Morrison County community corrections reports lower drug offense counts, steady DWI caseload and drug court outcomes

Community Corrections presented a year‑to‑date update and multi‑year recidivism data to the Morrison County Board on Sept. 23, describing caseloads, drug court results and recent changes in staffing to target supervised release and mental‑health needs.

Nicole (last name not stated), identified as the community corrections director, told commissioners the office currently supervises 896 open clients (as of Aug. 7, 2025), including 668 local supervision cases and 126 transfer cases. Warrant cases were described as fluid, at about 102 at the time of the report.

Nicole said the county’s drug court — active since 2014 — has received 105 referrals over its life, with 45 participants graduating. Of those graduates, 35 were employed full time at the time of graduation; some participants elected to execute their sentence rather than remain in the program, and others were removed for legal or rule‑violation reasons. She summarized: “Drug court is hard,” explaining the frequency of required contacts, frequent drug testing and the program’s intensity.

The office reported recidivism statistics using a three‑year follow up for cohorts that completed supervision in 2020. For probation cases, one‑year, two‑year and three‑year reoffense rates were relatively low (report lists approximately 95% and 92% non‑reoffense levels in the first year for some measures), while supervised‑release recidivism was higher — an area staff singled out for targeted improvement.

To address supervised‑release outcomes, the county added an agent position funded in part by increased state subsidy funding; that position focuses on supervised release and medium‑high risk offenders, allowing other agents to spend more time on specialized caseloads such as sex‑offender supervision. The director also noted the creation of a dedicated mental‑health agent assignment (not a new position) to better support clients with serious, persistent mental‑health needs; that agent works closely with Morrison County Adult Mental Health services.

Board members asked whether drug court could expand to include some gross‑misdemeanor offenses such as DWI; Nicole said some Minnesota drug courts already handle gross misdemeanors and that the county’s drug court team — including Judge Lester, who the board indicated will continue to preside over drug court — plans to review whether to broaden the court’s scope. Nicole said adding many DWIs would require approval through the statewide treatment court initiative process, but targeted additions of specific gross‑misdemeanor drug or DWI cases could be pursued locally and would be discussed by the drug‑court team.

Commissioners asked about graduate outcomes over time; Nicole said the office tracks graduates and would compile more specific three‑year follow‑up data for the board on requests.

Ending Community Corrections emphasized recidivism monitoring and staff capacity as priorities and will return with additional metrics. The board acknowledged the report and asked staff to provide follow‑up recidivism data for drug‑court graduates and to continue evaluating whether to expand drug‑court eligibility to include selected gross‑misdemeanor cases.