Drug Court: They're all winners

http://www.vicksburgpost.com/articles/2009/11/05/news/doc4af311f6d454257...

Excerpt: Chad Hudson says getting arrested in 2006 for burglarizing a government vehicle was the best thing that ever happened to him.

He didn’t think that at first, of course.

“I got locked up,” Hudson said. “I was a habitual offender and thought they would send me to prison forever.”

Instead, Hudson’s attorney, the late Frank Campbell, got Hudson sentenced to the Warren County Drug Court program, an alternative to prison for non-violent offenders willing to admit addiction to drugs or alcohol and subject themselves to intensive treatment and monitoring.

Tuesday, Hudson was one of 28 drug court graduates applauded by nearly 100 family members, alumni, defendants still progressing through the program and drug court officials, including Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick, who had sentenced Hudson back in 2006.

“You know, they all are winners,” Patrick said from the bench after announcing their names and shaking the hand of each graduate. “To get where they are now was not an easy road. They had some hard steps to take, but they made it.”