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.”

Nine of the 28 are now finished with the program and free to resume their lives, while 19 move into the fourth, unsupervised phase, which will last for a year.

“Success begins in a person’s will,” said guest speaker Robert Morrison, assistant superintendent of schools for Copiah County and CEO of Champions By Choice, a motivational-speaking company. “It’s all a state of mind.”

Morrison advised both the graduates and those still in the program to attack goals with passion.

“Nobody owes you anything, but you owe it to yourself to be the best person you can be,” he said. “Pursue the thing that captures your heart — as long as it’s legal,” he added, to laughs from all.

Since the 9th Circuit Drug Court program was begun in May 2005, 212 people have been assigned to it by local judges including Patrick, his fellow Circuit Court Judge M. James Chaney and former Circuit Judge Frank Vollor, who is credited with starting the program.

“It was his inspiration, his idea,” Patrick said, “and we will forever be grateful to him.”

In its four-plus years, 34 defendants have completed or nearly completed all four phases of the program, said Maryam Husband, drug court coordinator. About one-third, 70, have failed and been revoked back into the court and prison system.

The remainder are still working through one of the four stages, which involve checking in at court, attending Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, submitting to drug testing and making regular payments to the court for fines and fees.

“It’s given me a whole new opportunity,” said one woman. “I’ve been clean and sober for two years. At the beginning it seems like they ask a lot of you, but I can look back now and see why they did it. It makes you responsible.”

“It’s a great program,” said Hudson.

Hudson said the vehicle burglary that resulted in his sentence to the program was to support his drug use — cocaine, crack cocaine, crystal meth being his drugs of choice, he said. He had been through rehab 11 times. After each, he stopped going to support meetings, thinking he really didn’t need them anymore. Then he would fall right back in with old friends and bad habits.

Drug Court forced him to keep moving forward. “I had time to get a life,” he said.

Slip-ups are especially frequent in the early phases. Tuesday, before the graduation, Patrick sent several participants back to jail for a night or two because they failed drug tests.

“I had my mishaps,” Hudson said. “They know you will probably mess up, but they work with you and give you a second chance.”

Supervising field officers, along with the judge and others on each case, decide what sanctions defendants will face and whether they can remain in the program, Husband said.

No one who’s graduated from phase four has been sent back for additional treatment and monitoring, she said.

Drug court has made Hudson a better person, he said. “I’m more honest. I just believe in working hard and doing the right thing.”

“The major thing is sobriety,” Patrick told the group. “And you’re working in the community, and hopefully that keeps you from dropping back to where you were.”

He told them he is proud of them.

Graduates received medallions featuring a wide-winged eagle, with the inscription, “Wings To Soar” on the reverse. One by one, they expressed thanks to God and to drug court officials for changing and saving their lives.

“It’s amazing,” Hudson said. “No matter what anyone has gone through, you can make a change.”

Even though the judges receive no added compensation, funding remains a challenge for operating the court. When he retired from the bench earlier this year, Vollor said seeking more public and private sources to keep the program going would be a priority.

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Contact Pamela Hitchens at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com