U.S. Sen. Rand Paul visits Hope House Ministries in Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-U.S. Senator Rand Paul made a visit to Hope House Ministries in Bowling Green Friday to learn more about their faith-based addiction program.

Paul talked about decreasing the amount of time people must wait in order to have their criminal record expunged.

“People find that they get out of prison or they get diverted from prison, but then no one wants to hire them because they have a criminal record. About a year ago the legislature passed a bill that said that if you haven’t been in trouble for five years, you can get your record expunged. I think that’s a big help, and it’s also an incentive,” Paul said.

The addiction program has helped Nick Conley stop abusing drugs and clean up his life. A felony charge will stay on his record for the next five years.

“When I complete this program, as long as I stay out of trouble, stay off drugs, all my charges will be alleviated,” said Conley.

Current state law only allows for one felony to be expunged from a record. For those with multiple felonies, this can make recovery a challenge.

“You rarely have the opportunity to serve a man with only one felony. Just the nature of crimes that are drug related, they are usually multiple felonies. Sometimes up to three or four felonies all under one actual event,” said Jon Calloway, director of program living at Hope House.

On Friday Hope House revealed floor plans for a new facility that will allow them to start accepting women into the addiction program. Only men are accepted at this time.