Volunteer Behavioral Health has a plan, and a grant from the state, to keep addicts out of prison.
Senior Vice President Kandy Templeton said the group received $400,000 to implement the program in the Cookeville area.
“We very much know that our jails are overcrowded with individuals who may not necessarily need incarceration as much as they need treatment,” Templeton said.
Templeton said the group is in the planning stages now, but parts of the program should be rolled out by next summer.
“We will be working with the judicial system as well as law enforcement as well as a number of other agencies in the Upper Cumberland to pull all this together,” Templeton said.
Templeton said the six other grants went to cities like Chattanooga, Memphis and Nashville.
