CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There have 126 people, as of Friday, to graduate from the Kanawha County Adult Drug Court.
“Each of them has an opportunity to move forward and stay in recovery and I’m very excited about that,” said Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Bailey lead the 22nd graduation for the program Friday in Charleston. There were 7 graduates.
The program, founded in 2009, handles pre-adjudication, post-conviction, probation violation and DUI cases. It seeks to enhance public safety while providing a treatment, rehabilitation and intense monitoring with the goal of returning drug-free, law abiding and productive citizens.
Bailey said she would prefer sending someone to drug court rather than prison.
“We’re saving their lives. We’re restoring families. We are actually saving money. The cost to be in drug court is about one-third of what it would cost if this person were incarcerated,” she said.
It’s important to help these people restore their lives, Bailey said.
“We have extremely good numbers on helping them to move forward to be productive citizens rather than back in the justice system,” she said. “Our goal is to work them out and make them law abiding citizens as opposed to law breaking citizens.”
In addition to the more than 120 people who have graduated, 12 drug-free babies have been delivered to mothers in recovery since the program’s inception.