Viste

Prairie Talks second talk of the year, “North Dakota Drug Court & F5 Project: Helping Offenders Hit the Reset Button,” will be presented at 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 17 at Prairie Village Museum. Cass County Assistant State’s Attorney Leah Viste will discuss how North Dakota Drug Courts are helping non-violent drug offenders and F5 Project founder Adam Martin will share ways the organization is supporting Cass County offenders as they transition out of incarceration.

North Dakota was one of the first states to adopt the drug court model, which is a supervised, treatment oriented program that works with non-violent participants who struggle with substance abuse and related problems. F5 Project Founder Adam Martin, who worked to overcome addiction and a criminal record before launching F5, believes the root causes of committing crime are not always dealt with while in confinement.

Prairie Talks is supported in part by the North Dakota Humanities Council, which is focusing its programming this year on rethinking America’s criminal justice system. The Humanities Council has posed the question: “Although America is home to less than 5% of the world’s total population, we boast almost 25 percent of the world’s prison population. How did we get here?”

Prairie Talks is free and open to the public. Attendees are invited to tour Prairie Village Museum at no cost. Friends of the Museum co-sponsor the Talks and donations are welcome to help defray expenses.

Since it was founded in 2012, Prairie Talks has hosted 11 events, attracting more than 500 people and a range of co-sponsoring organizations from the community. Speakers have included journalists, authors, human rights advocates, Native American leaders, public health advocates, and artists.

Martin

Visit www.prairietalks.org for more information.

– Prairie Talks