A program report that deals with addiction recovery in the Vilas County jail was provided to the county law enforcement committee and deemed a success with jail administrator Bill Weiss receiving an award recognizing the successful effort in providing jail inmates with hope to keep clean from both alcohol and drugs.
Weiss indicated there have been 182 involved in the program with 16 going through two times since the program started in 2018. “We have 58 that completed the program, 37 males and 21 females,” Weiss said. “This program and this award needs to be shared by many.”
One of those “many” is Julie DeVerney, medical social worker with the Peter Christensen Health Center in Lac du Flambeau. “It feels good to have people come up to you after they have recovered and tell you they are still sober, still clean,” DeVerney said. “They indicate they are working and say 'got my kids back' so that tells me the program is rewarding to them and I see they are not in jail.”
She said one of the main benefits of the recovery program is it gives those persons addicted hope . . .”they hope for a better and different lifestyle.” Some are terminated from the program for not completing assignments and some just quit indicating it 's not for them.
Committee chair Jerry Burkett indicated the goal when the program started was to help just one person and now “we're doing a lot better than just one.” It was noted one of the side benefits of the program is less tension in the jail, less fights, and less arguments.
Vilas County Sheriff Joe Fath attends some of the “graduation” ceremonies and felt it very rewarding to listen to what graduates of the program say about their experience. Turning to address Weiss, Burkett told him “you are making a difference . . . you are to be commended.”
