Special court rescues Calgary woman from life of crime

Kyla Plourde-Fagan has her hair done, she has swapped her trademark hoodie and jeans for a skirt and a sweater, and on this day she’s ready to begin the rest of her life.

The 25-year-old is graduating from Calgary Drug Treatment Court, an alternative justice program that offers a second chance to long-time drug users who commit crimes daily to fund their habits.

“They helped me when I had nothing, when I was nowhere,” she told Global News.

“I don’t think that today I’d be clean if it wasn’t for drug court,” Plourde-Fagan said. “I would have probably died.”

Courtrooms are often serious and sad places, but Drug Treatment Court is different. It’s filled with plenty of praise and encouragement, and often, celebration and applause.

Numbers collected for 22 participants show they had a total of 794 criminal convictions before exiting the program, and just 48, an average of two years after.

“You want to do something and be effective with the people that we’re dealing with in our courts. When you’ve got thousands churning through, sometimes you don’t feel very effective. This program, I have days where I feel and maybe today, I made a difference in someone’s life,” said Judge Jim Ogle, one of three judges presiding over the court.

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The court rehabilitates non-violent, long-time drug users who are committing crimes daily to fund their habits, using treatment, strict conditions and random drug testing, and round the clock support.

When participants enter the program, they plead guilty to their charges and their sentences are adjourned during their eight to 18 month rehabilitation.

Plourde-Fagan was once a homeless, tough-talking street kid who started using crack cocaine at the age of 16. She says her own father gave it to her.

For years, she used and dealt drugs in the parking lot of the TransCanada Mall in northeast Calgary.

The last time, Constable Scott Woodhall arrested her there, she had taken some crack cocaine and she was passed out in the driver’s seat of a stolen Cadillac Escalade.

“She was skin and bones… pretty much as low as anyone could get,” Woodhall said.

“They ripped me out of the vehicle, threw me on the ground, and held guns to my head,” Plourde-Fagan said.

But she wasn’t angry, she was grateful. She wanted to go back to Drug Treatment Court and get clean again.

“It was like that moment of surrender, like you just know that you’re done,” she said.

Fourteen months later, Plourde-Fagan has made it through Drug Treatment Court. She’s clean and sober, has a job, and her own place to live. As a court graduate, she will serve one year probation for all her crimes, no prison time.

“This is not an easy program. It is easier to do the jail time and many if not most of our participants would say that,” said Judge Ogle.

Graduates also have to complete a criminal addictive thinking class, which opens their eyes about their stealing and dealing.

“They don’t want to think about how it hurts other people. Frankly, we sort of force them to think about that as they go through this program. I think it’s part of their recovery,” Ogle said.

“It’s not sort of a compassionate sentence where you’re sentencing somebody you really hope is going to do well. You’re sentencing someone who has done well and you’re confident  they have the tools to continue to do well,” said Crown prosecutor Jacqueline Abbott.

Plourde-Fagan even started a recovery group for women which she chairs. It’s one of several ways that participants have tried to give back to society for the help they have received. That moves Abbott deeply.

“I’m proud of the people in this program for becoming leaders in that community,” Abbot said.

At the graduation ceremony, Plourde-Fagan’s supporters stand up to congratulate her, one after the other.

One of the most powerful speeches comes from her mother, who has watched her child suffer for years in her addiction.

“I’m forever grateful that you chose … to do something for yourself,” she says, tearfully. At this point, everyone in the packed room is clutching tissues, and there are no dry eyes.

“And I can’t wait to see what the rest of your future holds for you,” the petite blonde woman adds. “I love you!”

There is thunderous applause as she returns to her seat. But the ripple effect from Plourde-Fagan’s sobriety is about to spread even wider.

She begins to speak, between sobs, to a pair of special visitors sitting in the back row of the gallery.

“I just want to say thank you to the two officers that are here today that made this possible for me. Because I would not be here today if it wasn’t for you,” she tells two police officers who arrested her at TransCanada Mall one year earlier. “Thank you so much!”

Constable Scott Woodhall later tells Global News he has never seen anything like Plourde-Fagan’s transformation since her arrest, adding crack cocaine addicts he deals with rarely stay clean for more than a couple of months.

“We just generally see people on the worst day of their life,” Woodhall said. “Kind of renews my faith a little bit…to have that profound effect on someone else’s life is humbling, definitely. It’s really good to hear.”

Plourde-Fagan is hoping to pursue a career as a youth worker to help lonely, struggling kids, like she was.

Edmonton also has a drug treatment court.

Judge Ogle hopes one day there will be miniature drug treatment courts in every Alberta community.

If you are curious about the song in the video version of this story, it’s called “Devil’s Time” by Calgary musicians, Reuben and the Dark.