JUDGES ASK TO RESTORE HEALTH, DRUG COURT FUNDS

'It's Just a Vicious Cycle,' One Says Of Repeat Offenders

Mentally ill people would end up in jail time after time, costing taxpayers
$55 a day, if the county's 3-year-old Mental Health Court is shut down,
judges said yesterday.

Also at risk is Davidson County Drug Court for addicts and a program to
keep young people from dying in car accidents.

"Don't ask us to do the job and take our tools away from us," Judge Casey
Moreland pleaded. He was speaking to the Metro Council's Budget and Finance
Committee about the General Sessions Court budget.

"We're trying to be creative and innovative with our Drug Court and mental
health program, instead of just putting the people back out on the
streets," he said.

About $166,000 is needed for Mental Health Court and $65,000 for Drug
Court, both of which are not funded in Mayor Bill Purcell's proposed budget
for fiscal 2004-05.

Councilman Rip Ryman proposed that the two courts and also a $56,000 "Alive
at 25" program in high schools be put on the council's "wish list." Since
the "Alive at 25" program, which is much like traffic school, began in
2000, fatal accidents of 16- to 24-year-olds have dropped 50%, Moreland said.

Budget hearings will continue at City Hall this week, and other programs
that are not included in the mayor's budget also could be considered. The
funding for any additions would have to be found through cuts elsewhere or
by other means. The Mental Health Court is saving about $883,000 a year,
Moreland said. The Drug Court's track record is not as fully established
because it's less than a year old.

The problem is that the mentally ill, who need to take drugs, and the
addicted, who need to get off drugs, are repeatedly in and out of the
courts, burdening courts, taxpayers and the already overcrowded jail
system, Moreland said.

"It's just a vicious cycle," he said.

Dozens of judges and advocates for the mentally ill sat in the audience
yesterday to back the programs that offer intensive probation with
treatment and at least one weekly check with the courts. Stickers saying
"Save the Mental Health Court" decorated many lapels and blouses.

The amount requested is small in a $7.9 million General Sessions Court
budget, and Moreland suggested a way to fund the programs. Raising the fees
for people who are on probation from $20 to $25 a month would bring in an
additional $101,000, he said.

Also, increasing the cost of traffic school from $45 to $50 will bring in
$135,000 more than estimated, he said, because traffic tickets are up 30%
under Police Chief Ronal Serpas.

Several speakers at other department hearings last night backed Moreland's
request, including Criminal Court Judge Seth Norman, who said the mentally
ill eventually could end up in Criminal Court.