• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota's first special drug and alcohol courts have successfully rehabilitated offenders and should be expanded to new cities as part of the state's wide-ranging effort to cut prison costs by overhauling the criminal justice system, South Dakota Supreme Chief Justice David Gilbertson said Wednesday.
• About half those sent to prison for drug crimes are arrested for new drug offenses within a few years of being released, but more than 80 percent of those who have completed intensive treatment in drug and alcohol courts have not committed new offenses, Gilbertson said in his annual State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the South Dakota House and Senate.
• "These are courts for addicts. Drug pushers, along with violent criminals, are not, and will not, be placed in an alcohol or drug court program. For the safety of the public, they will be placed in the penitentiary," the chief justice said.
• Gilbertson also said court officials are working with other state agencies and Veterans Affairs to start treatment outside jail or prison for military veterans who get into trouble because of addictions or mental health problems.
• In addition, the judicial system continues to work on upgrading its interpreter services for people who end up in court but do not speak or read English well, he said.
• House Republican Leader David Lust said the special courts make sense because so many crimes are connected to the abuse of alcohol and drugs.
• "It's no surprise in trying to address our criminal justice system and reform it that alcohol and drug courts come to the fore," said Lust, a lawyer from Rapid City.
• Gilbertson spoke to lawmakers a day after Gov. Dennis Daugaard asked the Legislature to approve a sweeping proposal to cut prison costs by treating more of those convicted of nonviolent crimes outside prison walls. A panel appointed by

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