Inside the Winnebago County jail, many people hit their rock bottom. But through a relatively new program, participants are finding hope and a path forward from inside these walls.For Zach Sweere, life outside of his addiction s eemed impossible."I was hopeless, I was actually defeated, I was at a point where I was ready to tap out. I mean drug use was great until it wasn't," Sweere said.Watch the full broadcast story here: Star program transforms lives through peer support"I never thought that recovery would be something that would work for me, I always thought it was something at the end of a fairy tale," Sweere said.It took Sweere decades of substance abuse, and time in and out of jail cells before he found a local program that finally made a difference."I just started to experience a shift. For one time in my life, I did not feel completely hopeless. I was seeing this work for people around me, and the people around me had what I wanted," Sweere said.One of those people is Jeff Ringenberg, a peer recovery coach who knows Sweere's struggles because he's lived them."All of our coaches have lived experience through addiction, through alcoholism... been in and out of jail most of our lives, myself included," Ringenberg said.Ringenberg works directly with Sweere through the 'STAR' program, showing him recovery was possible because he'd made that same journey himself."Already there's an understanding where you kind of get each other... It's like I know where you've been, I know what it's like, and let me show you how I got to the other side of it," Ringenberg said.Officials say the program is unlike others in the country, allowing people with criminal histories into the jail to help others inside, showing them a way out to a sober, clean life."I never thought I would be 2 years sober because I struggled for 25 years straight," Sweere said.In two years they've helped over 1,000 people. To celebrate, people in the program and even Winnebago officers painted a mural right in the middle of the jail."Finding somebody that is as hopeless or was as hopeless as I once was, and instilling a little bit of hope, and that they can do this, is probably the biggest gift that I have gotten," Sweere said.The mural will stay in this relatively colorless room as a reminder of both the darkness of addiction, but also of the hope that they're working towards. ...read more read less