Senior Judge John McGroarty will preside over the graduation of two Mental Health Court consumers at 10 a.m. Thursday (April 20) in Courtroom 1A of the Regional Justice Center. These are the first individuals to successfully complete the Mental Health Court program.
The Mental Health Court was established in 2003 to assist the community in providing help to the chronically mentally ill and has provided one piece of the solution to the mental health crisis in southern Nevada. The Mental Health Court provides assistance to individuals who commit crimes, but who are also diagnosed as suffering from a recognizable form of serious mental illness. The court aims to reduce recidivism and divert offenders suffering from a mental illness from area jails to a treatment program. Since opening, the Mental Health Court is credited with reducing the number of non-violent mentally-ill offenders residing in the Clark County Detention Center and other area jails.
Across the United States, jails and prisons are overcrowded with the mentally ill. Since the 1970s, when federal funding for mental health treatment was drastically reduced, many defendants have been locked up without proper treatment and without much hope. There is a corresponding impact on the criminal justice and health care systems. It is estimated that it costs as much as $34,000 each year to house an inmate in the Clark County Detention Center.
