Van Buren County Court To Celebrate Next Graduate Of Tough Probation Program

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The Swift and Sure Sanctions Probation Program in the Van Buren County Circuit Court will recognize its 14th graduate next week. Swift and Sure is an extra intense probation program brought to the county in 2013. Case Manager Deputy Freda Osborne says those participating in the program have to cooperate with some pretty tough demands, but if they make it, they can stay out of prison. She says it all depends on honesty and depends on some big life changes.

“I believe that if they don’t make a change in those that they visit with, speak with, and hang around, if they don’t change that, I think some of them would have that tendency to maybe draw back,” Osborne told WSJM.

Swift and Sure was brought to the county thanks to a state grant, and Osborne says they plan to keep it going as a way of reducing the prison population and helping people turn their lives around. The program will celebrate its 14th graduate next Thursday at the courthouse.