A new kind of probation that focuses on helping addicts turn their lives around is offering an improved option here, program officials said.

The program is called drug court, but a better description of it would be &#8220drug probation,” said Warren County Circuit Court Judge Frank Vollor, who has led the establishment of the program here.

The Warren County Drug Court got its first participant about six months ago. Today about 27 are enrolled, and practically all of them report to the drug court’s headquarters, in the Warren County alternative courtroom building at 1220 Clay St., for a meeting with Vollor each Monday night.

&#8220There are people we have seen who would’ve been thrown away in the system before, and they’re working and staying clean,” Vollor said.

The program was begun here by Vollor and his staff with four participants around June 1. It has a goal of 100 participants by this time next year.

&#8220They come in with all sorts of and all types of situations,” Vollor said of the program’s participants so far.

&#8220Some of them are denying that they have a drug problem or they don’t think it’s that bad. Others really want help. They come in with all types of attitudes. And we try to get them to the point where they realize they have a problem and they want help and then actualize it themselves, with the help of others.”

People who plead guilty to certain crimes and are deemed eligible for drug-court probation may have the convictions on which they enter the program expunged from their records if they complete the program.

Eligibility is established by a team of about 10 people led by Vollor. The team includes the district attorney, a public defender for the program, three drug-court staffers hired by the county for the program, representatives of treatment providers. The team hasn’t accepted everyone who’s otherwise been eligible for the program and some who have been accepted have chosen not to participate, District Attorney Gil Martin said.

&#8220We had some that we didn’t think had a real drug problem and were trying to use this to get their sentence expunged – faking a drug problem,” Vollor said.

In turn, the program is stricter than standard probation and those who fail to complete it generally face longer suspended prison terms than those on standard probation.

The program’s public defender, Vicksburg attorney Richard E. Smith Jr., helps identify defendants who may be eligible for the program and explains its risks and potential rewards to those who are considering participating. Smith said he meets with each prospective participant for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Each participant in the program’s beginning phase is tested three times a week in the alternative-courtroom building and is subject to additional testing at any time by the program’s field officer, with portable drug-testing equipment.

Vollor also convenes drug court weekly from the bench in the alternative courtroom. Participants who are required to attend sit in rows in front of Vollor while he conducts a brief interview with each.

&#8220They’re here every Monday night,” Vollor said of those meetings. &#8220Whereas in regular probation they may just see their probation officer once a month and be tested once a month.”

One feature of the program that allows it to work is that it requires participants to waive many of their legal rights.

Such waivers allow members of the drug-court team to discuss each participant’s case, any new admissions and any adjustments that may be necessary. Such discussions happen during the lunch hour each Monday.

Vollor then imposes sanctions, ranging from increasing the number of 12-step meetings a participant is required to attend during a week to jailing a participant. Prison terms imposed for drug-court sanctions are usually one to five days, Vollor said. If harsher sanctions are warranted the judge will usually consider removing the person from drug court, he added.

&#8220I start off my conversation telling them, ‘If you mess up, you’re going to jail,’ and I end my conversation telling them, ‘You know if you mess up you’re going to jail,’” Smith said.

The program also provides more and more-coordinated help for participants to overcome their addictions. Enforced participation in independently operated 12-step programs is a key component.

The increased supervision, help for addicts and coordination the program requires makes its per-day, per-convict cost to taxpayers higher than that of standard probation but not as high as incarceration.

The Warren County program’s first year is budgeted to cost $249,000, $157,000 from the state’s Administrative Office of Courts and $92,000 from county taxpayers. The additional county expense contributed to supervisors’ decision earlier this year to increase the county’s property-tax rate.

The drug-court program’s expenses include payments for drug-treatment programs. Standard-probation convicts who need drug treatment must pay for it on their own unless they can find a free program, Vollor said.

&#8220That’s one of the big advantages because so many of these people need treatment and could not afford it with regular probation,” Vollor said.

Plans are for the program to expand to Sharkey and Issaquena counties, which are also in the circuit-court district that includes Warren County. Judge Isadore Patrick said he will conduct drug court in those counties.

&#8220As we grow, we will have our team meetings up there,” Patrick said.

Vollor delivered a talk on the new program to members of the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce Nov. 18, touting drug-court participants as good employees and informing potential employers of the availability of per-employee tax credits for hiring participants.