Piedmont Circuit Veterans Treatment Court (housed in Jackson County)

The court. The county's Specialty Court page: "The Piedmont Judicial Circuit Specialty Courts consists of Banks, Barrow, and Jackson Counties and under the supervision of Superior Court, They are composed of four courts in Jackson County-- Felony Drug Court, Veterans Treatment Court, Family Treatment Court, and Wellness Court (mental health court)." The circuit's mission is to "reduce recidivism while improving the quality of life for the offender, their family and the community at large", and the Veterans Courts' own mission statement, from the participant handbook, is "to provide mental health, substance abuse, and collaborative services to those in Barrow, Banks, and Jackson counties who sacrificed for our country and who now find themselves involved in the criminal justice system", restoring "impacted veterans to their honored status within our community". Where and who. Specialty Courts Office, 5000 Jackson Parkway, Law Library, Suite 008, Jefferson, GA 30549; 706-387-6399 and fax 706-367-6403. Veterans Court Coordinator Michaela Smith (706-387-6390, [email protected]); Director of Piedmont Judicial Circuit Specialty Courts Victoria Bowman (706-387-6391); Assistant Specialty Courts Director Richard Bosten; a Veterans Court Google line, (678) 750-3784. The handbook's phone list adds treatment provider Tim Neville at Lifetime Counseling & DUI School (Barrow County), the Oakwood VA clinic, the State probation, public defender and district attorney offices. The programme. The handbook (updated April 2022) makes the court a voluntary programme of at least 18 and at most 36 months: group and individual therapy, community support meetings, court appearances and random drug testing, with classes - Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, Moral Reconation Treatment for Veterans, anger management, relapse prevention - across phases that pair each participant with a mentor met at least weekly, and "start/continue services with the VA if eligible". The county's funding. The Board's December 15, 2025 consent approved the Lifetime Counseling professional services agreement - clinical services for participants in "the Superior Court Veterans Treatment Court Services", treatment at $150 a month per participant and case management at up to $1,850 a month for up to fifteen participants - and the January 5, 2026 board renewed it, the expense budgeted under Superior Court services. On September 21, 2026 the board approved the FY2027 Piedmont Circuit Specialty Court state grant from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council: $204,047 for the Jackson County Drug Court and the Piedmont Circuit Veterans Treatment Court combined, the Drug Court's own award $148,204, the grant application the first to combine the circuit's Mental Health Court and Veterans Treatment Court, and the Piedmont Circuit Veterans Court's $55,843 covered by Jackson County and reimbursed under the Barrow-Jackson intergovernmental agreement - the VTC programme itself being housed in Jackson County.