In an effort to divert those with mental illness away from the jail, Hays County established a Mental Health Court.
County Court at Law #3 currently serves as the Mental Health Court. According to the county website, the this court combines treatment and judicial monitoring to achieve longterm stability and self-sufficiency by providing a continuum of care that focuses on abiding by the law while also becoming successful members of the community.
Judge Elaine Brown spoke at the Hays County Commissioners Court regularly scheduled meeting last week to give an update.
“This is Mental Health Awareness Month, so it seemed like an appropriate time to come to the court and let everyone know what were doing,” Brown said. “64% of people sitting in our [Hays County] jail report a severe mental illness. Now compare that to the overall population, and you can see that our jails are actually being used de facto as mental health providers for the majority of people that are suffering from mental illness. In state prison, 55% report a severe mental illness, and in federal prison it’s about 45%.”
Brown said the Mental Health Court is a specialty treatment court and also a “problem solving” court that is composed of the judge, Mental Health Court Administrator Kaimi Mattila, a court caseworker, the prosecution attorneys, defense lawyers, community supervision and treatment providers. Those working in the court meet regularly with court members to see what is and is not working in treatment plans and to attend court sessions.
“It’s not a traditional court. I run it very differently from my traditional courtroom,” Brown said, adding that the court experience is unique in order to give the members a different experience than has been typically had in the judicial system. “Our goal is to link justiceinvolved individuals to long-term community based treatment and rehabilitation… Mental Health Courts share the following goals: we want to improve public safety by reducing criminal recidivism; we want to improve the quality of life for the people that participate in the program, but not only the people that participate in the program, but their families' lives are improved as well. We want to provide an alternative to incarcerating them in jail.”
Brown listed the factors present in a successful mental health court:
• The integration of mental illness or IDD treatment services integrated with the processing of cases in the judicial system.
• The use of a nonadversarial approach to promote public safety and protect due process rights. “Oftentimes, the first time they’ve ever had that experience in the courtroom,” Brown said. “We are a problem- solving court. We come together to solve the problem.
• Early identification of mental health problems.
• Access to evidence-based services and treatment.
• Ongoing judicial interaction and accountability. Members meet with the judge twice a month, and at that time, the treatment program is evaluated and incentives are given, if appropriate, or instructions for program compliance.
• Diversion from jail to treatment.
• The program is monitored and evaluated.
• Continuing interdisciplinary training for staff.
• Development of partnerships with agencies and community organizations such as the Mental Health Cooperative Committee, which will ensure sharing of resources and reduce overlap.
Mattila said phase one of the court involves linking the person to psychiatry, case management and counseling.
'Once we kind of get those things set up, then we’re addressing additional things, and this could be housing, sobriety, employment, education, those sort of things. If those things need to be addressed sooner in the process, of course we will do that,” Mattila said. “Phase three is preparing for graduation, and making sure that there is that continuity of care that I mentioned. So throughout this course of the program, we’re also referring them to community organizations that can provide peer support: sober communities, mentors [and] peer recovery coaches.”
Brown said there has been a significant amount of studies showing the efficacy of Mental Health Courts for those with mental health disorders and substance abuse disorders, and it also saves taxpayer money.
“According to All Rise, which is a nonprofit group that studies treatment courts and provides support for treatment courts, it shows that treatment courts produce benefits of $6,208 per participant and return up to $20 for every dollar spent,” Brown said. “So, it is a tax saving benefit for the community as well.”
In addition to positive benefits for mental health of the individuals involved in the court, Brown said research confirms that mental health courts also improve the employment, education, housing, family reunification and healthcare of its members.
“They also give rise to other programs. A thing that has been mentioned that could be helpful in Hays County is a Diversion Center,” Brown said. “That would be a way to divert people out of the criminal justice system before they even go to our jails. We also have harm reduction strategies. Adolescent Justice Reform — some of you may know, I’ve been talking to the juvenile detention facility and juvenile probation officers about the possibility of starting a juvenile Mental Health Court, which I think could be beneficial to the community as well.”
For more information, go to hayscount ytx.com/courts/ hays-county-mentalhealth- court.
