Regional rehab facility lauded as place of restoration, hope

By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

ROAN MOUNTAIN – The former prison complex on Old Railroad Grade Road still looks foreboding on the outside with its guard tower and razor wire, but the most common word uttered in what is now a regional recovery center may be “hope.”

Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Ralph Alvarado and Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Commissioner Marie Williams made their first visit to Northeast Tennessee Regional Recovery Center (NTRRC) on Thursday, joining other state and local officials in touring the facility and meeting with those in the residential program.

Alvarado said it was exciting to see a former prison facility become a place of “restoration of people’s lives, to restore hope,” and that it is “something that we need desperately not only in this state, but in our country as well.”

“I think that we heard the word ‘hope’ several times and now they have some hope moving forward and they don’t want to go back to that lifestyle,” Alvarado told the crowd of about 50 people, including residents who sat in a group. “And that’s the key for all of this program – just to restore people, to restore their dignity, their opportunity to go out and work, contribute back to society, and to connect them back to people in their lives as well.”

Alvarado said many of the participants told of going through previous rehabilitation programs and they shared about “how much better this program has been for them and the opportunities that it’s afforded them to analyze themselves, to look at issues that may have gotten them into the situation that we’re in, and now an opportunity they have for rebuilding trust with family, rebuilding connections to other people in their communities that is active in their lives.”

Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Commissioner Marie Williams told the residents, “We want to say how incredible (it was) meeting with you guys, hearing about your life, because we all know that we’re born with talents, gifts, and abilities that we’re given by God, that nobody can take away. … Because we all know that no one wakes up in the morning and says, ‘I think I’ll get addicted today.’ Did any of y’all wake up and just go, ‘You know what? I want to be addicted today.’ Nobody does that.

“It ain’t a choice,” she said. “Oftentimes it’s a brain chemistry thing that occurs once you’re taking those medications that you shouldn’t be taking the way that you’re taking them, and y’all know that. This place is a place of healing and hope …”

1st Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Lisa Rice represented the judges who are part of the Felony Drug Court program, the others being 1 st Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Stacy Street, 3 rd Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Beth Boniface, and 2 nd Judicial District Criminal Court Judge James F. Goodwin.

“We could not be here without our representatives who carried the banner for us to get us doors opened in Nashville,” Rice told the group. “Those doors aren’t easy to open, they just aren’t, and if you don’t have the right people knocking on those doors we wouldn’t be here today.” The judge gave credit to state Rep. Tim Hicks (R-Gray), whom she said has been “invaluable,” as well as state Rep. Rebecca Alexander (R-Jonesborough), and Carter County Mayor Patty Woodby.

“I don’t know what she’s not done,” Rice said of Woodby. “The list of what she’s not done to help us is easier than the list of things that she has done. She’s found chairs in storage buildings. She’s found desks. She’s found barber chairs. She’s found things that weren’t being used that we can utilize here.

“She has a good a story as JD Vance (Republican vice presidential nominee and U.S. senator from Ohio) about her upbringing, her career, her success, and she brought that to support people in our program, our residents here that are doing their best just to survive and get through the program and succeed, to go on to a great life,” the judge said.

Rice also expressed thanks for assistance from Heath McMillian of Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Elizabethton, businesses who are giving program participants a chance at jobs, and members of the medical community. “You guys are giving your time selflessly and we are so, so grateful, because we need your support, we need it for future residents, we need it for these guys, and for our females in Johnson City.”

The judge also gave accolades to Families Free Executive Director Lisa Tipton and her team for putting together “a phenomenal program.”

“There’s nothing like this that I’m aware of in the country anywhere, where a facility like this has been converted into exactly what Governor (Bill) Lee coined this: “Now it’s not a prison. It’s a place of redemption.”

Families Free serves and advocates for vulnerable children, individuals, and families, particularly those impacted by incarceration. The organization worked with county and state leaders to establish NTRRC, which officially opened its doors with a ribbon cutting in July 2023 and began serving clients the following October.

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