Gainesville, GA - Gov. Nathan Deal signs legislation in front of a packed drug court in Gainesville that could lead to alternatives to some prison sentences in Georgia.

The bill creates a 13-member commission that will study the state's criminal justice justice system and present its findings to the legislature next January.

"Mental health courts (and) DUI courts, we know that they all work... their recidivism rates are much lower than normal incarceration and it does give people the opportunity to reclaim their lives," says Deal.

His son Judge Jason Deal presides over Hall County's drug court.

"Quite honestly, drug court turns tax burdens into taxpayers,"  says the younger Deal.

Angela Frazier, a graduate of Deal's drug court, spoke of the program's success in her life.

"It didn't just keep me out of prison, drug court gave me a life that, before I was arrested, I didn't think was possible," she says.