HELP F VETS’ PAIN
Court program gives addicts second chance
Program gives troubled vets treatment instead of jail
He was a junkie, a drunk, and an accused drug dealer who had done time in prison, so even Fernando Basby was convinced he would never turn his life around.
But three years after his arrest for allegedly hawking heroin on an East Harlem streetcorner, the former Army National Guard soldier is clean — and a recent graduate of Manhattan Veterans Treatment Court, which offers treatment in lieu of jail for former service members with addiction or mental health issues.
“It was a long road for me… a guy with prior felonies,” Basby, 52, said at his graduation ceremony this month in Manhattan Supreme Court, where he was handed a diploma for successfully completing the two-year program.
“I thought I wasn’t going to get this, to be honest with y’all.”
His case was formally dismissed, as promised, when he entered the program in June 2016 as one of its first participants. He spent about two years in treatment, submitting to regular drug tests.
But prosecutors took a gamble on the longtime heroin user, who would have been ineligible for the program because one of his past convictions, an attempted burglary, is considered violent under the law.
“We typically only take people with certain backgrounds. … You were one of the exceptions,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman-Agnifilo at his last court appearance. “You are absolutely an inspiration to us to take more chances on more people, because if you can accomplish all that you have, it really makes a big difference,” she added.
“You changed your life’s trajectory so much for the better,” said Justice Kirke Bartley, who presided over his case.
Both encouraged him to return to the program to mentor others.
Basby, who grew up in Manhattan, joined the National Guard and was honorably discharged in January 1986 after a two-year enlistment. But the then-20-year-old soon fell in with the wrong crowd. He’s been busted at least 20 times on such charges as narcotics trafficking, drug sale and possession, and drunken driving, and did stints in federal and state prisons.
It was a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2014 while incarcerated that sent Basby barreling toward rock-bottom. After his release, he went back to his old ways of heavy drinking and drug abuse. “I was actively using all types of illegal drugs. I gave up on life,” he said.
But Basby, who is in remission, said he got “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” His long road to redemption began when he entered a treatment program for veterans at the Samaritan Daytop Village in Queens.
As a participant in the veterans court program, he started working on his associate’s degree and is assisting other addicts and veterans. He hopes to become a recovery counselor.
“My mother cries now every time she sees me,” he said. “It’s not out of pain — she can’t believe what I’ve become.”
Any veteran, regardless of length of service and discharge status, is potentially eligible for the specialized court, although a candidate’s criminal history can prohibit eligibility.
“If I could do it, anybody else could do it,” Basby said. “It has to come from you.”