserve a second chance.  I am a strong believer in providing rehabilitation to non-violent felony offenders so they are able to return to society more capable of living a new life free of drugs and crime as opposed to sending them to prison.  This is why it is so important to educate our youth and provide them with the tools that they need to succeed and not go down the wrong path.  

 

            It is very difficult for drug offenders to resist their addictions, which in many cases, leads to other crimes.  In order to address this issue, in 1990, I launched the Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison (DTAP) program. The purpose of this program is to divert substance abusing, repeat felony offenders away from prison and into treatment.  Public safety is always a priority, and offenders with a history of violence are not eligible for the program.

 

            Qualified defendants must first enter a guilty plea.   The next step is participation in a residential drug treatment program for 18-24 months instead of going to prison.  Those who successfully complete DTAP have their charges dismissed; those who fail are sentenced to prison.  The program provides substance abuse treatment and counseling.  To prevent relapse and reduce recidivism, DTAP has a job developer to assist graduates in finding and maintaining employment.   

DTAP is recognized as one of the nation’s most successful diversion programs.  Now in its 18^th year, DTAP has reduced recidivism rates of its graduates by half.  Since the program began in 1990, there have been 1110 graduates. An analysis of the savings realized on correction, health care, public assistance and recidivism costs combined with the tax revenues generated by the DTAP graduates reveals that diversion to DTAP has resulted in economic benefits of $44.2 million dollars per the 1110 graduates. 

This year I honored 80 graduates of our DTAP program at a ceremony on July 23 at Borough Hall.  I am very proud of all of the graduates for persevering and staying committed to this program so they can turn their lives around.  Two of those graduates, Albert Allen and Carrie Booker-Searcy, shared their amazing stories of addiction and recovery. 

 

Albert Allen became a heroin addict by the age of 20, and to support his drug habit, he sold crack cocaine.  His wife died of a heart attack in 2002, leaving him to raise his 12-year-old daughter on his own.  He continued to sell drugs while she was in school, leading him to acquire 49 arrests.  He was then given the opportunity to enter the DTAP program.  He realized that this was a chance to change his life.  He received help from family to raise his daughter and now after completing DTAP, he has a steady job delivering medical products for a pharmacy. 

 

Carrie Booker-Searcy moved from Cleveland to NYC and was overwhelmed by the excitement of the city.  Her boyfriend at the time, who brought her to the city, was a heroin addict and he soon pulled her into his lifestyle.  She incurred many arrests including four that led to state sentences.  When she was arrested again in 2006, she was offered DTAP and decided that she wanted to change her life.  She entered the program and took advantage of its resources by entering a staff training program and regularly seeing the on-site therapist who was instrumental in helping her deal with her past issues of abuse.  She managed to overcome her addiction, she got her own apartment and she now works as a case manager at the Samaritan Village Van Wyck facility where she has a caseload of 18 clients. She will also be receiving a certificate from the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) this October which will allow her to advance in her field. 

      First Assistant District Attorney Anne Swern and Executive Assistant District Attorney David Heslin are in charge of the DTAP program.

 

ANNE J. SWERN

 

 

          Anne J. Swern is the First Assistant District Attorney to Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.  She has been a prosecutor for 27 years. Ms. Swern currently supervises more than 1,000 employees in the DA’s Office. She oversees three substance-abuse treatment courts, the Red Hook Community Justice Center and the Mental Health Court. In addition, she is in charge of the nationally acclaimed Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison (DTAP) Program, the first prosecution-run program in the country to divert prison-bound felony offenders into residential drug treatment. She is the author of the Brooklyn DTAP Annual Report. Ms. Swern also supervises the TADD (Treatment Alternatives for Dually Diagnosed) Program, an alternative to incarceration program which diverts mentally ill defendants into treatment. 

 

         Ms. Swern serves on the Judiciary Committee of the Brooklyn Bar Association and the Prosecution Function Committee of the American Bar Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the National District Attorney’s Association. Ms. Swern was selected 1999 Humanitarian of the Year by the Education and Assistance Corporation and the 2000 Prosecutor of the Year by the Kings County Criminal Bar Association. She also received the 2006 Thomas E. Dewey Medal from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. The award recognizes the contributions that prosecutors have made to public service.

 

         She is also an adjunct associate professor at Brooklyn Law School and a recipient of its 2007 Alumni of the Year award.  Ms. Swern has guest lectured at several other universities as well. In addition, she has served as the keynote speaker at several national conferences dedicated to problem-solving justice.

 

DAVID HESLIN

 

 

           David G. Heslin, an Executive Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, has worked as a prosecutor in the DA’s Office since graduating, in 1984, from the New England School of Law in Boston, where he served on the Law Review as a Case & Note Editor.  Mr. Heslin received his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Relations from Le Moyne College, Syracuse, New York in 1980.  While an undergraduate, he attended the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and studied labor relations and economics.  Prior to his legal studies, Mr. Heslin was a VISTA volunteer in the office of Western Kentucky Legal Services in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

 

In his capacity as the Executive Assistant District Attorney in charge of the Kings County District Attorney’s Alternative Programs Bureau, Mr. Heslin is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the District Attorney’s Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison [DTAP] Program for drug-addicted repeat felony offenders and he supervises the Treatment Alternatives for the Dually Diagnosed [TADD] Program for mentally ill offenders. Additionally, he supervises the office’s operation in the Brooklyn Treatment Court, the Misdemeanor Brooklyn Treatment Court, the Screening Treatment Enhancement Part, the Mental Health Court, the Red Hook Community Justice Center, and the office’s Alternative Sentencing Unit that places and monitors sentenced defendants to community service sites in Brooklyn.  Furthermore, he also serves as the executive in charge of the Human Resources Department of the DA’s office.

 

 Mr. Heslin has regularly participated in city, state, and national conferences regarding community prosecution and drug treatment alternatives to incarceration.  He is admitted to both the New York and Florida Bar.