The day after Sheila Hammonds graduated from Robeson County’s family treatment court in 2011, she took her young son, Savion, to the beach.
Hammonds had spent the first 10 months of Savion’s life at Grace Court, a residential program run by the Robeson Health Care Corporation for people struggling with addiction to drugs and alcohol. A judge had ordered her there as part of treatment court.
Fourteen years later, Hammonds is still emotional when she recalls that day in Myrtle Beach and what it took to get there.
“I remember feeling the sand under my feet and the breeze on my face,” she said. “Savion just sat at the edge of the surf, played, and splashed in the water.”
Hammonds, 48, said she began drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana as a teenager in Robeson County. After high school, she turned to cocaine. She lied, cheated, stole money—whatever it took to get a fix.
“My parents never drank or did drugs, or anything like that,” she said. “I think I just got in with the wrong crowd and gave in to peer pressure.”
By the time Savion was born in 2010 with drugs in his system, Hammonds had already lost custody of her daughter, Raven, who had gone to live with her parents in 2009. Hammonds worried the Department of Social Services would put Savion in foster care.
But Hammonds chose another path. “The papers were drawn up and everything,” she said, “and I just decided I didn’t want to give up another child. I wanted to raise my kids, so I agreed to family treatment court.”
The special court program that began in Robeson County in 2008 is designed for parents who are charged with crimes while struggling with addiction. The goal is to connect participants to treatment and keep them out of jail—and ultimately end the cycle of abuse and neglect of their children.
For Hammonds, the court paved the way for her to regain custody of her son and be a part of her daughter’s life. To succeed in the program, Hammonds had to continue inpatient treatment and counseling, remain drug and alcohol free, submit to random drug testing, and appear before a judge twice a month for a year.
When she finished the program, Hammonds regained custody of her son and resumed a relationship with her daughter. Now Hammonds is a certified peer support specialist for Robeson Health Care Corporation and the Robeson County Treatment Courts, where she helps others navigate their recovery journeys.
The United States has more than 4,000 treatment courts, which have been credited with reducing crime. In North Carolina, at least 44 counties have a total of 85 treatment courts, including specialized programs for adults, veterans, and juveniles, according to the North Carolina Judicial Branch.
Columbus County Launches Treatment Courts
Last September, Columbus County, which neighbors Robeson to the east, launched a recovery court in hopes of curbing crime in the rural community and getting people off drugs.
“I believe drugs are the gasoline for the engine that fuels violent crime in Columbus County, and unless we eliminate the demand that is so persistent, we’re going to continue to have crime,” said Jon David, the district attorney for Bladen, Brunswick, and Columbus counties.
David pointed to the 2019 murders of Leonel Ciprian-Noyola, his wife Nancy Trujillo-Espinoza, and their 5-year-old son, Alexis Ciprian-Trujillo.
Leonel Ciprian-Noyola was an alleged drug dealer who supplied drugs to other local dealers, according to David. “The perpetrators double-crossed him and killed him and his family.”
Prentis Deshawne McDuffie was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in September, following the conviction of co-defendant Darieus Rashad Washington in March. Both men were sentenced to serve three life sentences without parole.
David said treatment courts will help more people recover from addiction, and in turn shrink the demand for street drugs.
“We’ve already lost the war on drugs from the standpoint that there’s a never-ending supply coming into our communities,” he said. “Unless you start targeting the demand side, you’re fighting a losing battle.”
Fewer people are dying of drug overdoses in Columbus County and across the state. North Carolina saw a 32 percent drop in fatal overdoses in 2024 compared to the year before, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Columbus County saw an even bigger decline—39 percent.
Health experts say a variety of factors have contributed to the drop, including the widespread distribution of naloxone, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Settlement Money
North Carolina began receiving payments in 2022 from national legal settlements with drug manufacturers blamed for creating the opioid epidemic that began in the 1990s. The state will get $1.4 billion through 2038.
County commissioners across the state are responsible for spending the bulk of the money to reduce opioid use in communities. Some, including those in Columbus County, are spending part of it on treatment courts.
Columbus County, which will get $14.7 million, has allocated more than $20,000 for three courthouse employees to attend training on operating a treatment court.
“This money gives us an opportunity to help change people’s lives by addressing individuals that struggle with substance abuse disorder,” said Syd Wiford, principal consultant with
Addiction Consulting and Training Associates, a Pittsboro firm that is helping guide settlement spending in Columbus County. “This court will help keep people from committing crimes to support their drug habit.”
Robeson County commissioners are also using settlement money for treatment courts. District Attorney Mathew Scott, who was first elected in 2018, launched a DWI Treatment Court in 2020 with a Governor’s Highway Safety Fund grant and an Adult Drug Treatment Court 10 months later with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Robeson County had the highest crime rate per 100,000 residents in North Carolina in 2024, according to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Scott said the special courts have been successful. “Since we’ve had these individuals in our programs, we have stopped seeing them in the courtroom. We’ve had people graduate from our program, find jobs, and are no longer part of the system.”
MaryJane Richardson, an assistant district attorney in Robeson County who prosecutes cases in treatment courts, said the programs are saving lives. She recalled a local man who had been charged several times with driving while impaired. She referred him to Robeson County’s DWI court, which mandated a medical evaluation. That’s when the man learned he was experiencing liver failure.
“Because he was in our program, he was able to sustain his recovery, and he got a liver transplant,” Richardson said. “So that was one life we saved.”
‘All Up in Their Lives’
District Court Judge Leah Britt Lanier swapped her judicial robe for shorts and a T-shirt to cheer from the bleachers during a basketball game in Robeson County for National Recovery Month in September.
In addition to her usual caseload, Lanier presides over Robeson County’s three treatment courts. She says they have fueled her passion for work and helped her understand what causes some people to become repeat offenders.
“I’ve learned that until the brain properly heals, a defendant is not going to do what I’m expecting them to do,” Lanier said, “and I need to meet them where they are.”
Family members, friends, attorneys, and law enforcement officers can refer people to treatment court. Defendants charged with a misdemeanor or some low-level felonies are eligible.
Skeptics say sentencing a defendant to treatment court instead of jail is too lenient, but Lanier insists it is not the easy way out.
“For one thing, we are all up in their lives every day,” Lanier said. “We have about 50 people in treatment court right now, and I can tell you where each one of them is at any given moment.”
At its core, treatment court is an intense type of probation, Richardson said. She researches the criminal history and lifestyle of each referral. When she greenlights their entry to the program, she usually recommends a sentence of up to 24 months on probation while they fulfill the requirements.
A team of court officials and treatment professionals marshals each participant through the program, tracking their progress every step of the way—starting with electronic monitoring for the first 90 days. Over time, the supervision eases up until the end of their sentence when they take responsibility for their own continued treatment.
“They appear before me twice a month to report on their progress, check in with a treatment court provider several times a week, meet with probation officers, and join support groups,” she said. “Some participants go directly into inpatient facilities.”
To graduate from the program and be released from the court system, participants must have a job, remain active in a support group, and have a stable home and access to health care.
Treatment court is not a magic solution that automatically sets participants on a path to a crime-free life, Richardson says. Sometimes they stumble. And when that happens, prosecutors and judges are there to help.