HOLLIDAYSBURG - The Blair County DUI Court is full and is not accepting any more cases because Blair County Judge Daniel J. Milliron fears the quality of treatment provided to the drunken drivers in the program will be jeopardized.
The one probation officer assigned to participants in DUI court can handle about 35 cases at a time, Milliron said Tuesday. The officer is required to visit participants twice a week. Participants are also tested at least once a week.
The specialized court now includes 41 participants with another 18 graduates still on probation. There is a waiting list of eight or nine people, Milliron said.
Milliron said he does not want to see a case overload diminish the probation officer's ability to oversee the participants.
The DUI court, which provides treatment for chronic drunken drivers who face state prison sentences, has handled nearly 100 cases during the past four years.
People who are arrested for drunken driving at least three times and who register high blood-alcohol levels when stopped by police are prone to rearrest, Milliron said. About 40 percent of chronic offenders will be rearrested.
Blair County started a DUI court in 2005 with federal and state funds with the hope to lower the recidivism rate to about 18 percent. There have been no rearrests of Blair County DUI Court graduates.
The court has become a model for other Pennsylvania counties, and the program has become popular with Blair County offenders who see the court as an alternative to spending a year behind bars at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill, Milliron said.
But Milliron, in court last Friday, had to break the news to one participant facing his third drunken driving offense that he would not be able to enroll in the county program but instead would be evaluated at a state prison for inclusion into a program known as Intermediate Punishment.
Under the state program, an offender will undergo seven months of treatment in a state prison, then spend seven months in a halfway house and seven months on house arrest.
Milliron and Blair County President Judge Jolene G. Kopriva are attempting to obtain state funds to hire an additional probation officer to expand the DUI court.
An application will be submitted to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency later this month, Kopriva said.
Magisterial district judges are imposing no-alcohol provisions as bail requirements, even for first-time offenders, and those who continue to drink while awaiting trial are being sent for state evaluation, Milliron said.
Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.
