Auburn’s Treatment Release Program accounted for 224 combined treatment releases to drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services in all of 2007.

According to a program update Auburn Police Chief Jim Kelly recently presented to the city’s Municipal Services Committee, 224 is the most releases in the program’s seven-year history, beating by 35 percent the previous record of 166 set in 2006.

The total includes offenders who were given more than one chance to finish treatment and others who could not make it work and had to serve out their full court-imposed sentence.

According to the report, 76 of the 224 people released in 2007 committed a total of 155 new offenses somewhere in the state of Washington, a recidivism rate of 34 percent. According to the report, that number compares favorably to the national recidivism averages of more than 90 percent for untreated chemically dependent offenders, and nearly 100 percent for those suffering from mental health problems and chemical dependencies.

According to the report, the total for new criminal offenses committed within the city shows that 37 of the people released last year committed new offenses in the city, 53 misdemeanors and 10 felonies. An Auburn-only recidivism rate would be 16.52 percent.

As for costs, the total expenditure for all treatment release expenses in 2007 averages out to $29.70 per day when divided by the total number of bed days. Right now, the lowest estimated cost for one day in jail is $75.04.

According to the report, several factors are responsible for the low cost of a day in treatment. Among these are new treatment release resources that the state of Washington and King County have made available. When possible, the program also taps the federally-funded Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Support Act. In addition, expanded partnership with Sound Mental Health and other direct-release Auburn contracts that the City Council has authorized have helped cut costs.

Court and Probation Manager Greg Bockh said the Treatment Release program keeps a running total of money that would have been spent had the offenders served their full court-ordered sentences, and those costs run into the millions every year. By the end of 2007, combining both drug and alcohol and mental health courts, the cost of incarceration would have been $6.5 million.

“By any measure, it’s a success,” Bockh said. “Whether the issue is recidivism or the cost itself or the change in people’s lives who choose the opportunity – and not all of them do – it’s definitely a win.”