Mental health court

In our county, we have a mental health diversion for program. That means that the case is diverted from the normal trial process and the client's mental health condition is treated. If they comply with the terms of the program, then their case is eventually dismissed.

For whatever reason, there are a lot of people here who are profoundly, chronically, mentally ill. I have struggled for some time with the best approach to these sorts of cases. The dilemna is, do we delay getting them out of jail to ensure that they get some sort of treatment. Our jail is big, holding over 3000 people, I think. The conditions can be less than acceptable. In fact, litigation, brought by a local civil rights group challenging the conditions of the jail, just terminated after many years of supervision by the courts.

Our office hasn't had much involvement in the diversion program. For those of us in misdemeanor court, it's been a great option because the cases are referred to the program and, from our perspective, they end up going away. The advantage is that we haven't had to monitor the cases much and the client receives a benefit. However, it seems like there is a greater role for us to play. The prosecutor's office has a presence, and it seems like we should to. In addition, I'm not sure that we are utilizing the resource as well as we might.

So, for the next month or two, a colleague and I are going to observe the process and see what role makes the most sense for us.