By Phil Davidson
The Idaho Falls Post-Register
BOONEVILLE COUNTY, Idaho — Construction is officially under way for a first-of-its-kind drug treatment pilot project in eastern Idaho.
On Tuesday, stakeholders involved with the Wood Pilot Project broke ground on a new work-release center just west of the Bonneville County Jail.
The project, a collaborative model between state and local agencies, allows judges the discretion to move drug offenders through a system that includes jail, work release, halfway houses, transitional housing, outpatient treatment and, finally, release.
Named after Rep. JoAn Wood, the Rigby Republican who was instrumental in securing state funding for it, the program is available to offenders in the 7th Judicial District.
Bonneville County is spending roughly $8 million to build a new work-release center, which will house the state-funded drug treatment program. The county also is renovating its existing work center to provide more space for jail inmates.
Money saved for the project was generated by renting jail bed space to inmates from other counties over the years, Bonneville County Commission Chairman Roger Christensen said.
Christensen joked Tuesday morning that the expansion should keep the jail from becoming overcrowded like it was a decade ago.
“We kind of fondly referred to it as the Bonneville County catch-and-release program,” he said.
Several state and local officials joined Christensen during the groundbreaking ceremony, including Wood, Commissioners Dave Radford and Lee Staker, Bonneville County Sheriff Paul Wilde, Idaho Drug Control Policy Director Czar Debbie Field and Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke.
She believes providing treatment while keeping families together will be the best approach.
“We’re all going to benefit from this cooperation,” she said.
About 30 clients are currently enrolled in the project, most of whom are from Bonneville County. Eventually, the goal is to have 60 clients - who suffer from both drug addiction and symptoms of mental illness - from Bonneville County and 20 in the surrounding counties.
Reinke said his staff will monitor the program to make sure the nearly $5 million it got in state money is justified. (The state funding will cover ongoing treatment, salaries for project administrators and transitional housing costs.)
The Bonneville County project is the only one in Idaho at the moment, but Reinke said other counties are watching it and eventually hope to create similar projects.
“This is a very unique collaborative model,"" he said. ""Hopefully we’ll see fewer prisoners taken away to the deep end of the pool.”
Bids are still open for some of the project’s construction, Christensen said. The new work-release center will cover 48,000 square feet and should be fully operational by next September.
The project’s board also has selected Brian Mecham, the county jail’s mental health treatment provider, to act as interim program director.
He’ll take over in January for Rex Thornley, the current program director, who is being deployed to Iraq.
Copyright 2008 The Idaho Falls Post-Register