Judge talks about benefits of Recovery Court

JACKSON, Tenn. — Judge Don Allen spoke at a local organization’s meeting on Monday.

The judge made a guest appearance at the Old Hickory Rotary Club meeting in the DoubleTree Hotel.

While at the meeting, the judge spoke about Recovery Court and its benefits. Recovery Court is a specialty court that Allen implemented in Madison County in the early 2000s.

It aims to keep non-violent drug offenders out of prison. Instead, they go into a program that allows them to get off drugs and become a successful member of society.

There are several qualifying factors for people to be eligible for Recovery Court, such as possessing a substance abuse problem, being charged with a felony, misdemeanor, or violation of probation.

“Ultimately, the program is about saving lives and breaking the cycle of addiction. That’s really the key to the program. It’s that we want to, hopefully, help the person who’s been addicted to drugs for, you know, numbers of years to see a new hope and a new opportunity at life that, maybe, they didn’t think they would have without this program,” Allen said.

Since the creation of Recovery Court, Allen has had around 400 participants successfully complete the program.

You can read more about Recovery Court in the city here.

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