What Is Mental Health Court Like in Bexar County?
Today I attended an informational session on the inner-workings of the mental health court in Bexar County, Texas, County Court 12. It was eye-opening to learn how intensive the 12-month programs are once you are accepted into the court. Though I have some remaining questions (like, how exactly do indigent clients get all the resources they need to succeed in a program like this? And isn’t there more to do on the front end to keep mental health from being such an easy road to the criminal system?), it was good to learn about court procedure and expectations.
First, the mental health court only exists at the misdemeanor level. Many, many mentally ill people find themselves at the felony level, and the feedback from today is that the county is working to expand this into felonies. However, as of now, only individuals with a misdemeanor can access mental health court.
The requirements for being admitted include:
Be a resident of Bexar County
Have a mental health diagnosis (can be done through a screening by the court)
Charge is a misdemeanor and have no active felonies
The primary issue cannot be substance abuse — can be a factor, but may not be the primary issue
Get referred to the mental health court by anyone in the community, another court, or either attorney
Have authorization from defense counsel to screen the defendant
The defendant voluntarily enters the program
Sign off from the DA’s office
There are two tracks within the mental health court. Either the defendant pleads guilty and is on straight probation or deferred adjudication or the District Attorney’s Office has agreed to do pre-trial diversion. Either track means the defendant will go through 12 months of the program.
These 12 months are quite intensive. Judge Yolanda Huff describes it “like a full time job.” The defendant works their way through five “phases” of the program. In the first phase, the defendant must show up to court about one time per week and attend group classes on about a 2x per week basis. Group classes include moral reconation therapy to address criminal thinking. The defendant must also call a “UA call line” every day to see if they must take a drug test that day, by 4pm — regardless of whether there were substance abuse issues predating their acceptance into mental health court. At phase 3 and 4, the defendant will act as a mentor to those new to the program. The further a defendant works their way through the program, the fewer times he or she needs to appear in court and to classes. The rate may go from two to three appointments per week, to one appointment every two to three weeks, to one appointment per month, to one appointment every other month.
According to Judge Huff, the court prioritizes honesty above all else. Honesty about why a defendant may have used drugs that week, why they missed a meeting, whether they are having trouble with money or babysitters or work. Judge Huff stated that the court understands “relapse is part of recovery.” The Center for Health Services also plays a large role in the mental health resources provided to individuals in this court. The court staff said that they will attempt to find resources to address the myriad issues clients are dealing with.
My big takeaways from this morning’s session are that this is an intensive program for someone who wants to get better and has a great amount of personal responsibility to do so. My reservation is that this program may be too intensive for some and it would probably be most successful for people with a strong support system at home. I need to understand how someone who is indigent and whose family works full time can manage to physically get to all of the required meetings. As well, how many relapses is too many? If the person messes up, does their probationary period get extended? What if this person’s mental health issues requires more intensive treatment, like someone with schizoaffective disorder? (There was mention of one individual with schizoaffective disorder for whom the court found a boarding school.) What if you need mental health resources, but you also think the case should be fought?
The next group “graduates” from the mental health court on December 13. I think I’ll go visit with successful graduates at that time to get their perspective.