Area ‘Drug Court’ marks ten years of bringing change

“I sure didn’t expect I would ever be advocating for the Drug Court program,” stated area graduate Ken Holmseth. He remembers “I was convinced the justice system was out to get me.”

 

Holmseth was one of three Waseca graduates who spoke Tuesday, July 16 during a celebration ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the Steele/Waseca County Drug Court.

 

As has been explained in past Waseca County Pioneer articles, Drug Court is a locally operated program which offers an alternative to eligible individuals convicted of a crime related to chemical abuse. Those selected are typically offenders who have previously served sentences for at least one chemical-related crime. Drug Court staff members approach them with a choice: either serve the sentence behind bars or consent to take part in a closely supervised program meant to help them begin the process of recovery while also reconnecting with their community–including family, neighbors, and employers.

 

Drug Court graduates have repeatedly told the Pioneer that following the Drug Court regimen is difficult and demanding: though they do avoid time behind bars, they are required to meet all financial obligations, including paying fines, restitution to victims, and–when applicable–child support. They are also expected to catch up on major life achievements their addiction may have kept them from completing, for example earning a GED or acquiring a driver's license. They must also attend counseling, get and keep a job, and consent to random testing to confirm they are not using chemicals.

 

The Waseca site’s first graduate, Ashly Sylvester, spoke at last week’s event. Sylvester expressed gratitude for the “entirely changed” life course she has been able to follow since her 2016 graduation.

 

Anyone who “drops out” of Drug Court must serve the incarceration time they were sentenced to; it typically takes about two years to meet all the requirements of the program.

 

Waseca County Attorney Rachel Cornelius points out it costs about $76,000 a year to incarcerate an individual in the state of Minnesota. Supervising someone in drug court is about $4,800 a year. But most significantly, comments Cornelius, “Drug Court rebuilds people’s lives and their connections to the people they have often alienated. It gives them a path out of the cycle of addiction and incarceration.”

 

Cornelius praises Drug Court coordinator Nicole Grams: “Without her, our program would not have gotten started 10 years ago. She has worked hard to keep our drug court thriving.”

 

Grams, in turn, says that, although she has been in the field of probation for 24 years, the most recent 10 working with Drug Court have brought her the strongest sense of accomplishment and personal satisfaction. “We get to make a difference by helping our drug court participants restore their lives.” Also rewarding, she says, is “the ripple effect it has on their families, employers, and community. Court has also forged stronger working relationships among the criminal justice professionals in our community.”

 

In its ten years of existence, the Steele/Waseca Drug Court program has “graduated” more than 100 area individuals. Three of those graduates, including Holmseth, spoke during last week’s ceremony.

 

“Nobody thought I was going to make it,” he stated during his talk. “I had an attitude about the justice system and everybody in it.”

 

Holmseth said his cynicism continued until one day he saw tears in Cornelius’s eyes during a graduation ceremony for another participant.

 

“That compassion showed me a side of the justice system I was never willing to consider existed,” he stated. “That’s when I had to realize the system is maybe not out to get me, and maybe that chip on my shoulder needed to be broken.”

 

Also a speaker during the celebration was graduate Emily Nelson. Nelson told of having been raised by substance-addicted parents. “From the beginning,” she observed, “my entire life was centered around addiction.” After being introduced to methamphetamine at 19, she said she entered a “very long, vicious cycle of abuse, crime, and incarceration.

 

“It was rare when I wasn’t on a local jail roster,” she mentioned, saying she saw no future for herself except to “die with a needle in my arm.”

 

Faced with the choice whether to enter Drug Court or serve yet another sentence and “miss another two years of my son’s life,” Nelson took part in the program beginning in 2017.

 

She told everyone gathered at the session she is now working toward the goal of becoming a professionally licensed counselor.

 

As the celebration closed, plaques were presented to members of the law enforcement and justice systems who regularly contribute to the Drug Court’s on-going programs. Honorees included Steele and Waseca County district court judges, members of the county attorney office, Drug Court coordinator Nicole Grams, probation supervisors, law enforcement officers, and more.