Monmouth Drug Court Graduates 24

The graduates were typical in many ways: they crossed the stage bearing broad smiles and were greeted with the applause of family and friends. But the 24 men and women recognized at in Manalapan on Monday weren’t simply taking part in a rite of passage. They were celebrating renewed relationships with family members. They were celebrating steady jobs and academic degrees. And at the completion of their time in the Monmouth County drug court program, they were celebrating a combined 82 years of sobriety.

For 10 years, the county’s drug court program has provided an alternative to jail time for individuals with substance abuse problems who have been arrested on a nonviolent offense, according to New Jersey Drug Court Manager Carol Venditto. Drugs courts have been cropping up in vicinages across the country over the past decade as judges and attorneys saw addicts appearing again and again in courtrooms, she said.

“Judges and treatment providers decided to get on the same page and develop a program of supervision and judicial oversight and combine that with treatment,” Venditto said.

An individual must make an application to enter the rigorous drug court process, which lasts three- to five-years. Participants are required to attend meetings of 12-step programs, report to probation and court officers, submit to random urine screenings, be employed or attend school, and complete community service. The program consists of four phases during which they progressively allowed more freedom from reporting to court and probation meetings.

“There’s a lot involved but we supply them with the structure that normally they have never had. Sometimes in the beginning there’s a resistance but as they go along the way we reward them with the different phases,” said Monmouth County Probation Officer Jill Trudell.

Venditto noted that because of the rigors of the program, some offenders are more inclined to take jail time rather than apply to drug court. However, those who commit to the program find a network of support for their sobriety.

“People told me don’t take drug court, it’s a setup. But I think I’ve been set up pretty good,” said drug court graduate Sheldon A., who obtained a degree from Brookdale Community College and became a father during the course of the program. “Thank you for setting me up to have a better life, to be a productive member of society, to be a good father, a better son, a better brother, a better friend.”

Before taking drug court, Krista S. had lost custody of her daughter. Family court Judge Terence Flynn said her commitment to her sobriety and her success in drug court made his decision to eventually award custody back to Krista S. an easy one.

“The judges in Monmouth County feel drug court is not an excuse—it is a reason, it is a hope, it is a relief. Krista changed. She worked through this program,” Flynn told the graduates and the audience. “You are here because of yourselves. Nobody disputes the major effort for somebody to overcome an addiction.”

In addition to getting her child back in her life, Krista S. was able to reconnect with her mother before her death from cancer.

“Graduating drug court is a huge accomplishment for me. I’ve never stuck around to accomplish anything,” she said. “Drug court made me free. These years in drug court—it wasn’t waiting to be free, it was every day I was free. I was free of my old life. I was free of going to jail. It’s a freedom I’ve never felt.”