NEWS
Q&A: Kevin Batts
Recovery courts are seeking to close the ‘revolving door’ for people with substance abuse disorders BY I S A B E L L A R O M E R O Recovery courts are giving those struggling with addiction the opportunity to turn their life around through a program that seeks to change the narrative surrounding addiction. In the Nashville area, Kevin Batts is a part of that change. Prior to becoming the director of the 23rd Judicial District Drug Court in July of 2009, Batts worked as a public defender for 33 years. Batts first heard of recovery courts in 2007. He was asked to sit in on meetings to discuss the development of a statewide drug court. Batts said the more he learned about recovery courts, the more interested he became. He found that recovery courts might actually do something about the drug problem in America. Recovery court programs vary from district to district based on a community’s specific needs. Programs integrate law enforcement, the criminal justice system, trained professionals, and the community to treat those with impending non-violent drug charges. It serves as an alternative to incarceration for people struggling with addiction. Recovery court programs in Tennessee house and rehabilitate those who are willing to participate through five phases with 18 months of supervision. Within a week of retiring as a public defender, Batts was contacted by the Dickson County Drug Court. Batts started doing volunteer work, grant writing and court expansion. In the process of helping fund the court, he created a director position. After a couple months, he thought his work was done, but he was offered the position he had just created. Batts discussed the “revolving door” people with substance abuse disorders have faced throughout the history of the criminal justice system — a cyclical system that repeatedly incarcerates drug addicts and alcoholics when they break the law and as soon as their sentence ends they go back to their addiction which only leads them back behind bars. Batts talked about seeing the same people going in and out of the criminal justice system. He would then see their family, children and grandchildren as well. “They were violating laws based on the addiction they were suffering from, and it just made a lot of sense to me,” Batts said. “If we could shut that revolving door by closing down the drug problem as much as we could then we could give them a chance to rehabilitate not just from the
It's normally gauged by their sentence. If they feel like their sentence is going to be less than rehab they might choose to observe the sentence. It's unfortunate because usually in a year or two we see them come back through that revolving door. If you have a six month sentence and you're told you need to go to treatment for a year plus recovery court for 18 months, you might want to sit in jail for six months. This is especially the case if you're getting some bad advice from jailhouse lawyers who are telling you it's all about the time. But when you get out of jail you're not well, and you've not done anything to improve your life.
drug, but rehabilitate their entire lives, rebuild their family structure, rebuild their careers, their jobs, and go back to school, if that's what they want to do.” Do you think there is a place where recovery courts and rehabilitation programs differ such as the rehabbing of the entire person, not just the [addiction issues]? [Rehab programs] are wonderful, but I think the real difference between a standard rehabilitation center and a drug court is that we have the authority of the state of Tennessee behind us as an arm of the legal world. We can go in as part of the judicial branch and actually order individuals to go through a rehabilitation program. We can mandate participants follow all these rules that we put out like attending meetings and meeting with a probation officer, things like that. So that's the biggest difference right? Regular treatment center, you'll walk out and there are generally no repercussions from that treatment center. You either want to stay clean or you don't. With us, if you walk out from the court program that you have been ordered to attend as an alternative sentence, the judge can charge you with escape. This would allow the district attorney to go back before the judge to put your sentence into effect. There are a lot more repercussions when
you slip up in a drug court compared to a traditional treatment center. What is the general role of a recovery court judge? Recovery court judges in our district are circuit court judges that have the additional duties of running the recovery court. In some jurisdictions in Tennessee there are general sessions drug courts that are for people who have committed misdemeanors and the two operate similarly. The role of the recovery court judge is to lay down the normal duties of a judge and become more of a rehabilitation-type judge. We're all working together as a team with the judge to get this person well, as opposed to simply handing out justice. When people first kind of hear of recovery courts do they know how long the treatment will be before choosing it? Our people usually come straight from the jail setting so they've talked with other inmates about how long the program is. It's not a surprise to most people. Some people are taken aback when they realize they have a very serious addiction issue and may need to go to inpatient treatment for a year. I've seen people decide not to come in through a court because they do not want to go to a full year of inpatient treatment.
PAGE 14 | February 16 - March 2, 2022 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
What have you learned through working in recovery courts? I've learned that it is possible to turn people's lives around. I have a whole new respect that I didn't have 20 years ago for what can be done to rehabilitate people. I don't think anybody should be given up on and I think that happens in the traditional criminal justice system. I think the system itself just gets tired of dealing with an issue and in drug court we never have that feeling. We never feel like we've finished or that we can't do something more. And I think that's what has impressed me the most. There's always something more to do, and there's always more people to reach out to. Is there a specific memory from working in recovery courts that sticks out to you? I love our graduation exercises, and that's a collection of memories because we ask our graduates to stand before the court, all the other participants, their families, sheriffs, and former graduates. It's one big group looking for the same goal. The graduate stands up in front of his or her peers and has some very heartfelt talks. They talk about the difference the drug court has made in their lives, telling their peers to stick with it, listen to each other, and depend on each other. It is a group effort as much as it is an individual effort. I get so charged up after listening to one of those speeches. And you know, with no exception, everybody gets up and gives such a beautiful speech. And some of the graduates, I've never really heard them speak publicly before. They kind of come out of their shell, but they're so excited about their new life that they just bubble over. I think that's the most obvious blessing that comes to mind.
