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More than a dozen people have completed mental health court, with half who had finished the program for at least six months not being arrested again, data shows.

Guilford County judges fear that the specialty courts might fall to county budget cuts. They say the mental health programs, which are less than two years old, work and are needed.

“There is a real economic value to what we do, if you look at how much it costs to house them in the jail,” said district court Judge Susan Burch.

But it’s not just the money, said district court Judge Tom Jarrell, who oversees the High Point mental health court.

“It’s the lives we’re saving,” he said, noting that his four graduates haven’t been charged in months. “These are guys who’ve been in trouble their whole lives.”

He plans to plead his case, along with other judges who run the specialty courts, when the Board of County Commissioners discusses the budget.

The courts will have a staunch ally in commissioners Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston, who fought to get the mental health courts. He’s also taken a hands-on approach to the budget this year, working closely with county staff to decide where to make cuts. 

He said the specialty courts were in line with the efficiency and accountability that is being sought from county-funded programs.

“Anything to do with reducing the population of the jails, I don’t foresee us back pedaling on that,” Alston said.

Commissioner Kay Cashion, who hasn’t been part of the budget process, says she likewise believes the specialty courts are too beneficial to cut.

Still, state budget figures aren’t final and Guilford might have no choice.

“If there has to be a reduction made, I would want the advice of the courts,” Cashion said.

Defendants who go through mental health court suffer from a range of mental illnesses and many also have drug or alcohol addictions because they self-medicate, judges said.

Participants receive intense supervision, must submit to random drug tests and must enter treatment programs if referred there. They must stay for a minimum of six months in the program, which Greensboro launched in October 2007 and High Point last April . Each site can serve 25 to 30 defendants.

The programs are based on the drug courts, which are older. Greensboro’s launched in 2002 and High Point’s last year.

In the specialty courts, court officials review a defendant’s progress. The group includes the presiding judge, program administrator, representatives from the public defender and prosecutor’s offices, probation officers and a case manager.

All but case managers and program administrators volunteer their time, said Jon Bellows, trial court administrator.

Mental health court costs have been covered by a mix of grants and county funding. But they’ll have to rely entirely on county funding for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

The county has been covering the entire cost of the drug courts for several years, since the start-up grants ran out.

The county is paying about $235,000 to operate the specialty courts in High Point and Greensboro this fiscal year. About 5 percent pays for operating costs and supplies,

Bellows said. Most covers salary for the case workers. The state pays for the drug court program administrators, but not mental health court.

And the total doesn’t include a grant of more than $94,000 for the mental health courts that ends in September, Bellows said.

He has discussed next year’s budget with the interim county manager. But Bellows would not provide details or say whether he proposed any cuts.

“These programs are important,” he said. “And I think they are working.”
 

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com