Bismarck-Mandan Drug/DUI Court celebrates 20 years

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Rhonda Diede was charged with numerous crimes when she was 32 years old — all of them related to drug and alcohol abuse.

“I wasn’t in a very good place at that time,” said Diede, now 50. “I didn’t think I had a problem, but everybody else did.”

Her life needed structure, something it lacked before then. She found it — with the help of some people she first hated and now is grateful to — in the Bismarck-Mandan Drug/DUI Court.

She was the first person to graduate from the program, which began operating at the turn of the century. Participants are chemically addicted people who have pleaded guilty to drug or alcohol offenses. They enter the program voluntarily — an alternative to jail time — attend weekly court sessions, and are involved in intensive treatment and probation programs, The Bismarck Tribune reported.

They move through three phases of the program and earn incentives for their successes. To graduate, they must participate for a year, and the number of court appearances and the intensity of supervision decrease as they progress.

Diede is one of 97 people who have successfully completed the program. She was the guest speaker at a Jan. 3 celebration recognizing the program’s 20-year benchmark. The program required her to get a job or perform community service, attend parenting classes, meet with her probation officer once a week, and make the weekly appearances in drug court. She was held accountable if she missed an appointment.

“I needed to show up for my life,” Diede said.

She was in denial in the early stages of her program, blaming everyone else for her “rotten” life, she said. Her anger and resentment toward counselors, judges and probation officers faded in the year after she started the program. Today she works with people with disabilities, is about to complete a bachelor’s degree in social work, and thanks the people in the program — and God — for what she says is “a good life.”

“First, it was them,” she said. “In the end, I think God put them in my life.”

Her story of recovery is what the court is about, said South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick, who presided over court appearances by several participants during the event. The proceedings are less formal than a regular court situation — he asks participants about the holidays and their families — but Romanick said he has to be ready to give them “a pat on the back or jail time.”

“It’s their decision to do it,” he said. “In jail it’s easy to mind your p’s and q’s. Here, there are other requirements.”

Some graduates of the program might get in trouble again, Romanick said, but many find a new path. He’s noticed that some continue coming to the court just to sit in.

“That says a lot,” he said.

Romanick, who serves as lead drug court judge in addition to handling his regular caseload, received the Drug/DUI Court’s Distinguished Service Award. It was presented by South Central District Judge Gail Hagerty, who also presides over Drug/DUI court proceedings.

More than 180 people have been involved in the program. About a third of those were placed in the program as part of a DUI sentence. The rest were sentenced for drug or drug-related sentences. The graduation rate of about 50% doesn’t explain the full success of the program, according to Hagerty.

“We purposely take the very difficult cases, where they’d likely be in prison if they weren’t in the program,” she said.

At one point she might have viewed success to mean that the person never again had abuse problems.

“Now, they’ve gained skills to use in life,” Hagerty said. “Even if they have a usage event in the future, they know how it is to live sober.”

Hagerty also presented awards to:

- Theresa Mehring, who received the Drug Court Advocate Award in recognition of the support she provides to participants.

- The Western Dakota Association of Legal Assistants, who earned the Drug Court Partner Award. The group hosts a summer picnic for participants and their families, provides Christmas treats, and provides support during drug court sessions.