Attorney General Curtis Hill has announced that Kosciusko County in northern Indiana will receive an $87,800 grant from the Indiana Drug Enforcement Association for the purpose of starting a Jail Chemical Addiction Program through a contract with the Bowen Center, a behavioral healthcare organization.

The award is made possible through seed funding from the Office of the Attorney General.

“We must insist that offenders in our jails and prisons are provided genuine and meaningful opportunities to turn their lives around and break the cycles that lead individuals repeatedly into criminal behavior,” Attorney General Hill said. “JCAP programs are excellent examples of such opportunities. For criminal offenders with addiction problems, incarceration can be a godsend if it helps put them on the road to recovery. The key is connecting them with quality long-term treatment programs that begin during incarceration and continue upon their release.”

“Court staff repeatedly see many of the same defendants time and again as they show up to hear fresh charges against them,” said Kosciusko County Prosecutor Daniel Hampton.

“If we could truly change the patterns of misbehavior that exist among a relatively small segment of the population, we would make the whole community safer,” Prosecutor Hampton said. “This is exactly the aim of JCAP – to alter the habits specifically of those known to struggle with substance abuse.”

Bowen Center Director Matthew Graham expressed an eagerness to help provide services to a population sure to benefit.