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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The 4th Judicial District is planning to launch a court for nonviolent offenders with mental illnesses.
In September, Pottawattamie County was awarded a $250,000 federal grant to start the project.
The purpose of the mental health court is to decrease re-arrests and divert the offenders from correctional facilities to treatment programs, said Beth Morrissette, executive director of the Pottawattamie County Mental Health and Substance Abuse Network. She told The Daily Nonpareil (http://bit.ly/1ybn7YJ ) that the goal is to launch the court in late January.
For a person to be eligible for mental health court, they must not have committed a violent felony and have had a mental health diagnosis in the past six months or have a history of mental illness.
A mental health court team — including a district court judge and an assistant county attorney — will be formed to collect information and decide whether to admit a person. Court sessions will be held at least once a month, Morrissette said.
If eligible, a defendant must plead guilty, court administrator Kent Wirth said.
"They'll take the guilty plea, complete the program, then have their sentencing," he said.
If accepted, the individual then will meet weekly with his or her therapist and probation officer as ordered by the judge.
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Information from: The Daily Nonpareil, http://www.nonpareilonline.com
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