Two offenders recently successfully completed the Starke Circuit Court’s Court Recovery Program.
The program was initiated by Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall in 2022. Judge Hall started the Court Recovery Program to divert many offenders facing felony drug cases to the treatment field and assess their level of abuse to “address their dependence on dangerous illegal drugs.”
Abby Columbia is a Starke County Court Services Adult and Juvenile Probation Officer and who also works as a probation officer with the Court Recovery Program. She says an offender enters the program on a voluntary basis and then an assessment is made.
Columbia stated, “The team meets and decides if they’re a good fit for the program and if they are then they’re sentenced to probation and the recovery program is condition of probation. Their sentence could be anywhere from 12 to 24 months I would say and then they agree to participate in all kinds of services. One big thing that they have to do is complete a treatment program in that time.”
Currently, about seven people have successfully completed their work in the program.
“The program is ever evolving too so we’re making changes as we go and as we see fit,” commented Columbia.
Lavotis French, 57, and Robbie Hurley, 42, both entered the program on a voluntary basis to address their addictions. They faced Judge Hall in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday afternoon for their sentencing hearings after previously pleading guilty in a plea agreement with the State on a Level 6 Felony charge of possession of methamphetamine. As part of that agreement, if they successfully completed the Court Recovery Program, the charge of possession of methamphetamine would be treated as a Class A misdemeanor and any other charges against them in the case would be dismissed.
That was the order in both cases Wednesday as French and Hurley both successfully completed the Court Recovery Services program. French and Hurley were free to go, but not before receiving certificates from Judge Hall to recognize their achievements.
French started the program in June 2022 and has suffered with substance abuse for many years.
Hurley had been a participant in the program for 18 months. He told WKVI News that he learned that a person who wants to learn the tools to face drug addiction needs to have help as it is difficult to tackle alone. He said if there is an offer to get help, take it.
“I’ve essentially had a 30-year drug addiction,” offered Hurley. “It’s been most of my life. I thought that I had control of my life better than anybody. All it takes is to get down to the bottom and finding out that there’s another door that opens up and that bottom goes even farther. It takes getting farther than the bottom to realize how bad off you are and how much help that you do need. This is a fantastic program and addiction is a disease and it’s a terrifying disease to individuals and families.”
He said he is excited to see what a sober life has to offer and will continue with what he’s learned to accomplish that goal.
Megan Johnston oversees the Court Services Program. She works as a case manager for Porter-Starke Services and is a liaison for Starke Circuit Court. She said it takes about a year for someone to successfully complete the Court Services Program.
“It takes time for people to change their lifestyle and develop new habits so we want to keep for a good chunk of time,” said Johnston. “Throughout that year or year-and-a-half, they’re doing different things. They might start with IOP which is Intensive Outpatient Treatment. That’s nine hours a week and that’s for two months straight. For that first two months, usually they’re doing IOP or another form of treatment. Once they get done with that they might move on to a relapse prevention where it’s one hour a week so it’s sort of like a step down. Throughout that year there’s a lot of different components and different aspects of the program they’re participating in.”
Those within the program thank Judge Hall for creating the program and for giving those offenders going through the justice system who suffer with substance abuse a chance to get the resources they need to improve their lives.
For more information, contact Starke County Court Services under the Direction of Shawn Mattraw at 574-772-2258.
