Indiana Justice Honors Drug Court Graduates

Aug 29, 2023 by Dani Messick

GOSHEN — Indiana Supreme Court Justice Christopher Goff came to Goshen Monday to celebrate with Elkhart County courts at the Elkhart County’s Drug Court Celebration Ceremony.

“I believe that everybody is endowed with inherent dignity and worth — and they lost that sometimes, but it’s our job as justice professionals to help connect them to it,” Goff said. “And we can walk and chew gum at the same time — it’s not being soft on crime. No, if there’s really scary people, there’s always room at the inn, but when people have the kind of issues that come into Drug Court, we need to do our best to make sure they’re saved. This movement, the things that are happening here are just so important.”

At the ceremony, Elkhart County Superior Court 4 Judge Gretchen Lund and her drug court staff honored 18 graduates of the drug court program, as well as their families and support systems. She also presented Goff, St. Mark’s United Methodist Church Pastor Tony Brinson, and Jail Ministry Pastor Cory Martin with a framed copy of a poem, written by Martin based on his observation of experiences had by participants of drug court that he’d posted to the jail ministry Facebook page.

Drug court participants meet Mondays for 18 months or more in an intensive criminal court for nonviolent drug offenders.

“This is not an easy program,” Judge Lund said. “Our participants have chosen to take a difficult path because they want what everyone wants, just to live a normal happy life.”

Participants can earn a reduction in charges or dismal of their cases upon completion.

“So many times what they’re facing is due to their addiction,” said Pastor Tony Brinson. “It’s not due to them being bad people. I would say the majority of the people that are coming here are incarcerated for some related reason to addiction. Instead of treating the symptoms, drug court is treating the root cause.”

Jenna Dougall joined the Elkhart County Drug Court program in November 2020, and graduated in January 2023. She recalled to fellow participants her moment when she knew she needed to get clean.

“My life before drug court was really broken,” she recalled. An addict of meth for 10 years, Dougall had lost her two children, lost jobs, ruined friendships and relationships. “I remember every time I went to jail, I promised my parents and my children that I would get out and do the right thing. That was never the case. I never had any intentions of staying clean.”

She’d complete probation or work release and follow the rules well enough to finish out her sentence, only to return to drugs immediately following — even when she was homeless.

“I devoted all my time and energy into getting high instead of being a mother to my children,” she said. “I’ll never forget the sound of relief in my mom’s voice the last time I was in jail. Not because she wanted me to be in jail, but because she knew she wasn’t going to get a phone call saying that I was dead.”

When she finally convinced her parents to bail her out, they took her directly to SPA Women’s Ministries, where she stayed for six months and eventually got into the drug court program.

“I’m not the person who made it through drug court without trouble,” Dougall admitted. “I tried to manipulate the system again, but with the drug court team believing in me to do better and pushing me, I was able to cut out all of the past people, places, and things. … All of the drug court team believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.”

In January 2022, however, her new husband overdosed and almost died in her arms.

“I didn’t even know he was using until it happened,” she recalled. “I finally knew what it felt like for my parents to have to watch someone they loved so much slowly kill themselves.”

A week later, Dougall failed a court-mandated drug test.

“I don’t know why Judge Lund and the drug court team gave me my very last chance to go back into treatment and get help that I needed, but they did,” she said.

After months of treatment, she went back to home to her parents’ house, and worked on relationships with her kids and her husband.

“I learned to love myself again,” she recalled.

At 505 days clean as of Monday, Dougall said she’s a part of both her kids’ lives, she and her husband have a home again, and she’s a mental health technician for Indiana Center for Recovery’s Substance Abuse floor.

“I didn’t come this far just to come this far,” she said.