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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A runaway at age 17, Jon Hinkle was in and out of jail and on and off medication for bipolar disorder for years, making no progress in his life.
Hinkle credits Salt Lake County's mental health court for turning him around. He's been out of trouble for about 15 months, after getting charged with assault.
"They've treated me as a human being, not as a criminal," said Hinkle, 40.
After seeing the alternative to traditional court succeed in Salt Lake County, Davis County is looking at starting a similar program.
The Utah Judicial Council authorized the program on Monday. It will be for those charged with a nonviolent crime who have mental health problems.
"We're seeing people all the time with serious mental health issues (who) we think need the services of a mental health professional," said Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings, whose office was swamped with 6,700 criminal cases in 2009.
Rawlings has applied for a $250,000 federal grant to help fund the diversion program. Defendants charged with violent or sexual offenses wouldn't qualify, but others could benefit from medication, counseling and routine monitoring and avoid repeating "these stupid and petty crimes," he said.
Rawlings said a mental health court works similarly to drug courts, recognizing an offender's needs while requiring accountability.
Defendants in mental health courts must stay on their medication, attend therapy and counseling for addictions, complete community service requirements and have a weekly hearing at mental health court.
"It's a huge amount of structure," said Allan Rice, of Valley Mental Health, the Salt Lake County mental health court's clinical director and one of its founders.
The court, which launched in 2001 and generally oversees about 120 defendants, is a collaboration between his agency and 3rd District Court, the Salt Lake County attorney and Salt Lake City prosecutor and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Rice said mental health court helps teach and counsel offenders on how to manage their conditions. For most participants, Rice said, "the criminal activity is actually a result of their mental illness."
Another founder, Salt Lake City Prosecutor Sim Gill, said surveys show that only 2 percent of the general population is mentally ill, while by some measures 20 percent of jail populations are mentally ill.
Mental health court is a fiscally conservative thing to do, "instead of using our jails to simply warehouse people who are mentally ill," Gill said.
Because many participants are homeless when booked, the program aims to get them into transitional housing, but that can be difficult, Rice said.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
