Clark County working to rehabilitate OWI offenders

Jan. 12—CLARK COUNTY — It's Anthony Brock's first day of nursing school and after class, he's visiting his probation officer Angela Rubadue for one of their usual twice-weekly meetings at the Clark County Judicial Center.

Brock is working on improving his life after six operating a vehicle while intoxicated arrests, and he's one of eight people taking part in IMPACT Court, a new problem-solving court in the county that aims at rehabilitating people with multiple OWI arrests.

He's been in the program since September. The program has been in the works for about two years, after being introduced by Clark Circuit Court Judge Lisa Glickfield.

It was preliminarily certified by the state this past fall and full certification is expected next week. Only Clark and Allen counties in Indiana offer this court currently.

The ultimate goal is keep the roads safe for everyone.

Brock and Rubadue meet two times each week so he can work the program. Participants have to be in it for at least one year, and can be referred by their defense attorney, a judge or Rubadue.

The program is five phases and requires people to submit to two drug tests per week during the first four phases.

So far, referrals for 63 people have been made and IMPACT Court has done assessments for 40.

"The main part is the level of accountability, traditional probation is not as intense as a problem solving court is, this allows us to invest our time with our participants, get to know them, hold them accountable," Rubadue said.

Participants have to follow rigid requirements that include attending all scheduled court sessions, group sessions with treatment providers, self-help meetings and submit to drug testing. People also have to pay all fees associated with treatment services and to be honest throughout the process.

"This is allowing, not only the judges, but the prosecutor, defense attorneys, treatment providers, we are all so invested in our clients and helping them to work through whatever issues they have," Rubadue said. "(The goal) is to hopefully never see them drinking and driving again...which is the ultimate goal, to reduce recidivism."

From where Brock's standing, that's exactly what's happening for him. Following the program has earned him limited driving privileges so he can get to his two jobs and nursing school.

"It's enabled me to be a full-time employee of two different jobs, I serve the homeless community," he said. "I work over at Bass Pro Shops. I just went to my first day of nursing school at college today, so it really has affected my life in a major way. It would've taken me quite a while and a lot of money to get my license back and that hurdle alone, that was probably the biggest milestone I've been able to celebrate."

Brock got his first OWI in 2010 and had subsequent offenses in 2012, 2014 and 2020.

"These are special driving privileges, he has some boundaries within that, work, school and recovery, it's not just a go joy ride around," Rubadue said. "As a court we feel comfortable being able to do that because we are monitoring them so close, him being here twice a week, being drug screened twice a week, being in constant communication with treatment providers and making sure that we're on top of that makes us feel confident that we can allow them to have these special driving privileges because we do ask a lot of them," she said.

Judge Glickfield said during her time as a defense attorney, she noticed that just sending someone to jail for multiple OWI offenses only puts a band-aid on the problem and they're likely to abuse substances again, as soon as they get out.

She meets with members of IMPACT Court as well to check on their progress.

"It's been kind of amazing because to me, one of the reasons I ran (for judge) was to try to start one of these courts specifically," Glickfield said. "There's no reason anybody should every be killed by a drunk driver, absolutely no reason. And it's one of the things that's always been important to me, if we could just re-direct the people's substance abuse behaviors, we could save a lot of lives."

For Brock and Rubadue, they're working together as a team to make Clark County a better place.

"Angela, she's not just my probation officer, she's someone I trust, someone that advocates for me, someone I know I can come to in a time of joy or a crisis," Brock said. "And she's' going to sincerely, genuinely listen and help in any way that she can, that's very comforting."

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