Pulaski County Veterans Treatment Court

 
The Pulaski County Superior Court’s Veterans Treatment Court (PCVTC) was created in 2018 to provide an alternative to traditional case processing for veterans and gained full certification in 2019 and 2020. This 12-to-36–month program targets non-violent–misdemeanor and felony-drug offenders. The program is voluntary, but participants are supervised intensively at all phases of the program. The program has multiple phases that must be achieved in order for the participant to progress through the program. In many cases, successful completion of PCVTC will result in: (1) a reduced sentence imposed in your case, i.e. no jail time or no probation; or (2) a reduction or dismissal of the original charge.

Mission
The mission of the Pulaski County Veterans Treatment Court is to reduce criminal activity and enhance public safety through intensive supervised substance use and mental health programming as a fiscally responsible means of supporting and encouraging justice-involved veterans recovery and to become an active and purposeful citizen.

Veteran Defined
A Veteran is defined as a current or former member of the active duty military, national guard, or reserves without consideration to deployment status, combat experience, legal veteran status or GI Bill use.

Referral process
Veteran offenders may be referred to the Pulaski County Veterans Treatment Court by a judge, defense attorney, probation officer, jail staff, self-referral, family member, or the prosecutor. The referral is reviewed by the prosecutor prior to full application. The referral process (step 1) and application process (step 2) takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. The PCVTC coordinator will contact you directly and/or work with your attorney through the referral/application process. Both the referral form (available here) and the military history form (available here) must be completed in their entirety in order to be reviewed.

Veteran Court Volunteer Mentor Program
The Pulaski County Veterans Treatment Court also features a veteran mentor program as part of the court process. Veteran mentors provide advice, personal experiences, recommendations, and guidance to veterans. Many of our veteran mentors are drawn from a number of veteran’s service organizations, the community, and government organizations. Veteran mentors include but are not limited to those who have served in peacetime, Vietnam, Desert Storm/Shield, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Veteran Mentor relationship promotes and fosters, through encouragement, a “can-do” attitude in the veteran; the veteran becomes motivated to accomplish his or her goals in treatment, feels that s/he is not alone and knows that the mentor and the Court are there for them. If you have an interest in applying to serve as a mentor or want to learn more about the mentor program, please contact the Pulaski County Superior Court.

Contact
Niki Zahrt, PCVTC Coordinator
Pulaski County Superior Court
110 East Meridian Street
Winamac, Indiana 46996
Phone: 574.946.3371