Mental Health Court Returns as Alternative to Jail

The Birmingham division of Jefferson County’s mental health court resumed this April, four years after funding cuts shut the program down.

The return of the mental health court should help reduce overcrowding in jails and decrease the amount of time unresolved cases remain in the system. About 16 percent of inmates in the Jefferson County Jail are there for crimes committed with a mental health component, and many of these cases delay in the system as judges and attorneys try to figure out how to handle them.

The court reopens to address a real need. Jails simply aren’t equipped to deal with serious mental illness. Mental health court will be able to serve around 100 people at any given time, and will focus on major depressive disorders, bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia. The revived mental health court judge will now be empowered by the district attorney’s office to reduce or dismiss a charge, a significant change from previous years. Participants will be given individualized treatment plans and return to court for progress regular monitoring. Many community partners will be involved, including One Roof, Fellowship House, Alabama Pardons and Parole, Community Law Center, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office and UAB Community Psychiatry.

Participants will also be able to access mental health resources after they’ve completed the program. The mental health court program is voluntary, and in some cases lawyers may have to make a choice on whether drug court or mental health court would be more helpful for the client. Regardless, the return of the mental health court option offers a welcome and in many cases much-needed alternative to criminal prosecution.