LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock County stakeholders are exploring whether a formal mental health diversion program could keep qualifying offenders out of jail and get them into treatment, according to officials and advocates who spoke with KCBD\u2019s Investigates Team.<\/p>\n
Other Texas counties have developed Assisted Outpatient Treatment programs \u2014 known as AOT programs\u2014 in which qualifying individuals receive mental health services overseen by a civil court judge instead of moving through the criminal justice system. Lubbock does not currently have such a program.<\/p>\n
A personal connection to the issue<\/p>\n
Brian Shannon, a law professor at Texas Tech, a member of the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health, and a board member at StarCare Specialty Health System, said the issue is personal to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy younger brother, when he was a senior in college, unfortunately had his first bout with a psychiatric illness. Like many, he was 22, often strikes individuals, late teens, early 20s,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
Shannon said his brother did not recognize that anything was wrong \u2014 a condition called anosognosia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a common symptom of individuals who have bipolar or schizophrenia disorder. It literally means a lack of insight. If you hurt your arm, you hurt your leg, your brain\u2019s going to tell you, my arm hurts, my leg hurts. But now the very organ of the body that would normally give you those signals is the one that is having problems. Without treatment, without medication, there is this lack of insight, and so it makes it difficult for the person to get help,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
Shannon\u2019s family filed for court-ordered mental health services. After four civil commitment proceedings and a hospital stay, his brother received medication and stabilized.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey got him on a medicine that was the right one for him. So, the rest of his life, he took his meds, led a good life, an independent life,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
New state law expands detention criteria<\/p>\n
The Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health pushed for a new state law during the last legislative session. Senate Bill 1164 took effect last September. It expands when officers can detain someone for a mental health emergency without a warrant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe criteria had always been a reasonable cause to believe the person has a mental illness. Are they a danger to self or others? Are they deteriorating without intervention? This adds a third possible prong, if you will, of that test in terms of, do they recognize the need for treatment to address their symptoms. And those combined would allow an officer to take the person,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
Shannon said the goal is for more people who need help to now meet that criteria and receive a medical assessment.<\/p>\n
Broad local support for an AOT program<\/p>\n
Shannon pointed to a successful AOT program overseen by a judge in Bexar County.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brings the whole team in, and he\u2019ll ask some basic questions like, \u2018How are you doing this week? Did you take your meds? Did you go to your appointment? Anything I should know?\u2019 And he said, just with that judicial involvement, bringing the people together, they reduce their hospital bed days significantly, more than halved them, and have better outcomes for the people,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
Lubbock County Assistant District Attorney Marlise Boyles said a formal program would make a difference locally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some defendants that we see on multiple occasions that if we were able to provide them with the resources and help early on, we could divert possible future criminal action, and then it wouldn\u2019t be a strain on our jail and detention center,\u201d Boyles said.<\/p>\n
Chief Defender Rusty Gunter of the Private Defender\u2019s Office said the benefits would extend across the justice system.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to reduce the number of people on the competency docket. It\u2019s going to reduce the number of mental health people in the jail who are not competent. And it\u2019s going to help people who could be contributing members of society without having to take more draconian measures,\u201d Gunter said.<\/p>\n
Judge ready to lead pre-adjudication model<\/p>\n
County Court at Law Number 3 Judge Benjamin Webb said he is prepared to oversee a program, specifically a pre-adjudication AOT model targeting people after arrest but before their case is resolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea being, without their mental illness, they\u2019re probably not going to be breaking the law, and finding themselves involved in the criminal justice system,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n
Webb said the model offers a direct incentive for participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like this specifically, everybody recognizes the problem, and that\u2019s one reason I prefer the pre-adjudication model, is because there\u2019s an incentive and a benefit to the person who can comply and progress through the program. At the end, the carrot is, you can have your criminal case dismissed and avoid not only potential jail time, but any of the collateral consequences that go along with criminal convictions,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n
For Lubbock stakeholders, the question now is how to secure the funding and support needed to launch a program.<\/p>\n
Our investigation into the Mental Health Crisis continues.<\/p>\n
In our next report, we\u2019ll hear from someone who graduated from the Bexar County AOT program \u2014 and what that experience meant for his life.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll also talk to a senior staff attorney with the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health, who helps counties build these programs and secure state funding.<\/p>\n
More from the Mental Health Crisis series<\/p>\n
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