Adrian Rodriguez apologized to his mother. It’s all right, she said. She knows she doesn’t have to worry about him anymore. Her son is sober now, the miracle she had been hoping for after all these years, she told his judge last week in Woodland.

Rodriguez graduated Wednesday from Yolo County’s mental health diversion court, another step toward a stable life free of alcohol, drugs, court dates and jail cells. The ceremony inside Yolo Superior Court’s Department 13 was also streamed via Zoom.

Joseph Rodriguez, no relation to Adrian, was 8 years old when he took his first drink. His own winding, painful journey of jail, court, anger and addiction ultimately led him to the same courtroom for his graduation day. He said he wanted a better life for himself and his young son.

“This was an angry young man,” Rich Landsburgh, his attorney and a Woodland city councilman, said. Landsburgh first met client Joseph Rodriguez in 2007, 16 years ago. “This program saved his life,” he said.

The Rodriguezes are the program’s first two graduates.

The court-based program in Yolo County monitors and treats adult offenders in the cracks of rehabilitation: people whose mental illness or substance abuse was the main reason why they landed in jail and the court system, but otherwise remain ineligible for mental health or addiction intervention court programs.

Yolo County District Attorney and Public Defender’s offices saw an underserved segment with that in-between group, Yolo prosecutors said. The two offices worked with Yolo County Probation and gave their pitch for funding to Yolo County Community Corrections Partnership, the group that develops and delivers public safety realignment program requests to county supervisors.

The goal was to get more people into treatment while reducing the numbers of arrests, jail and bed stays in local facilities as well as acute hospital bed days and long-term or state hospital bed days — defined as one person in a hospital bed for one night.

The program began in February 2022 with four inaugural entrants, along with a deputy county prosecutor, deputy public defender and deputy probation officer. Treatment providers supplied by the county’s CommuniCare community health program and private defense attorneys fill out the roster.

Plans are to enroll as many as 40 people in the program, said district attorney’s officials. Retired Yolo Superior Court Judge Janet Gaard, who helped bring mental health court programs to the county’s courts, returned to the bench to preside over the new diversion program.

The yearlong cohort is no-nonsense: Enrollees must have no positive test results for drugs or alcohol for more than 200 days; no unexcused absences for 180 days. Enrollees must also consistently participate in job training, aftercare and restorative justice programs. Finally, they must complete an essay for their commencement.

Adrian Rodriguez and Joseph Rodriguez excelled, program officials said at the mid-week ceremony. Adrian revealed himself to be a talented writer. He had struggled to ask people for help, they said, but had committed to the process and to staying clean for himself and his son.

Joseph sought outpatient treatment, working closely with a counselor, and maintained perfect attendance despite having no transportation.

Both, in the words of one graduation presenter, set the standard for the program.

At the end of the ceremony, Adrian Rodriguez singled out his mother and marked this new chapter.

“I want to apologize publicly to my mom. Sorry, it took this long,” Rodriguez said. “Mom always did the most she could, but I didn’t want to do it.”

That changed Wednesday.

“I’ve got to do this,” he said.