Tennessee chief justice sees Northeast Recovery Center as model for state

ROAN MOUNTIAN, Tenn. (WJHL) — Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Holly Kirby sees the Northeast Tennessee Regional Recovery Center as a model program to be used to benefit communities across the state.

Kirby visited the recovery center on Friday. The facility began taking patients last October.

“It sounded amazing, of using opioid settlement money, specifically paid by perpetrators of the opioid crisis in a reclaimed prison facility used to change lives,” Kirby said. “That’s an astonishing story. Mayor Patty Woodby invited me here, and I couldn’t wait to get here to see it for myself.”

Kirby said the court system doesn’t work in the way that’s needed for drug addiction recovery, it’s meant to “prove somebody…is guilty of committing a crime and then put them in prison.”

“Nobody in our state benefits when the courtrooms and prisons become a revolving door,” Kirby said. “That’s not good for the people who are caught up in the system, not good for their families, not good for anybody. This kind of facility is a possible antidote to that, where people can choose to come here, choose to make the decision they want to change…that they’re going to change their lives.”

Others who helped bring the program to life, like Judge Jim Goodwin (Tennessee District Two) and Judge Stacey Street (Tennessee District One), joined the chief justice at the facility Friday and take pride in their work.

“We’ve got 32 men here, going through treatment, getting a handle on their lives, instead of being in prison and being a drain on society,” Goodwin said.

Many of the patients in the recovery program are repeat offenders that Street and Goodwin would see often. The judges still see the patients often though, at least once a week, getting to know them on a personal level.

“Our role as judge in recovery court is different and they recognize that,” Street said. “They’re no longer scared to come to a courtroom, and that’s very unique and one thing that’s gratifying for me.”

This time together creates a different kind of bond between them.

“For many of the men who are in this program, they’ve never had someone in authority tell them they’ve done a good job, tell them, ‘I’m proud of you for what you’re doing,'” Goodwin said.

This bond carries them through milestones like one that’s coming up soon. Goodwin is excited about a graduation coming up for patients from his district in September. Street said he has a graduation in November.

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