Five months doesn’t seem like a long time in life’s grand design, but for some Arkansans, their entire worlds can change in that short span. They can go from being crippled by life-stunting circumstances such as drug addiction to having days filled with work and enough money in the bank for a fresh start.
On Dec. 16, Steven Rogers, 42, originally from Morrilton, was set to complete his 150 days at Covenant Recovery’s re-entry program for prison inmates in Malvern. Five months ago, he had no job and no relationship with his two teenage daughters. These predicaments were the result of bad decisions he made because of drugs, he said.
Rogers’ first time in prison was drug-related, he said.
“When I got out, I just went back home to my normal routine and back to drugs,” Rogers said.
He was most recently in trouble on an arson charge from 2009, he said.
“For 30 years, I was addicted to drugs and alcohol,” he said, sitting in crisp jeans and an ironed shirt. “I’m sober today, thanks to this place and Ms. Katy.”
Katy Petrus is the director of the Malvern facility. In December 2011, Jeremy McKenzie founded Covenant Recovery in Pine Bluff, a transitional living center that offers inpatient and outpatient drug treatment. The center is licensed by Arkansas Community Correction, formerly the Department of Community Correction, as a transitional housing facility.
The Malvern re-entry facility for prison inmates opened last December. A recovering addict himself, McKenzie has been sober for nearly 15 years. After becoming sober at Sober Living in Little Rock and completing volunteer work there, he said, he felt called to establish his own court-ordered program for men.
Many staff members at Covenant have personal stories of their own with drugs and alcohol.
“We can really relate to [the program participants] and help them,” said Petrus, who spent four years in the Arkansas Community Correction system.
“We get so much help out of the people who run this place,” Rogers added. “Katy goes above and beyond to help us get employment and the tools we need to survive in the world.”
On the day of his interview, Rogers had received word that he was hired full time in the tire shop at JJ’s Truck Stop off Interstate 30 between Benton and Malvern.
“After my 150 days are up, I plan to stay here and work,” he said. “The structure I receive here gives me exactly what I need.”
Rogers’ long-term goal, he said, is to join Covenant’s staff full time. In the meantime, he said, he will continue working at JJ’s, living at Covenant and working on mending his relationships with his two daughters, who live in Springdale.
“They are 19 and 14 and talking to me now, so that is a start,” Rogers said.
Covenant Recovery is one of five programs like it in the state. The men staying at the Malvern facility are required to wear ankle GPS monitoring devices and undergo drug tests twice a week, McKenzie said.
“If they fail their drug test, they are immediately sent back to prison,” he said.
The program is designed to last up to six months, but Petrus said the men often opt to stay longer to further help them transition back into everyday living outside of prison.
The average age of program participants is 30 to 35, McKenzie said, and most are drug addicts.
“Most are facing misdemeanor charges, which likely stem from drug abuse,” he said.
Every day, there are group meetings, and the staff helps the residents find work in the community. The state pays for half of their stay, and the men are required to pay for the other half, he said, noting that the cost is about $30 to $35 per day per resident.
“We help them with career readiness, assist with GED certificates if they need it, and they participate in a wage class at the Workforce Center,” McKenzie said, adding that Covenant also works in cooperation with College of the Ouachitas in Malvern.
Since the Malvern re-entry facility opened last year, no one has tried to run off, McKenzie said.
“That’s a big deal to us,” he said.
A bonus upon being successfully discharged from the program is the savings the participants accumulate, Petrus said.
“They are required to put their earnings into a savings account. Some people have $8,000 in savings when they leave here,” she said.
Jonathan Jackson, public relations specialist for the center and all-around-do-everything guy, gives his life’s work to Covenant because he says it saved his life. A recovering drug addict, Jackson said he was looking for a sign for help; then he met McKenzie.
Jackson lives at the facility and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“My brother is building a huge house, and I am more proud of my one room here because of the impact I’m making on so many people’s lives,” Jackson said.
Jackson helped establish a banquet that took place Dec. 8 in celebration of Covenant’s one-year success in Malvern.
McKenzie said he is proud to report that a member from Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s office attended the event, which was held at the Malvern Country Club.
Jackson said the banquet made him realize the importance of getting into the community to make more people aware of the positive impact Covenant is generating.
More fundraisers will be planned in the coming year, and donations are always welcome, he said, noting that Libby’s R.O.S.E. of Hot Spring County — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Malvern that has a food pantry and a thrift store — helps provide clothing for the men.