MENTAL HEALTH COURT OFFERS SAFETY NET

Gives Participants Slow Transition Back To Community

A UAB agency launched a research project in 1996 to discover better ways to
serve drug-addicted inmates released from the county jail.

What organizers discovered, however, was that a significant number of
defendants had serious mental health problems, but there was no
coordination between the Jefferson County Jail, courts and mental health
programs to support their transition into the community.

So, UAB's Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime and the Jefferson County
Commission in October 2000 sought federal funding to start Mental Health
Court. They received a $150,000 grant in 2001.

Funding will end June 30, and the commissioners have agreed to give the
program additional money to get it through the fiscal year. Meanwhile,
organizers are pursuing some of the $9 million President Bush and the
Department of Health and Human Services have set aside for treating the
mentally ill in the criminal justice system this year.

"It's not a lot of money but it does signify a heightened interest in this
problem," said Foster Cook, TASC director.

The court is supported by a 19-member policy and advisory committee that
helps court officials and mental health professionals discuss the condition
of the mentally ill in the court system.

Mental Health Court has some of the same aspects of the county's drug
court: Non-violent offenders plead guilty and receive probation, undergo
surprise drug testing and one judge hears the cases.

The difference between the two courts is that drug court defendants get
there because of the type crime they committed. Mental Health Court
defendants are there because of their diagnosis, like schizophrenia and
mood disorders. This court is not for those who claim they are mentally
incompetent or insane for trial.

"These are people who can, with medication, understand and can aid in their
defense," Cook said.

Participants must remain in the program at least six months, be successful
at managing medication and re-establish Medicaid benefits before their
release from the program. Often, mentally ill defendants' Medicaid benefits
are terminated if they are in jail for a certain time, TASC project manager
Suzanne Muir said.

Case managers and the prosecutor review cases to determine which defendants
make a good match for the court.

"The point of the program, in my opinion, is not to speed the offenders
through the justice system and into a probationary system," said Teresa
McClendon, who has handled Mental Health Court cases for the district
attorney's office. "Rather it is to funnel them into a safety net, being
the additional supervision, mental health treatment, counseling,
residential treatment. In the long run, it is hoped this serves our
community better as well."