The majority of people in U.S. prisons suffer from some form of mental disorder. Lennie Coleman was one of them. The 66-year-old had just served nearly three years for threatening his neighbors when he was arrested again for drugs. Even his neighbors said he needed help. The law said Coleman should go to prison on the latest charge. Judge David Kaufman had to decide what was in the best interests of both the defendant and the community.
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Legislators pass laws. Judges uphold them. But when people bring their problems to court, judges catch the idiosyncrasies lawmakers miss. Judge David Kaufman found such flaws in Senate Bill 123, which provides state funds to help pay for drug treatment while people are on probation. Kaufman recently faced a young woman convicted of possessing methamphetamine and making minimal wages. The judge found she’d only be eligible for aid to help her drug problem if she was a more violent criminal.
Devon Thompson was on probation for drug possession, when he started using again and stopped seeing his supervising officer. When police showed up to serve him his arrest warrant, he told them he was someone else. After being sentenced to 24 months in prison on the drug charges, he went before Judge Ben Burgess for sentencing on obstruction of justice. Prosecutors asked for the judge to add nine months to Thompson’s sentence. Public defender Lacy Gilmour asked for probation. The judge had to decide if an extra nine months in prison would help a drug addict.