Court systems throughout Illinois, including La Salle County, might soon face backlogs of drug cases as state budget cuts slash the potential referral programs of the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities starting today as the new budget year begins.

TASC acts as a liaison between community-based treatment programs and the drug courts to help slow the criminal addiction cycle and reduce the number of convicted offenders in public prisons and jails.

TASC also provides pre- and post-release re-entry management services for state facilities such as the Sheridan Correctional Center to assist the transition of inmates from incarceration back into Illinois communities.

In a press release sent to judges and other public officials June 16, TASC President Melody Heaps said the drug treatment program may no longer be able to accept clients from the state's criminal justice system starting July 1. She wrote the Department of Human Services has notified her agency's budget has been cut by "72 percent to 76 percent."

Heaps founded the independent, nonprofit TASC agency in 1976 to provide substance abuse assessments, treatment placement and monitoring of eligible nonviolent drug offenders in Cook County. Three years later, the state's Dangerous Drug Commission contracted TASC to be the sole provider of substance abuse assessments and treatment recommendations for all Illinois judicial districts.

According to recent records, nearly 5,500 offenders were directed to TASC in 2008 under a state statute, which allows for supervised treatment programs as an alternative to prison for certain nonviolent drug convictions. Illinois criminal defendants might soon incur more prison sentences instead of serving probation and enrolling in the drug treatment programs ordered by the courts if TASC funding is not soon reinstated, Heaps wrote.

Tim Cappellini, La Salle County Public Defender, agrees.

"More than 100 people a year are referred to TASC evaluations from this courthouse. It is a good program for nonviolent addicts to get their lives back in order."

He said if TASC services are not available for a sentencing option, over-burdened county courts will face backlogs and "it will cost us more."

Cappellini previously said his office would continue to seek drug evaluations for clients in the court system even if there were no agencies to perform them. He realizes that could cause chaos for the judicial system.

La Salle County State's Attorney Brian Towne described the TASC program as "extensive and very difficult to complete." He added, "However, addicts who are willing to enter the program stand a better chance of rehabilitation and, therefore, repeat offenses are reduced.

"In the 17 years I have been a prosecutor, my goal has been to keep La Salle County crime-free." Towne added. "TASC is important to help reduce crime."

He also surmised that without TASC, both the county and state would spend significantly more money for drug-related offenses in the immediate future.

Looking beyond the potential cost factors, Heaps stressed if funding is reduced, neighborhoods would be less safe. In response to the budget cuts, she has instituted a two-week furlough for many TASC staffers beginning July 1. She added terminations from her agency may soon follow.

"The impact of service cessation will mean that approximately 25,000 criminal justice-referred clients who would have received substance abuse treatment this year in the state's public treatment system and have active addictions and criminal histories, will be living in our communities without treatment or appropriate supervision," she stressed.

In addition, if the cuts are not reversed, she estimates nearly 11,000 offenders now in the Department of Correction would be granted early release further exacerbating the situation.

"Clearly," Heaps concluded, "state budget and attendant cuts represent a cost shift for public safety from the state to counties."

However, despite the gloomy predictions from for TASC and other budget-affected human service agencies, there may be a small light at the end of the fiscal tunnel.

On Monday, the Illinois House of Representatives approved a $2.3 billion borrowing plan to reduce the massive cuts. According to lawmakers, if the measure passes the Senate and is signed by Gov. Pat Quinn, the impact to TASC and other state-financed groups should be less dramatic.