ARMOR court gives residents opportunity for redemption

It’s an opportunity for redemption and a chance to start over for people, whose lives have come off the rails. For some Knox County residents, ARMOR Court is the difference between a rewarding life and a lifetime cycle of addiction, conviction, and incarceration.

The ARMOR Court of the Knox County Court of Common Pleas has earned final certification from the Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Specialized Dockets.

To receive the certification, a local court submits a detailed application, undergoes a visit and report on its practices, and provides specific program materials in response to certification standards that went into effect in January 2014.

Courts with specialized dockets address specific treatment needs of people, who are charged with a variety of offenses, using recommended best-practices that focus on offender accountability, behavior change, and recovery. There are 250 certified dockets in Ohio courts with expertise in areas such as: drug and alcohol addiction, mental health, domestic violence, and human trafficking.

The certification standards provide a minimum level of uniform practices for specialized dockets throughout Ohio, allowing local courts to innovate and tailor programs to meet their community’s needs and resources.

“Our ARMOR Court is now in its seventh year,” explained Knox County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Wetzel. “As a specialized docket, we must be certified by the Ohio Supreme Court every three years. Thanks to our great ARMOR Court staff and treatment team, we continue to assist people, struggling with addiction and other issues, to reach their recovery goals, and to have their lives restored.”

The certification requirements include establishing eligibility requirements, evaluating the effectiveness of the specialized docket, and assembling a treatment team to implement daily operations of the specialized docket. The team is headed by the specialized docket judge and can include licensed treatment providers, law enforcement, court personnel, and more.

Wetzel listens to participants attentively, from the bench. His demeaner is not too much unlike a corporate director, receiving a regular report from each one of his managers. He patiently asks questions. Each individual gives him a report of what he or she has done over the past week to get that much closer to achieving what they need to achieve in the course of their recovery. Wetzel asks questions about how their life is going, how the new job is going, or if they're getting to their meetings.

In mid-March, Alan, a recovering addict, who is also recovering from a traumatic brain injury that he received in an automobile accident, reported that he is doing well in his new job. Alan told Judge Wetzel that he is being trained to run a machine and getting new responsibilities, while he battles mild insomnia at home.

Carol mentioned that she is seeing a doctor for back pain, but she is working. Ashley received her phase one certification in the ARMOR program. She works at a local pizzeria.

To call these people criminals or even defendants, as they report on the ups and downs of their daily lives, seems completely inappropriate. By joining ARMOR, they have been fast tracked into a position akin to a business manager. In fact, the business that each one is managing, is their own life. Each personality is different and each has their own set of special circumstances that they have to work through every day, just to keep their life on track. Each one, however, is a manager in their own way.

At the heart of ARMOR is the relationship that develops between the participants, the judge, and courtroom personnel.

"ARMOR Court and specialized dockets in general, gives the judge an opportunity to get to know the participants," explained Kristi Downs, Intervention Specialist/Deputy Jury Commissioner for the Knox County Court of Common Pleas. "In a general court setting, they come in for a hearing, the judge acts based on what he's been told. There's an investigation and a report. So, the judge really doesn't get to talk to them very much before they are sentenced. With specialized dockets and ARMOR court, he can get to know them. He gets to learn about their struggles and maybe gives them some guidance on how to avoid coming back here. Whether it be an ARMOR counseling session, employment, mental health counseling, drug counseling, and alcohol counseling. They get a lot of help and they learn a lot of tools and skills to help them cope. They also have to unlearn some of the things that they learned their whole life that got them into trouble."

The benefits of choosing to go through the ARMOR program are obvious. In Ashley’s case, she joined as an ILC, or Intervention in-Lieu of Conviction.

"If they are charged with something like, for instance, a low-level felony possession of drugs, and they meet the criteria to be eligible for ILC, they have a one-year period of counseling, clean drug screens, and anything else their probation officer wants to order,” explained Downes. “If they go through that successfully, their case is dismissed and they won't have that felony on their record. So, it's a really good opportunity."

While it's an opportunity, it's also a lot of hard work. It's not just a matter of breaking addiction. It's a matter of breaking the habits that got them to that point, because those are the things that often take them back to addiction again.

Keeping the spirit of these people up when they know they're hitting a lot of dead ends is no easy task.

“It's hard, and you can't always do it,” said Downes. “There's only so much external support and advice you can give to anybody. Sometimes they're used to hitting road blocks and getting up. Any of us can do that, but we have to be their biggest cheerleader, because they don't always cheer for themselves. I know that sounds like a cliché, but it's true. They need to have faith in themselves that they want to do better and be better. We have to want that for them too, but we can only want for them so much.”

As a lifetime resident of Mount Vernon, Ashley grew up with a lack of structure in her life.

“Right now I feel like I have a lot of people on my side, helping me and supporting me,” said Ashley. “At first, I didn't like it because I grew up doing whatever I wanted, back then. Now, I understand because they help me and guide me through life.”

She was unable to admit that she was an addict.

“I knew everything,” said Ashley. “I had a kid at 14, and I raised myself pretty much. So, when I came to the conclusion that I was an addict, I went and got support from my P.O. (Probation Officer) and then I went and got help from ANEW. I love it here (at ARMOR Court.) I'm not ready for my year to be up, because then, who will I have? Right now, I feel like I have a bunch of support.”

Ashley shows great organizational skills and when ARMOR gave her an opportunity, she took it for all it was worth. Everything that Ashley does for ARMOR, as well as her probation officer, and her recovery agency is all written down and meticulously organized. One might be able to think of it as her life management calendar.

"This is something I do,” explained Ashley. “I have a busy schedule and so much to remember. This way, I can actually show (Judge Wetzel) what I'm doing to better myself.”

Now, at age 25, Ashley's life is gaining positive momentum.

"I have the structure around me to push me there,” said Ashley. “I've never had any of this happen before. I had never been in trouble. I've never had to do any of this, but I am grateful now, and I look at it as they're getting me to where I need to be. Without this, I would just be getting worse and get into trouble. Now, I've learned I never want to go back there. I never want to do it again."

The state requires that candidates for Armor Court undergo a ORAS risk assessment. This covers family background, medical history, employment history, criminal background, and prior offenses. All those things factor in and the score goes from 1 to 40.

“I've never seen a 40, but some of our most frequent felony people who have a long history of felony criminal activity get a higher number,” said Judge Wetzel. “Once they commit repeat felonies, they can get scores up in the mid 30s. So, in order to be eligible for Armor Court, you have to be a moderate, which is in the teens. So, Ashley has a moderate ORAS score and qualifies for court. That indicates that she doesn't have a serious criminal history, but there are some factors that could indicate there could be trouble."

Wetzel admitted that he never knows, at the beginning, if the person is going to make it through ARMOR.

“I've had people that did really well from day one,” said Wetzel. “I've had people who didn't do well at the beginning, but successfully completed everything. I've had people, who I thought were going to do well, and I had to send one to prison a couple of weeks ago."

Karraghan, another ARMOR participant, had relatively little to say in court.

“Karraghan doesn’t say much, but she has grit, too,” said Wetzel. “She is determined that she wants to complete this. She's just not a happy camper right now, but I have confidence that Karraghan can make it, and I've told her that. I've seen this character of grit and determination. When you set your mind to do something, you're going to do it. She agreed with that.”

The others have their struggles as well.

“Carol is mature enough that she has gotten to the point where she realizes that this is not it,” said Wetzel. “At her age, she needs to realize that it's time to set aside the youthful things and keep working to complete recovery, so I think Carol is going to make it.

"They're all different. They all have value as human beings, and that's the reason why we put in the investment of a little more time and that's important."

It was during Wetzel’s conversation with Ashley that he told her something that the other ARMOR participants all heard.

“Your life story makes you the person that you are,” stated Wetzel. “Don't change it. Your compliance with the requirements of ARMOR Court are part of that too.”

The way he said it was as though it was derived from the words of a great thinker from another time, but it wasn’t.

"That was kind of off the top of my head, because I was responding to Ashley and her bashfulness about applying for a job and having to sit down and tell somebody her story,” said Wetzel. “I would also add to tell the story in a way that you (and the listener) both invest. You tell your story because that's who you are. You want that other person to know who you are. I mean, the real person that you are. Otherwise, you have a veneer around you where, in every relationship that you're in, you're not being real. The best relationships are the ones where everybody is real with each other. You're honest, not brutally honest, because you've got to be respectful and compassionate, and that kind of thing. It's the same with all of us. None of us got here without having significant life experiences along the way. Some of them are good, and some of them aren't, but it makes you who you are. What I want to see when they come in to court is the real person. I want to see the real you."