LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Treatment courts aim to help those who are addicted go through recovery as an alternative to incarceration, whether it's gambling or drugs.
They have proved to be effective in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County.
"Ninety percent of people who have graduated from the program have not committed a crime in the next three years," said Chief Judge Jerry Weise. "Eighty percent of people who didn't graduate but participated in the program have not committed crimes in the next three years."
Treatment courts are funded federally, locally and through grants. They save taxpayer money in the long run because of the high costs to incarcerate an offender.
According to the Clark County website, it costs about $245 to incarcerate an offender per night at Clark County Detention Center. This comes to be about $90,000 per year.
Specialty courts cost less than a quarter of that number. It is estimated that they save taxpayers $27 in every $1 spent in reducing victimization.
"Every time we have someone graduate from specialty court, it's exciting," said Chief Judge Weise.
Stephanie Lilly is a graduate of the Law Enforcement Intervention for Mental Health and Addiction diversion program. She said she knew she had to get help when she found herself living on the streets with her daughter.
"It was a breaking point when my daughter bought a round-trip ticket and never returned due to me having her in and out of shelters and sleeping in a car," Lilly said.
She said she used drugs to numb her emotional pain.
"It started with my daughter's dad, he got in a car accident when my daughter was seven months old and was brain damaged," she said. "Then, my parents passed away six months apart from each other."
Lilly said the LIMA program was tough at first, but love for her daughter pushed her through.
"Trying to focus on getting her back," Lilly said.
A traumatizing childhood caused Jered Cooper to rely on substances as well.
"My dad passed away when I was nine years old and that's when I started smoking weed," Cooper said. "Then in 2015, my brother got shot and killed on Charleston and 6th. That's what led to my meth addiction."
Cooper said the addiction led to bad decisions.
"I got a battery strangulation charge against one of my loved ones,"he said.
He said he was on the run from police and even spent six months living on the streets. He credits a police officer for arresting him saying it changed his life.
"I did do four months in jail," Cooper said. "But thank God for that because I'm here today."
Cooper enrolled and graduated from the Transitional Age Program and has since stayed sober and out of jail.
Both Lilly and Cooper said they now want to pay it forward.
Lilly said she wants to be a peer specialist and help others on their recovery journey.
Cooper volunteers with Shine a Light Las Vegas every week. It's a nonprofit helping hundreds of people living underground.
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, there are more than 2,500 drug courts in the U.S.
Chief Judge Jerry Weise said as long as the Eighth Judicial District Court continues to get grants, the more the programs will continue to expand.
"Our numbers in specialty courts continue to grow and grow," said Chief Judge Weise. "As long as we continue to get grants, continue to get funding, we expand our program as much as we can to allow anybody that is interested in the program to participate."
