3 veterans to graduate from treatment court

Carbon County is preparing to celebrate its first graduating class of the Veterans Treatment Court.

On Thursday, Richmond Parsons, chief adult probation officer, announced that three veterans will be graduating from the specialty court, which began in January 2017, on Dec. 12.

The men completed over 18 months of treatment in the program.

“They’ve all done incredibly well,” Parsons said.

The program is the 20th veterans court in the state and aims to help veterans who meet the program’s requirements and are in trouble with the law with issues such as mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction and to get them treatment.

It uses a group approach that includes court officials, treatment services and veteran mentors to help a veteran who was in trouble with the law due to issues such as mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction get the treatment they need to stay out of the criminal justice system.

In other court matters, the county commissioners approved a contract with Dr. William R. Geary of Doylestown to evaluate the upcoming Drug Treatment Court, which is slated to begin in Carbon County on Jan. 1.

The term of his contract is from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2022, at a compensation not to exceed $10,000 each year.

The courts have an aggressive timeline for the new program, which is being funded through a $300,952 U.S. Department of Justice’s Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program and by a $100,318 match by the county.

Parsons said that applications into the specialty court are currently being accepted and reviewed.