At yesterday's meeting of the Chester County Commissioners, the court system recieved a grant totalling $351,729 from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to implement a program that could be described as a cross between the existing Intermediate Punishment Program (IPP) and Drug Court. Common Pleas Court Judge William P. Mahon, who presides over Drug Court, will also be presiding over the new program. Judge Mahon made the announcement prior to the reconvening of his scheduled court session.
The Restrictive Intermediate Punishment (RIP) program offers sentencing guidelines based along the same lines as the existing IPP program, where a combination of imprisonment, electronic home monitoring, and treatment with intenesive supervision by the Adult Probation and Parole Office. The RIP program is designed for drug offenders whose offenses are categorized by the Sentencing Guidelines as Level 3 or Level 4 (which the state guidelines also classify as "Boot Camp Eligible") and whom would not otherwise be eligible for Drug Court (such as certain drug offenses which carry mandatory minimum sentences, theft related offenses, and forgery). Such offenses under normal circumstances offer the option of state incarceration.
According to Jennifer Lopez, the Drug Court Coordinator for the Adult Probation Office, the RIP program for most offenders would last from 6-to-12 months. The program would include an initial period of incarceration at Chester County Prison for up to 90 days, where the term in jail would be "clinically driven" based on what type of treatment the courts deem neccesary. This would be followed by a period of electronic home monitoring upon relase from jail, intensive in-patient treatment, assignment to a halfway house, or a combination of all three for the remainder of the supervision period.
The program itself is expected to go into full effect in early November.
LINK: Adult Probation Office RIP summary
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