Benchmark Happenings
Brought to you by, Jonathan Tipton & Steve Reed of Benchmark Home Loans, Benchmark Happenings is a podcast that is a biweekly discussion about living in and moving to Northeast Tennessee along with the local real estate market. Join your host Christine Reed as she interviews Jonathan & Steve, local business owners, sought-after industry experts, Veterans, Realtors, Benchmark clients, and more.
Benchmark Happenings focuses on discussing all things related to mortgages and Northeast Tennessee. Placing the spotlight on all the reasons you would want to live in and move to Northeast Tennessee, Benchmark Happenings highlights upcoming events, local businesses, things to do, and other aspects related to Northeast Tennessee. We will also be answering mortgage questions from buyers, sellers, and real estate agents as well as discussing everything going on in our local real estate market.
To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.tiptonreedteam.com.
Benchmark Home Loans | NMLS # 2143
4138 Bristol Highway
Johnson City, TN 37601
Jonathan Tipton
Senior Mortgage Planner
NMLS # 1188088
jonathan.tipton@benchmark.us
Steve Reed
Branch Manager
NMLS # 173024
steve.reed@benchmark.us
Benchmark Happenings
Beyond the Gavel: A Judge's Mission to Transform Lives
Judge Jim Goodwin lifts the veil on what recovery courts really are—not programs for first-time offenders as commonly misunderstood, but rather the last line of defense before long-term incarceration for those caught in addiction's grip. As Criminal Court Judge for the Second Judicial District in Sullivan County, Goodwin has transformed the landscape of rehabilitation in East Tennessee through innovative court programs that break the cycle of addiction and crime.
Goodwin's journey began during his 15 years as a prosecutor, including work with child abuse cases that left him seeking something positive to balance the emotional weight. This experience, coupled with his early exposure to the judiciary during law school, planted the seed for his eventual role as a judge. Taking office in 2014, he wasted no time establishing the region's first recovery court, accepting their first participant by spring 2015.
What makes this story particularly compelling is the evolution of recovery court services under Goodwin's watch. The original outpatient program has expanded to include a compliance docket for lower-risk individuals and residential programs housing up to 85 men in Roan Mountain and 12 women in Johnson City. The most striking testament to the program's effectiveness? Among 30-40 graduates over nearly a decade, only two participants have relapsed—an extraordinary success rate in addiction recovery work.
Behind the statistics lie powerful human stories, including a woman who was contemplating suicide in her jail cell while applying for the program. After initially going through the motions, something clicked, and she committed fully to recovery. Today, she's a regional manager who has regained custody of her children, helped her husband and sister overcome their own addictions, and even established support meetings in her community. As Judge Goodwin notes, many participants have never before had authority figures tell them they have value or recognize their achievements—something that proves transformative when combined with structure, support and accountability.
Ready to hear more inspiring stories of redemption through East Tennessee's innovative approach to addiction and criminal justice? Listen now and discover why Judge Goodwin calls his recovery court sessions "the best part of my work week."
To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com.
This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Jonathan and Steve from Benchmark Home Loans. Northeast Tennessee, johnson City, kingsport, bristol, the Tri-Cities One of the most beautiful places in the country to live. Tons of great things to do and awesome local businesses. And on this show you'll find out why people are dying to move to Northeast Tennessee and on the way we'll have discussions about mortgages and we'll interview people in the real estate industry. It's what we do. This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Benchmark Home Loans.
Speaker 1:And now your host, Christine Reed, and now your host Christine.
Speaker 4:Reed. Well, welcome back everyone to another episode of Benchmark Happenings. And you know we always have a star of the show and we like to. We just love the fact that East Tennessee has so many amazing people and public servants, and so today I am, I'm really honored and to introduce our guest today is Judge Jim Goodwin. Jim, thank you for being here. It's my pleasure, and so Jim is with the criminal. He is a criminal court judge of the secondnd Judicial District here in Sullivan County.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 4:So, jim, you know, and I always think about judges, your honor and those kinds of things, and I had to write down your title because I wanted to make sure I didn't mess this up. So I had your lovely wife on a podcast the other day and she does photography, christina, good one, good one photography and she actually told me that you started her.
Speaker 2:I did In that I did. I enjoyed photography since high school and at the time I started the business I was a prosecutor in Sullivan County and I was doing child abuse prosecutions.
Speaker 4:Oh my.
Speaker 2:And those have a certain weight to them that you can't shake.
Speaker 4:I can't imagine. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So we started the business so that I'd have something fun to do, and we made the decision for me to shoot weddings which started out as something fun to do and then became something else. Yes, and I'll tell you what.
Speaker 4:and she took that and ran with it.
Speaker 2:She has.
Speaker 4:And she does such a wonderful job. But you're a great teacher.
Speaker 2:I couldn't be more proud of her.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she gave you the credit for that because I asked her. I said, krista, how did you get involved in this? And she said my husband. So I think that's wonderful. So you are a man of many talents and you have been, and I just can't think someone like you, jim, I just can't think enough for putting yourself out there in the community and doing the work that you are doing, because it is a good work.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that.
Speaker 4:And I know it's very hard. It's very difficult and I can't imagine the weight of being a judge.
Speaker 2:I actually find it. There's a weight to it, but it's completely different from being a practicing lawyer or being a prosecutor, a practicing lawyer or being a prosecutor the fun part for me is, in addition to photography and we'll get into woodworking later one of my other hobbies that I can't do anymore was Little League umpire. Oh, so when I'm on the bench, the judge is sort of the umpire. I'm calling the balls and strikes in legal rulings and whatnot and just making sure that the two sides play fair.
Speaker 4:That's a great analogy. I never thought about that. So, as you were a prosecutor, how long were you a prosecuting attorney?
Speaker 2:14 years in Sullivan County and one year in Shelby County.
Speaker 4:My goodness, okay. And so where is home for you? Where were you born and raised? I was born and raised in Elizabethton. Oh, nice, okay, we love that.
Speaker 2:I'm a cyclone forever.
Speaker 4:A cyclone.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what they've got a good football team.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, they do. Some of my favorite people are from Elizabethton, so um, so you just? What made you decide to run to be a judge?
Speaker 2:I think the seed was planted back when I was in law school I clerked for a circuit court judge in Shelby County.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:And, um, I just really enjoyed the experience, and part of my job was to watch court proceedings and I was just always drawn to the possibility of one day working my way up to be a judge. Okay.
Speaker 4:So that was sort of what you wanted to do, and then so, as you become a criminal court judge, you have also brought something to our area that I know, that you're proud of and I'm proud of. You actually came and presented to our Tennessee Nurses Association, and so I wanted to talk, ask you about drug court.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:Because I think that is, I love what you're doing. So tell us, because somebody might hear that word drug court. What does that mean Really, kind of from the beginning, Jim, tell us about that. How did it start? What is it?
Speaker 2:I'll define it first, okay, and then we'll talk about how I developed the one for Sullivan County. Okay. When I was running for election, one of my opponents because there were four of us in the election and one of my opponents said that he was going to start a drug court, no matter what. But he couldn't define what a drug court was. He had no idea. So that got me to looking into it and my first thought was that drug court is a program where we can get people, when they first get into the criminal justice system, who have a drug addiction problem, and we can turn them around and they won't come back yes, which is recidivism, the whole point. There's two points to drug court Get someone off of the drugs yes, which saves their life. And then keep them out of the criminal justice system, which saves the government and all the taxpayers money.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 2:So I got to looking into it, though, and I talked to a judge in Nashville His name was Seth Norman. He was kind of the godfather of recovery court judges for the state of Tennessee. He's the one who started recovery courts in Tennessee and I told him what I thought recovery court was, and he literally laughed. And he wasn't laughing at me literally laughed and he wasn't. He wasn't laughing at me uh-huh, he was laughing because he had heard so many people misidentify what drug court was what it is drug court isn't designed to catch the people in the front.
Speaker 2:it's designed as a last resort before someone who is in the throes of addiction and is involved in a criminal justice system goes and serves a long prison sentence. Oh okay, it's the last chance before you step off that ledge into prison. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And it's for a very specific population of people who commit crime and are addicted. Okay, okay, and we'll talk more about that in a minute, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So once I realized what it was, I took office September 1st of 2014. So it's been almost 11 years, goodness. And I immediately formed a committee and a group and started looking into what it would take to have a recovery court in East Tennessee. The closest one at that time was in Sevier County in the 4th District, and so we went through that process and it was either late April or early May of 2015,. We took our first participant in the recovery court, so I'm pretty proud about that.
Speaker 2:Wow and as we sit here today, I have my outpatient court, which is the courts that I first started in 2015. We've started a compliance docket. So it's someone who doesn't meet the criteria to be in recovery court but still has an addiction problem and still has criminal charges. It's a lower program that we try to save those folks before they get to where recovery court is. And then just in the last year and a half two years with Judge Street and Judge Rice here in the first district because we're sitting here in Washington County so we're in their district We've started a residential program and we have the men housed up in Roe Mountain. We've got about 40, 45 men up there.
Speaker 2:Oh, my and we've got 12 women in a residential house here in Johnson City, which is 12 is all we can take the men has the capacity we can get to about 85. And that's in Roan Mountain. That's in Roan Mountain. Okay, we took the old Carter County work camp which was run by TDOC. It was a prison. And through a lot of steps and good fortune, we were able to lease that through the governor's office for a dollar a year.
Speaker 4:Oh my goodness. Or $5 a year, I can't remember.
Speaker 2:But we have access to that facility and we have a residential recovery court program up there now.
Speaker 4:That is great, but that's for men only right.
Speaker 2:Roe Mountain's for men. Okay, and it's the same program. The women are in Johnson City.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're not putting men and women in Roe Mountain. Oh no, we don't want to do that. We don't want to mix the two.
Speaker 4:So you are, I mean. So, I mean just thinking about what you've accomplished, you know, and you've won your second term. Right. And so congratulations on that, and it's eight-year terms.
Speaker 2:right 22 was the election 22.
Speaker 4:So congratulations, thank you for what you're doing. A lot of people, like you said, had talked about trying to do something like this but really had no concept of what it is. So what is your and I hate to say this because in rehabilitation, I mean, you know we've been down that road with family members, with you know alcoholics and drug addicts and you know you think about your programs and stuff. So what are some of the stories that you can share? Success stories of someone who was actually came into the program and their life turned around.
Speaker 2:OK, first let me say we've had Probably 30 to 40 graduates. I don't have all the hard numbers in front of me, that's okay, and you know, I could tell by your question that you have had some personal experience either with narcotic addiction or alcohol addiction Right.
Speaker 4:I'm not saying you, but people you know. Oh, family members. Yeah, we've been through a lot.
Speaker 2:And you know that, with people who are going through addiction and addiction is a lifelong- it really is. It's a lifelong disease, basically. And so you know that, as people walk through that path of recovery, a lot of times they get a couple of years into it and then they go back. Yes, you see it over and over they get into it and they go back. So far, of all of our graduates from my outpatient recovery court, I think we've had two who have gone back. Wow, Out of the 30, between 30 and 40 people.
Speaker 4:That's wonderful.
Speaker 2:And in our residential program we haven't of the graduates we haven't had anybody knock on wood and thank God we haven't had anybody. Yeah, so that's just. I know it sounds like gosh good when you've been running a court to help people who are in addiction for 10 years now and you've only graduated like 30 or 35, well, this program takes almost two years to get through. You lose people along the way. Sure, that's just the way it is human nature. Then we had COVID right in the middle of way.
Speaker 4:Sure, that's just the way, it is human nature, mm-hmm Then we had COVID right in the middle of that. Yes, you know. So everything got slowed, way down, slowed down.
Speaker 2:I am probably more proud to say that, other than for a two-week period, my court was open and for a two-week period, my court was open. We couldn't have jury trials, but through video equipment and just a lot of lawyers and court personnel who were willing to take on the work, we kept the docket moving.
Speaker 4:I'm very proud about that, yes, as you should be, because I know so many are so behind and I know I have a friend in Knoxville. She's a paralegal and they practice family law and it's just. I don't know what it was with COVID, but everything escalated, everything.
Speaker 2:It did.
Speaker 4:If you had issues and problems it magnified?
Speaker 2:It sure did, it did. But back to your question yeah, there are several stories that I could tell you, but there's one story that I have to tell you. And this wasn't the first person in the program, but as judges or the prosecutors, court personnel, we'll see the same names over and over the same people over and over. And this was a name that was known to us. Okay, and for confidentiality reasons, I'm not going to say who Sure, yeah, but this was a name known to us and she applied for recovery court.
Speaker 2:And we're sitting around the staffing table because the way it works is a person applies and then the group, we get information about that person. The coordinator does several assessments to see where they are and what their need is, what their risk is, and we're sitting around that table and we're like you know, this person has applied, this person qualifies, this person will never make it, Just won't. We've seen this person over and over and over, yeah.
Speaker 2:We know this person. She's not going to make it Wow, but she qualifies. So we're going to take a chance. So we bring her into the program and probably for the first month, month and a half, she's doing all the things that we expected. She's doing just enough to get by, not to get a sanction, not getting any incentives or rewards. And we get to a point and something and I wish I knew what this was. Yeah, but something in her mind flipped like a switch and from that moment she excelled. Wow, she graduated. It took her almost two years but she graduated. Her husband was in addiction. She helped to get him into rehab. Dcs had taken her children. She has her children back.
Speaker 4:How many children did she have?
Speaker 2:I think, she had three.
Speaker 4:Three.
Speaker 2:She as part of our program. They have to work Well, she went to work, turned that into a regional manager's position for a local food chain.
Speaker 4:My goodness.
Speaker 2:Her sister was really in addiction, really bad, talked her sister into applying. Well, her sister's done well, graduated, now has a job and was recently promoted and her sister lives with her, was recently promoted to a I don't think it's a manager, but it's kind of a supervisor position at the work where she works. It's a quality control position. Sure. And so, yeah, I've had her speak at a couple of my graduations. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And after the first one we were talking, and as the judge and we'll talk a little bit more about this because I won't explain it but I have personal interaction with these folks, these participants, every week. Mm-hmm. Okay, these participants every week, okay, but I don't really have the opportunity and really shouldn't, while they're going through the program, get to know their personal story and become friendly with them, because I still have to be the judge, I still have to be that person in authority.
Speaker 4:It's boundaries.
Speaker 2:It's boundaries, professional boundaries, yes. So I found out that she was sitting in her jail cell when she started, when she was filling out the application, that she was trying to decide, while she was filling that out, if she was going to go through with the application process or kill herself. That's where she was. It was either that or suicide.
Speaker 4:It was do or die.
Speaker 2:And she decided I'm going to do this. And she said she told me this. She said I knew that I would not make it. I knew I wouldn't, but I could get out of jail and that's the big thing we have to worry about. But I could get out of jail and then I could decide which path I wanted to take. And I said what happened that you did so great? She said after that month and a half that you've talked about, she said for some reason, and she couldn't put her finger on it. But she decided well, if I'm going to be here, I might as well try. And once she made that decision, it was the sky's the limit for her. Her and her husband have since started an NA or an AA meeting in the Bristol area. Wonderful, I mean. She is doing so well, so well. And she was right there on the precipice of do I live or die?
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I mean even when you all were looking at her application. You're like she's not going to make it. Yeah, and I mean even when you all were looking at her application. You're like she's not going to make it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was convinced that there was no way that she would make it.
Speaker 4:You know, sometimes I have to think a lot of times that it's the mighty hand of God.
Speaker 2:There's no question.
Speaker 4:That picks people up, and what I love about her story that you've shared is, you know what, when somebody makes their mind up that they're going to do something, they can do it they can.
Speaker 2:And the thing about the participants that I deal with they've never had an adult person, number one. Tell them that They've never had an adult or a person of authority. Tell them that they've done a good job. Tell them that they're worth something. Yes, and that's every, 100%. Every single person that I've dealt with in my court comes from that place in my court comes from that place. Now, I don't always know why they started down their path of addiction.
Speaker 2:Right, just choosing that Some people you know. I know that when I was looking into drug court my mindset was wrong because I thought people who are in addiction chose to go out here and party and do drugs and then, just by the nature of that beast, they became addicted. I can't tell you how many people are come into my court and say well, I had a car wreck and I was prescribed certain drugs.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And from that point on I was addicted. Addicted and then it went from whatever opiate they were prescribed, to potentially heroin, to potentially methamphetamine, and now it's fentanyl. Fentanyl scares me to death.
Speaker 4:Yes, it is scary. I mean it's so powerful.
Speaker 2:It'll kill you like that.
Speaker 4:Instant.
Speaker 2:In a heartbeat. Mm hmm, yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, Jim, I mean, this is just being there. There's more we really need to talk about and I'm just going to have to bring you back on another podcast. I'll be glad to do it Because I think just real quick I know we've got a couple of minutes before we go what are some other things you would like to share, just for people to know about what you're doing?
Speaker 2:That's a question I hadn't anticipated, but I'm really glad you asked. Because the thing about the folks who are in my recovery court I hear so many employers out there and hopefully there will be employers who listen to this, yes, who say, oh well, they've got a criminal record or they're fighting addiction. I don't want them anywhere near my business. Well, people in my recovery court get drug tested three times a week, so they're not going to have you know, most employers, they'll drug test when you get hired. They might drug test you once a year.
Speaker 4:Or if you have an accident.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Get drug tested? Yeah, three times a week, three times a week in the beginning, and then, it goes down Three times a week.
Speaker 2:They get three times a week in the beginning and then it goes down. But they're always getting drug tested once or twice a week for the time that they're in the program. Yes, it's the whole Ronald Reagan trust. But verify you, tell me you're not using. I'm going to trust you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but we're going to do this test Once you earn it, but I'm also going to give you a drug test, absolutely, absolutely, and I will tell you the people who have taken a chance and hired.
Speaker 2:our participants have been thrilled, so if you're an employer out there and you have the chance to hire a drug court participant, whether it's from my outpatient program or some of the people from the residential program. Take a chance, give us a chance, yes, and we'll blow your mind.
Speaker 4:I love that. Thank you, jim, for sharing that, and that's so important because you know we want people. I mean, I just love the productivity of the stories that you shared and you know of what people are actually doing now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I tell participants all the time, and Judge Rice and Judge Street tell them this as well. Tomorrow is my busiest day because I have a regular docket. I have 10 rocks, which is the lower program. I have my residential program during the lunch hour between sessions of court, and then I have to go to Roe Mountain tomorrow afternoon. Wow.
Speaker 2:And I'll probably be up there until eight or nine o'clock tomorrow night having court up there. But it's also when I go into recovery court and those folks are doing well. It is the best part of my work week Wow, the best part. That's week Wow, the best part.
Speaker 4:That's great. That is great. Well, Judge Goodwin, thank you for being on today.
Speaker 2:It's been my pleasure.
Speaker 4:God bless you, thank you, and thank you for the good and godly work that you're doing and helping to change people's lives.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate it people's lives.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I appreciate it. This has been Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed from Benchmark Home Loans. Jonathan and Steve are residential mortgage lenders. They do home loans in Northeast Tennessee and they're not only licensed in Tennessee but Florida, georgia, south Carolina and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did make sure to like rate and review. Our passion is Northeast Tennessee, so if you have questions about mortgages, call us at 423-491-5405, and the website is wwwJonathanAndStevecom. Thanks for being with us and we'll see you next time on Benchmark Happenings.
