Kia Williams Waller remembers her dark days of substance abuse and crime, and she never wants to return to them.
The 36-year-old wife, mother of three and grandmother of one has seen the inside walls of jails multiple times since 2008. The most recent were those of the women’s state correctional institution at Muncy in Lycoming County, just last fall.
Waller, a New Castle resident, was addicted to pain pills and has had criminal charges against her 10 times since 2008, most recently in 2013, primarily for theft and prescription-altering offenses.
Judge Thomas M. Piccione sentenced her to Muncy for an intensive drug rehabilitation program.
Today, Waller has graduated from that and an outpatient program and holds a full-time job with benefits as a machine operator at an industry in Neshannock Township.