(Cleveland) – Twenty-five years after its inception, the Greater Cleveland Drug Court will become the Judge Larry A. Jones Drug Court on Wednesday, October 26, 2022 following a two hour ceremony and graduation at Cleveland City Council Chambers, the very place Judge Jones began his political career as a City Councilman in 1981.
Contact: Ed Ferenc
Public Information Officer
Cleveland Municipal Court
216 664 6787 / 216 789 2597
ference@cmcoh.org www.cmcoh.org
(Cleveland) – Twenty-five years after its inception, the Greater Cleveland Drug Court will become the Judge Larry A. Jones Drug Court on Wednesday, October 26, 2022 following a two hour ceremony and graduation at Cleveland City Council Chambers, the very place Judge Jones began his political career as a City Councilman in 1981.
Judge Jones, who presided over Drug Court for 10 years, died suddenly at the age of 68 on October 7, 2021.
The October 26th dedication will run from 5-7 p.m. with Justice Melody Stewart from the Supreme Court of Ohio as Mistress of Ceremony. Before she was elected to the state’s highest court, Justice Stewart served with Judge Jones on the Eighth District Court of Appeals. Judges, elected officials and those involved in the formation of Drug Court will be among the speakers, along with members of Judge Jones’ family. The Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s All City Choir will also perform.
Judge Jones was the Administrative and Presiding Judge on the Cleveland Municipal Court from 1995 to the end of 2008, when he left the bench following his election to the appeals court.
The opportunity to start Drug Court came in 1997 after the Common Pleas Court turned down grant money to start the specialized docket. When the opportunity was presented to the Cleveland Municipal Court, the judges did not hesitate and voted to move forward and create the docket.
In 1998 Judge Jones was selected by his colleagues to serve as judge of the Greater Cleveland Drug Court, a collaborative program of city and county agencies designed to hold drug offenders accountable, provide treatment resources to break the cycle of drug abuse and drug-related crime and to reduce recidivism.
With the ceremony on October 26, 2022, 1,889 people will have graduated from the program, with a majority of the participants living clean and sober lives today.