By SHRADDHA R. JAISWAL Special to the Daily Press
SM COURTHOUSE —- The weekly criminal drug court sessions here were permanently closed Thursday afternoon. Its recovering abusers, lawyers and judges will now move to the Airport Courthouse near LAX, where all of the city’s criminal proceedings will take place beginning Monday.
The drug court’s final session in Santa Monica was marked with its signature applause, tears and even rewards of cookies and chocolate for those doing well in their rehabilitation programs.
Described by some courthouse workers as the “touchy feely court,” the Santa Monica drug court has been in session for 10 years under the supervision of Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins. It has become a type of classroom and support group for drug offenders on the path to recovery.
Unlike most courtrooms where there’s a sense of detachment between judges and defendants, the drug court is unique because it focuses on rehabilitation, not punishment. Defendants whose crimes may have been induced by drugs appear in front of Judge Kamins and as part of their debt to society, are sentenced to drug court, where they will be forced to change their ways.
“It’s like a family — we’re all in here for a year, getting through this together,” said Angel Branscomb, a recovering abuser in the first part of the court’s four-phase program.
The courtroom has an aura of hosting a large family gathering as cheers at the successes and groans of disappointment at the slips in recovery emanate from those in the program. In that family, Judge Kamins plays the role of an encouraging parent as he praises those who have remained clean with a call for applause and with a Starbucks’ gift card as they move to each new phase.
“You’ve bit the bullet, and you’ve stayed clean,” said Kamins to one of the participants. “You really deserve a hand.”
Kamins’ words of encouragement stretch beyond the court session as he promises to make efforts to accommodate those trying to stay in a program by making calls to find them beds in rehab facilities.
“I don’t work on the basis of punishments,” Kamins said. “It’s rehabilitation (I’m after).”
But as supportive as Judge Kamins is to those who succeed, to fall off the wagon is to slip into the realm of consequences. During Thursday’s session, Judge Kamins issued two bench warrants and in one case, placed a man into custody not for relapsing, but for being charged with another crime while he was in the program.
“I do watch everyone’s back in drug court, but you turned around and thumbed your nose at me by picking up another case,” Judge Kamins told the defendant.
Judge Kamins meets privately with mediators, social workers and lawyers before drug court is in session to “bicker it out,” so when they’re in the courtroom, everyone’s on same page and it’s only him talking to the defendants.
The criminal court’s closure marked most of the day’s proceedings because many files had been boxed and made ready for shipping to the Airport Courthouse. Even some of Kamin’s rewards to his recovering abusers had been packed and moved to their new home.
As Judge Kamins neared the end of the cases on the docket Thursday afternoon, he paused to remind his audience of the court’s impending closure.
“You guys realize that these are the last criminal cases in Santa Monica,” Kamins sighed before forging on.
Although the move to a new future in a new place will force the family of recovering addicts, lawyers and a judge to travel across town to the Airport Courthouse for their weekly meetings, Kamins remains hopeful and loyal to Santa Monica.
“I’m not gone,” he said. “I’m just representing the city from afar.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.