The Brooklyn Treatment Court celebrated its 20th anniversary on Tuesday. Among those attending were, from left, Valerie Raine, state drug courts coordinator; Justice Matthew D’Emic, administrative judge for criminal matters in Brooklyn; State Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks; Acting Supreme Court Justice Jo Ann Ferdinand, presiding judge of the treatment court; Justice Sherry Klein Heitler, chief of policy and planning for the court system; and former Justice Judy Harris Kluger, executive director of Sanctuary for Families.
According to Fernandez, more than 3,000 treatment court participants had overcome their substance abuse and resumed lives as contributing members of society. The ceremony recognized two individuals who had made outstanding contributions to the work of the court: Monica Holmes, who now works for a homeless outreach service provider, and Ranji Lachminsighn, who now works for Odyssey House. The Damon Fuseyamore Award is named after a 1997 graduate of the court who died in 2012.
