She Fought Her Way to Sobriety but it Wasn’t Enough to Avoid Prison

SUPREME STAMINA –

March 6, 2024 – Georgia Sloan lived half her life in trauma and abuse when she started using drugs.

Her mother was addicted. Her father was murdered when she was a child, and her stepfather was abusive. Drug overdoses took away her husband and brother, and while she was in jail her infant daughter died in an accident. Then at age 31 she stopped, setting her on a course for a new life. She got into treatment through Crossroads Ministries and started working at bath products company Musee in Madison County, passing weekly drug tests.

In December, the 34-year-old was called back to court on an old drug charge, and Sloan hoped the judge overseeing her 2022 drug sale case would see that she was a changed woman.

The answer was no. Lowndes Circuit Court Judge James “Jim” Kitchens opted for the maximum eight-year sentence with four years to serve and four years suspended.

At the Dec. 4 hearing, he doubted whether nearly three years of sobriety and employment showed Sloan had changed.

“I don’t see [a] contrite heart in you at all about this,” Kitchens said, according to a transcript of the sentencing. “You’ve convinced the ladies here that you’re a great employee. And I’m proud of that. That’s a good thing. But now, I’ve got to sentence you.”

When reached by Mississippi Today, Kitchens would not comment and told the reporter to request a transcript of the hearing.