Philadelphia DA's Program Gives Nonviolent Drug Offenders Alternative To Prison
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- "The Choice is Yours" is a thirteen-month program that gives nonviolent drug offenders an alternative to incarceration. At the Criminal Justice Center on Monday, three young men graduated from the program with a new lease on life.
About a year ago, David Bowen, Ernest Chester, and Hakeem Watson were corner boy hustlers facing felony convictions. But when given a choice, they decided to change.
"I was actually facing five years in jail," says David Bowen, 22. He was a high school who turned to drug dealing to make ends meet, but within a year he's completed job training and 220 hours of community service. Today, he's just one test away from earning a GED. He's already earned his plumbing certification and is working to get his heading and air certification as well. All of the hard work means those criminal drug charges will be wiped away.
"It was a big wake up call for me...I'm stronger now...and more motivated," says Bowen, "and now I'm inspiring others around me by making this change."
District Attorney Seth Williams says he took the program from a similar one implemented in San Francisco, California by now-Attorney General Kamala Harris. He says he tweaked it and put it in place thanks to $1.4 million provided by philanthropist Gerry Lenfest. Now he wants to expand the three-year-old program to help keep more nonviolent drug offenders out of jail.
"Instead of spending $40,000 a year to incarcerate them, where 63 percent will be rearrested within 3 years, this program costs about $4,000 a year and the recidivism rate is zero," says Williams.
JEVS Human Services operates every facet of the program and provides fundraising. Williams is hoping lawmakers step up to fund the program with state dollars.
"This program saves lives and it saves tax payers money." says Williams, "We have to get the funding from the state. All of these individuals could have been inmates in a state prison. So the money has to come from the state, but the savings will also come from the state."
The Choice is Yours is run through a partnership among the courts, DA's office, the public defender's office, and JEVS.