“The Mental Health Court is to serve as an alternative to incarceration for individuals with mental illness and intellectual disabilities.” –Tacie Zelhart, County Court at Law #3
Reducing recidivism is the goal of a bold new effort being made by the Hays County Mental Health Court. The court providies mental health and substance abuse treatment to reduce the involvement in the criminal justice system.
It marks the first time in Hays County for a non-adversarial alternative beyond deferred adjudication or probation.
If a person with mental illness is charged with a misdemeanor offense, he or she can voluntarily commit to the 12-month treatment, which includes therapy, medications and community service provided with the help of the court.
County Court-at-Law 3 Judge Tacie Zelhart will help combine treatment and judicial monitoring to provide long-term stability that holds defendants accountable.
“The largest mental health provider in Hays County was at the jail. And that’s what we’re trying to change,” Zelhart said. “The Mental Health Court is to serve as an alternative to incarceration for individuals with mental illness and intellectual disabilities. Mainly, we want to improve their health and quality of life and make them productive citizens.”
The first docket opened this month and referrals are being accepted from sources ranging from defense attorneys to treatment providers to family members.
To become eligible, the person must be diagnosed with a mental illness and charged with a misdemeanor crime. Once they have been screened and expectations of the program have been explained, then they must accept a guilty or no contest plea to enter the program.
There is a $250 court fee to subsidize program costs, but Zelhart said waivers are available.
From the point of acceptance, a team will collaborate to monitor and support a participant’s growth. The team consists of the judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, court manager, court case managers, community supervision officer and treatment providers.
“Instead of just passing them on from to department to department, you’re actually keeping an eye on them and you’re invested. If you have everyone together, working as a team, with the same goal in mind is to get this person healthy and productive and out of the criminal justice system,” Zelhart said.
After completion of the five-phase program, Zelhart hopes that graduates have stabilized their mental health condition with medication, no longer using drugs or alcohol, achieved treatment goals and complied with court orders.
“Our goal is to find what works for that person, that individual person. Not everything is cookie cutter and works, especially with mental illness because the diagnoses are so diverse. I’ve practiced for 14 years in this community and represented many individuals, both in criminal matters and civil matters, who had mental health diagnoses. So I’ve seen firsthand and I’ve been saying it for a very, very long time, we need a mental health court. There’re individuals that could benefit greatly from the specialized treatment and specialized caseload that they get with a mental health court. So it’s a great need in our community,” Zelhart said.
Specialty courts like the Veterans Court have proven to change people’s addiction habits and stabilization, so Zelhart looks forward to an exclusive program for mentally ill people.
Her upcoming projects include getting grant money for an out-patient treatment program to provide follow-up assistance to people.
