Justice Speaks Podcast Episode #43

In this episode, Justice Speaks continues its series about State Treatment Court Associations and interviews Mary Covington who represents the Texas Association of Specialty Courts (TASC).  This episode is sponsored by Reconnect. 

In the Beginning

Ms. Covington is the current Treasurer for TASC. She is a native Texan who graduated from the University of Texas in Austin, and she has been a criminal justice professional for the last thirty years.  She was the first Drug Court coordinator for Harris County and has served on the board of TASC since 2004. 

During the interview, Ms. Covington explained that TASC started in 1998 as the Texas Association of Drug Court Professionals. Judge Joel Bennett of Austin, Texas, who also served on the Board of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), helped to start TASC. He was its first president. At that time, there were only three Drug Treatment Courts in the state.

Membership in TASC 

Ms. Covington, spoke about the unique membership structure for TASC, including lifetime membership which is given to all former presidents of TASC.  The overall membership structure not only supports those who work in Specialty Courts, but also provides a way for individuals and groups who are not part of the criminal justice system to support these courts.

Ms. Covington discussed how TASC routinely had a large in-person statewide training conference which was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.  Fortunately, in 2022, they were able to  restart the in-person training. The in-person conference typically happens in March or April in different locations in the state.  She stressed that the conference is designed for all types of Specialty Courts, including family intervention courts and, a first in the country, an employee assistance court that works with public safety officials.

TASC’s Challenges

Regarding challenges, Ms. Covington talked about the challenge of finding enough volunteers to support the work.  They currently have an Executive Director who is also with the Correctional Management Institute of Texas (CMIT) at Sam Houston University ,  but they always need more volunteers.

To support Texas Specialty Courts, CMIT created the Specialty Court Resource Center that is a clearing house for all Texas Specialty Court related materials which can be found on the TASC website. Ms. Covington was excited to disclose that starting September 1, 2022, CMIT released an automated online tool to assess and improve Specialty Court best practices within the state.

Ms. Covington then talked about another of the challenges facing TASC, expanding the number of people who are served by Specialty Courts.

The Ruben G. Reyes Act and Other TASC Achievements

She then discussed a major achievement, the passage of the Ruben G. Reyes Act, named in honor of the former Specialty Court judge and former President of NADCP., The Act allocates one percent of all the mixed beverage revenue to Specialty Courts.  In its first eight months it raised over 8.8 million dollars for these courts.  This will allow the state to fund new Specialty Courts which are critically needed.

Ms. Covington also spoke about how the association expanded its vision and renamed itself. She describes the struggle and how the name change ultimately improved the association.

Finally, Ms. Covington discussed another major accomplishment for TASC, creating peer review teams to help courts in Texas implement best practices.

We wish to thank Ms. Covington for sharing her  unique experiences with TASC and how it is changing criminal justice in Texas.  We also wish to thank Reconnect for sponsoring this podcast episode.

Additional Resource

You can also watch this interview by going to the Justice Speakers Institutes’ YouTube Channel or by clicking here.