FAIRMONT — As in many other states, the prison population in West Virginia is increasing quickly.

Although violent crimes are on the decline, the population of West Virginia’s prisons is quickly outgrowing the capacity of the state’s facilities, according to Joe Thornton, deputy secretary of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, which is the agency that oversees the Division of Corrections.

Currently the state has room for 5,000 prisoners in state prisons. However, there are now 6,200 inmates who have been sentenced to terms in state prisons, Thornton said. That means there are 1,200 prisoners who should be confined to state prisons but are instead sitting in regional jails awaiting transfer to prisons when a bed opens up.

“It’s a matter of perspective, but I think we’re at a crisis level right now,” Thornton said. “And now were running out of space in the regional jails, too.”

And the problem is likely to get worse. According to Thornton, the number of those sentenced to serve terms in a state prison is predicted to rise to around 8,000 by 2012.

Gov. Joe Manchin has appointed a commission to study the overcrowding issue, Thornton said, and there are several solutions being discussed to deal with the overcrowding problem.

One of the possible solutions to the problem, and one that counties in the state are beginning to look at closely, is establishing drug courts. Drug courts are designed for non-violent offenders convicted of drug-related crimes, said Linda Richmond Artimez, director of mental hygiene for the West Virginia Supreme Court.

A criminal is placed in the drug-court system by a judge and is required to undergo treatment for addiction, Artimez said. The goal is to get the offender to change their lives and stay out of the criminal-justice system.

Five new drug courts will soon be operating in the state. Courts will soon be up and running in Monongalia and Preston counties along with Pocahontas, Kanawha and Cabell, according to Artimez.

Marion County judges are not exploring establishing a drug court in Marion County in the near future and are instead looking into other alternative sentencing options.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Fred Fox pointed out that he and other judges are looking into establish a day-report center in conjunction with Preston County.

A day-report center is an alternative sentencing program where released inmates, or offenders who have been referred into the program by a judge, report to an agency to receive intensive monitoring and counseling.

Fox said it takes a significant amount of time to start both day-report centers and drug courts in an area, and that the day-report center is the first priority. However, although local officials are concentrating on the day-report center, Fox said he believes that a drug court would work in this county.

“The majority of crimes in this county are connected to drugs,” he said.

Fox estimates that more than half of the crimes committed in Marion County are drug related. The veteran judge, who has sat on the bench for 38 years, said drug-related crimes continue to rise in the county.

Fox said drug courts are a way of treating the reasons behind the crime instead of just locking up a person. He added that in many cases, a person is sent to prison for a drug-related crime only to return to society still addicted to drugs after serving a sentence.

“And then we see that person in the courtroom again,” Fox said.

Fox said he has heard nothing but positive reviews from other judges who are associated with drug courts.

Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Russell Clawges Jr. agreed with Fox about the potential benefits that could be reaped from a drug court. Clawges said that drug courts are designed to address the drug addiction itself instead of merely locking the criminal in a facility.

“A drug court is supposed to teach an addict how to deal with their addiction so it can be treated,” he said.

Clawges said that the only complaint he has heard about drug courts is that they put a greater workload on judges and magistrates. The drug-court model calls for a judge or magistrate to see the offender on a regular basis.

“I’ve heard people say that we’re judges, not social workers,” Clawges said. “And it requires a lot of time from people who don’t have a lot of time to give.

“But on the upside, if the drug court is successful, and evidence shows they are, then we’ll see the offender become a responsible member of society,” he added.

Drug courts are not a new concept in community corrections. Currently, there are four drug-court programs operating in West Virginia, with five more in the planning stages.

The first drug court was in Miami-Dade County, Fla., according to Chris Deutsch, associated director of communications for the National Association for Drug Court Professionals. He said an extensive amount of research has been conducted to ascertain the effectiveness of the program.

“And the fact is that drug courts work,” Deutsch said. “Drug courts are entering their 20th year — they are no longer an experiment.”

According to Deutsch, around 60 percent of drug-court graduates remain drug-free for at least two years after leaving the program. He added that studies have also shown that drug courts also reduce crime in the community they serve by as much as 35 percent. He said that studies also show that drug courts save states and counties money because they cut down on the inmate population in both jails and prisons.

“I think one of the reasons drug courts are so effective is because they treat the addiction that causes the criminal behavior,” Deutsch said.

He said the non-violent offenders not only undergo counseling for their drug addiction, but they also must pass multiple, random drug tests to be permitted to continue the program.

Deutsch added that approximately 1.2 million prison inmates around the country would most likely be accepted in a drug-court program.

E-mail Paul Fallon at pfallon@timeswv.com.