Mental illness program to broaden

A court that offers applause to defendants has received praise of its own.

Approximately $700,000 in praise.

The money, awarded through a grant, will help expand the Behavioral Health Court, which combines various agencies to keep mentally ill inmates out of jail and into a healthy, productive lifestyle.

Officials say the court is needed to help keep offenders off the streets.

"Absolutely anyone who has lived here in Tahoe for a length of time knows these folks are out there," said Suzanne Kingsbury, presiding judge for El Dorado County Superior Court. "Unfortunately it takes being arrested at times for (them) to come to the attention of the health department and the courts."

The $700,000, granted through the Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction program, will also help institute the program in Placerville. According to the grant proposal, 15 to 20 percent of the average 219 inmates in Placerville's jail receive psychiatric medications, compared to the nearly 30 percent of an average of 147 inmates in the jail at South Lake Tahoe.

Inmates who qualify for the program must meet certain criteria. The criteria includes being diagnosed with a mental illness, such as schizophrenia, and being accused of misdemeanor crimes.

Since the program's inception in April, only three of the 20 who have been served have returned to jail, according to El Dorado County sheriff's Lt. Randy Peshon.

"The joint efforts of our judicial, law enforcement and mental health professionals to reduce jail recidivism by better serving mentally ill inmates makes El Dorado County a safer place to live," he said.

Kingsbury recalled a man who showed up the first day of court with disheveled hair and a tendency to not look people in the eye. He sat in the courtroom's back row. A probation officer thought the man was highly likely to reoffend and be sent back to jail.

Having since been enrolled in the program, the man has found housing, is near full-time employment and paid off all his court fees,' Kingsbury said.

"When I see him out in the community he's got a smile on his face," she said.

In addition, those in the system use it as a social network, helping and supporting each other.

"I think a lot of these people haven't had that degree of camaraderie and that degree of support probably in their whole lives," Kingsbury said. "You go through life and you feel different from the people in the mainstream. Now they're in a group struggling with the same (issues)."

The money will be used in Tahoe to add staff and focus more on young offenders in the Juvenile Treatment Center with mental illness.





By the Numbers

Number of people served in Behavioral Health Court: 20

Average percentage of 147 inmates in South Lake Tahoe receiving psychiatric medication: 28 percent

Total days the 42 inmates who received psychiatric medication spent in jail: 4,218

Estimated cost of each inmate in custody per day: $110

County savings of 13 mentally-ill patients, who served a total of 1,077 days in custody, by serving a total of 60 after participating in the court: $111,870

Number of additional inmates waiting in jail eligible for the Behavioral Health Court: 42

Source: Grant application for the Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction program