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A decade of success for mental health court

Johnson City Press - 7/26/2017

Mental health court has proven to be an effective tool for easing jail overcrowding while helping certain defendants get the counseling they so desperately need.

The concept has particularly been a success in Washington County, where Sessions Court Judges Jim Nidiffer and Robert Lincoln established the program in 2007 to provide help for defendants with mental illnesses who find themselves in court for minor nonviolent offenses.

In the last decade, more than 57 people have successfully graduated from the program.

Instead of serving jail time, defendants (who are called "consumers" once they are accepted into the program by a panel of court and mental health officials) are required to complete a one-year program designed for them by the court's mental health professionals. Participants are obligated to report back to the mental health court on a regular basis until their treatment is complete.

Those who graduate from mental health court see their charges dismissed. Court officials say 65 percent of those individuals have not come back through the Washington County Criminal Justice System.

Gov. Bill Haslam's administration is now pushing implementation of the mental health court program in all 95 counties of Tennessee. As Washington County has shown, it is a program that truly benefits the entire community.

It is gratifying to know that other communities are now using what has been learned from Washington County's success with the mental health court to duplicate the program in their own courts.