43
Court grads get 2nd chance
The specialty court favors treatment over jail or prison.
YOUNGSTOWN — Graduation from mental health court means a new lease on life for John L. Way Jr.
“It’s a good thing for me because, if I didn’t have this mental health court right now, I would be sitting in jail right now. I’d be sitting in jail, looking out a window,” Way said.
“I’d be in orange [jail overalls] right now, saying ‘Why didn’t I make the decision?’” Way observed.
Way’s graduation from mental health court allows him to clear a major hurdle en route to his chosen profession.
By completing the specialty court program, he can now pursue his interest in becoming a probation officer, and he plans to do just that by returning to Youngstown State University in August to pursue a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
When he graduated in a Thursday ceremony, Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court dismissed the felonious assault charge against Way at the request of Michael McBride, assistant county prosecutor.
Had he not completed mental health court, Way, 25, of Youngstown, could have gone to prison for six to 18 months for the fourth-degree felony charge, which stemmed from his having stabbed someone with a knife at a North Side group home.
Mental health court is a valuable tool “to keep people off the street” and to give people “a second chance at life,” Way said.
The county’s felony mental health court, which strives to keep mentally ill people out of jail or prison, passed a major milestone by conducting its first graduation ceremony.
Way and a 21-year-old Austintown woman, who asked to be identified only as Andrea, were the specialty court’s first graduates.
Andrea said she intends to enroll at YSU in August, but is undecided about her major field of study. “It made me think about life a lot differently and stay out of trouble,” she said of mental health court. “It made me stay away from bad people.”
The judge dropped an obstructing justice charge against her at McBride’s request.
“By keeping them out of the prison system, it saves the taxpayers money. They start earning a living. They start paying taxes,” Judge Sweeney said.
“Instead of taking from society and being dependent on society, they’re giving back to society,” said Judge Sweeney, who has presided over this speciality court since its founding in March 2006.
Judge Sweeney’s mental health court was the first felony court in Ohio devoted exclusively to mental health needs. Other speciality courts focus on drug abuse or are combination substance abuse and mental health courts.
Besides keeping mentally disabled people out of jails and prisons, the mental health court saves taxpayer dollars by keeping participants from being dependent on welfare or county mental health board programs, the judge said.
“The prison system has become the biggest mental hospital,” since the closing of state mental institutions, such as Woodside Hospital, the judge observed. “They don’t get enough treatment that they need in the prison system, and it’s all because of funding,” the judge said. “It doesn’t help these people to be separated from their families.”
Atty. Melissa A. Knopp, manager of the Ohio Supreme Court’s specialized dockets section, who coordinates such courts statewide and helped start the program here, was the guest speaker for the ceremony, which more than 60 people attended.
“The goal is to get the mentally ill offender out of the criminal justice system, which is not the appropriate place for these people,” she said. “Mentally ill people are the most expensive people to keep in the jail because they require more services than your regular criminals, and it’s really not the most mentally stable place to put somebody who has a mental illness.”
“We try to customize their treatment program for their individual problem,” Judge Sweeney said.
If they fail to meet program standards, the judge may impose sanctions, such as a short jail stay or a brief assignment to the county sheriff’s day-reporting inmate work program.
If they flunk out of mental health court, as five people here have done so far, they may be sent to prison or put on strict probation for five years.
“They know, if they screw up badly, and they get kicked out of the program, they’re going to get sentenced on what they were originally charged with,” the judge said.
One current program participant has her master’s degree, but self-medicated with illegal drugs instead of her bipolar medicine, and is now working 35 hours a week. Another is studying for his bachelor’s degree in engineering, the judge said.
The mental health court works closely with other agencies, such as Turning Point Counseling Center, the county mental health board, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority and the Community Corrections Association.
milliken@vindy.com