STATISTICS FROM THE Cheshire County House of Corrections show that the average length of stay in the jail last year was 30 days. The average stay for inmates with mental illness, however, was three times as long. Also in 2001, about one in five inmates of the House of Corrections was in need of mental health services.

New Hampshire's criminal justice system, like those of many states, is not equipped to meet the needs of mentally ill defendants, according to Kenneth Jue, chief executive officer of Monadnock Family Services. These defendants repeatedly appear before the courts - typically for misdemeanors - and are given sentences that may fit their crimes, but don't address the underlying mental illnesses that contributed to the criminal behavior - and will likely lead to future infractions. The result is two-fold: Mentally-ill repeat offenders clog the already overloaded courts and jails, yet these defendants do not receive appropriate attention for their illnesses. "It's very time-consuming for the courts to deal with these frequent recidivists, and these individuals take up a lot of space in the county jail when that's not the appropriate place for them," said Jue.

Recently passed legislation aims to address the growing problem of how the mentally ill are handled by the justice system. The bill sets up a pilot mental health court in Keene District Court to help defendants with mental health issues deal with the legal system, get the assistance they need, and, hopefully, break their patterns of wrongdoing. The goal is to increase coordination between the courts and mental health service providers and to improve public safety.

The Keene mental health court is slated to start Jan. 1, 2003, with an initial report to be filed one year later.

Through the program, Keene-area police officers are being trained to identify potential candidates for the mental health court. In 2001, a group of officers went to Memphis, Tenn., for crisis intervention training that included identifying individuals with mental health or substance abuse issues.

Only those who have committed misdemeanors, not felonies, will be considered for the program. Following arrest, these individuals are given the option of having their cases handled by the mental health court; the program is voluntary. If the defendant chooses to go this route, he or she is given a full evaluation to determine his or her mental health and other needs, according to Jue. "A plan is then worked out by the court with the evaluation team and the individual. The individual is asked to make a commitment to this plan," Jue said.

The plan may include counseling; vocational, residential or medical assistance; assistance in applying for social security disability or other support; or other components. "Whatever they need, we'll see what resources are available and help them get," said Jue.

Each defendant of the mental health court is assigned a case manager who will work with the individual and any family members wanting to be part of the process. The defendant and case manager will be required to periodically report back to the court on the defendant's progress. The Keene mental health court will likely follow other models by requiring the defendant to plead guilty to participate in the program and, upon successful completion of the program, that offense can be expunged from the individual's record.

Jue said that some 30 Keene-area organizations are participating in the mental health pilot program, including: the Cheshire County Sheriff, Keene Police Department, NH Public Defender, Cheshire County Attorney's Office, Monadnock Family Services, Community Action Agency, Cheshire Academy, Women's Crisis Service, and local chapters of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

A task group is currently working with Keene District Court to develop mental health court protocols, including a structure for the court and linkages to various resources. Keene District Court Supervisory Judge Richard Talbot is working with the team to designate certain times each week during which sessions of the mental health court can be held.

Talbot said that the pilot program will build on a sort of mental health court already in place in Keene. Through the deferred sentencing program at Keene District Court, if a prosecutor recognizes that a defendant needs counseling to address such issues as anger management, substance abuse or domestic violence, that defendant appears before Keene's version of the mental health court, which takes place one morning each week. Through counseling, the defendant has the opportunity to get the services he needs and defer the sentence for his crime. If the defendant fails to complete counseling or re-offends after treatment, the appropriate consequences are imposed, said Talbot.

Talbot said that he expects the new mental health court will further the program already in place, as well as addressing the problem of people who are a danger to themselves or others not having immediate access to the services they need. "The mental health agencies are heavily burdened. My hope is that this program will help give immediate attention to those who are in serious distress," said Talbot.

Cheshire County has applied for two years of federal funding for the program from the Bureau of Justice Administration. Even if no federal funding is granted, Jue said, the agencies involved are committed to making the program work by re-allocating existing resources. He said that the mental health court will not require additional staffing at Keene District Court, nor is it set up to put a strain on the court's resources. "I don't anticipate it will require a huge amount of our resources," agreed Talbot. The Administrative Office of the Courts determined that the mental health court would have an "indeterminable fiscal impact" and therefore did not allocate funds specifically for the program.

Jue said that county jail administrators estimate that about 120 current inmates would have been candidates for the new mental health court. According to Jue, the benefits of establishing the program will be many. From the perspective of the justice system, the mental health court will hopefully free up court time and resources that are being tied up by recidivists who are not receiving the services they need. Also, seeing that mentally ill defendants receive the help they require rather than a lengthy jail stay will be more economical.

From the perspective of the bar, Jue said that prosecutors and defense attorneys in Cheshire County have expressed concern that defendants "receive a more appropriate response to their circumstances."

"In particular, the legal system would like to see fewer people repeating offenses and having to go through the court as if it were a revolving door," said Jue. "There is a shared interest among the courts, prosecutors and defense attorneys in seeing that these people get the appropriate services. It's gratifying to see various elements of the legal system being so cooperative in coming up with consensus protocols that will help achieve that goal," he said.

The Keene mental health court began to take shape about two years ago, when a group of 11 representatives from various Cheshire County organizations visited Seattle to observe that city's mental health court. (According to Jue, the court is just one component of Seattle's integrated, systematic response to defendants with mental illnesses.) When the team returned, those organizations began a collaborative effort to look at what they do to "complicate the system," Jue said - what barriers exist to mentally ill defendants getting the services they need. For example, the county jail has a very strict policy regarding weekend visits, which can hinder case managers from seeing their clients and from assisting jail staff in dealing with those inmates.

As a result of these collaborative discussions, the inter-agency team began to develop a "greater understanding of the total system," said Jue. Some assigned more staff to work more cooperatively with the jail and the district court. The organizations began to look at simplifying the procedures that sometimes hindered access to mental health services and care. From this "more global" approach, the Keene mental health court model was born.

A state Senate study committee on mental health courts heard testimony from the Cheshire County agencies involved in the effort to bring the mental health court model to Keene. Once the bill establishing the pilot project was passed, the Legislature established a six-member oversight committee, led by Rep. McKim Mitchell (D-Chesterfield), which will make recommendations on the mental health court by Oct. 1, 2003.

Home | About the Bar | For Members | For the Public | Legal Links | Publications | Online Store
Lawyer Referral Service | Law-Related Education | NHBA•CLE | NHBA Insurance Agency | NHMCLE
Search | Calendar

New Hampshire Bar Association
2 Pillsbury Street, Suite 300, Concord NH 03301
phone: (603) 224-6942 fax: (603) 224-2910
email: NHBAinfo@nhbar.org
© NH Bar Association Disclaimer