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.