The mille lacs county drug treatment court in minnesota's seventh judicial district is an adult drug court serving a rural area and provides service to a native american population in mille lacs county

This $600,358 federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (CFDA 16.585 - Treatment Court Discretionary Grant Program) supports the Mille Lacs County Drug Treatment Court in Minnesota's Seventh Judicial District. The court serves a rural area with a Native American population and provides services to approximately 80 high-risk, high-need felony-level offenders with substance use disorders over the 4-year grant period from October 2024 to September 2028. The grant funding will enable the court to deliver evidence-based substance abuse treatment, recovery management, drug testing, performance monitoring, and program evaluation components. The goal is to reduce recidivism, increase access to treatment and recovery services, and provide alternatives to traditional criminal justice approaches for individuals with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health challenges.

The court accepts pre- and post-adjudicated felony level participants. Four goals identified for mille lacs drug court include saving lives, enhancing public safety, securing funding, and evaluating the program's outputs. The current maximum capacity is 30 participants. The program expects the total number of participants to receive services over the life of the grant would be approximately 80. The target population is high-risk, high-need offenders who are chemically dependent. Criminogenic risk and need are screened and assessed through the risk and needs triage administered by the department of corrections agent during the screening process as supplemented by the level of service/case management inventory. The focus will specifically connect to the target population, substance abuse treatment and recovery management, drug testing, performance monitoring and evaluation components of the best practice standards.