Marion County drug program ends due to state funding decrease

RESTORE Court helped people pay off restitution while in substance use treatment, but will shut down after just over a year.

Jan. 27, 2026 at 4:23pm

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The Marion County District Attorney's Office is shutting down its RESTORE Court program, which allowed people with a history of drug use and low-level crimes to work off restitution through community service and substance abuse treatment. The program is ending due to a decrease in state funding, with the county saying the new funding formula prioritized programs that could serve more people, even if they hadn't started yet.

Why it matters

RESTORE Court was part of a state effort to keep people out of jail after drug possession was recriminalized in 2024. The program aimed to help participants break the cycle of addiction and crime, but its closure means those still enrolled will no longer have that path to recovery and expungement of their records.

The details

The RESTORE Court program was run through the Marion County District Attorney's Office and gave participants the chance to work off restitution owed through community service while undergoing substance use treatment. The money earned went toward paying off their restitution, and upon completion their criminal charges would be expunged. However, the program is shutting down with nearly 30 people still enrolled, as the county says new state funding prioritized programs that could serve more people, even if they hadn't started yet.

  • The RESTORE Court program launched more than a year ago.
  • In 2024, the county received $1.4 million to start RESTORE Court and continue its existing Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program.
  • The state Criminal Justice Commission originally told the county to expect the same amount of annual funding for the next cycle.
  • The county recently learned it would receive just under $2 million to continue operating both programs for two years, which was not enough to sustain both.

The players

Paige Clarkson

The Marion County District Attorney, who said the state change resulted in reduced support for existing programs while rewarding 'aspirational projections'.

Brendan Murphy

The Marion County's chief deputy district attorney, who said the county will do 'everything we can to honor our agreement' to graduate people from the program and expunge their charges.

Ryan Keck

The interim executive director of the state Criminal Justice Commission, which oversees distributing funding for deflection programs and prioritizes the estimated number of people expected to join a program over other factors.

Marion County District Attorney's Office

The office that ran the RESTORE Court program and is now shutting it down due to the funding decrease.

Marion County

The county that received the state funding for the RESTORE Court and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion programs, but is now forced to end RESTORE Court due to the funding cut.

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What they’re saying

“It's hard to quantify the impact of a program like … our fledgling RESTORE Court by simply counting the number of participants. You can't put a dollar figure on a parent who becomes stable and breaks the cycle of dependency and homelessness, or on the benefit of successfully righting a wrong. Helping even one person in these ways can make meaningful, lasting change that has a ripple effect throughout our community – not to mention the value it brings directly to victims.”

— Paige Clarkson, Marion County District Attorney

“Moving forward, however, we will need assurances regarding stable funding before we can invest local resources into programs designed for deflection. It isn't fair to the participants in the program, our partners, nor our hard-working staff to have funding shift so soon after beginning the program.”

— Brendan Murphy, Marion County Chief Deputy District Attorney

What’s next

No one new will be able to enroll in the RESTORE Court program, but officials say they will do everything they can to honor their agreement and allow the nearly 30 people still enrolled to graduate and have their charges expunged.

The takeaway

This closure highlights the challenges of sustaining innovative criminal justice programs that aim to address underlying issues like addiction, especially when state funding formulas prioritize the number of projected participants over the proven impact of existing programs. It raises questions about how to ensure stable, long-term support for initiatives that show promise in breaking cycles of crime and incarceration.