Regional Behavioral Treatment Court Transforming Lives in Wayne County

On September 13, Judge Breeda O'Leary, Chief Judge of the 29th District Court in Wayne, presided over the Western Wayne Regional Behavioral Treatment Court's graduation. Four graduates completed the Regional Behavioral Treatment Court (RBTC) Program, which is designed for adults with a severe mental illness and/or a developmental disability, co-occurring disorder, and frequently, a co-occurring substance use disorder. Also in attendance were Wayne Mayor John Rhaesa, City Manager Diane Webb, City councilmembers Deborah Wass and Matthew Mulholland, Hon. Judge Michael Gerou of the 35th District Court, and numerous court and law enforcement staff representing various communities in Wayne County.

Established more than a decade ago by now-retired District Judge Laura Mack, the 29th District RBTC operates with the goal of providing appropriate services and monitoring for misdemeanor adult defendants struggling with mental health disorders and accompanying issues. The ultimate goal is to keep non-violent, mentally ill defendants out of jail, to provide mental health and substance abuse treatment, along with other supportive services such as housing and employment assistance, to keep them from re-offending. O'Leary says that substance abuse is frequently an issue for those with mental disorders who find themselves entangled in the criminal justice system. "A lot of times what we see are people with a mental health illness or diagnosis that are self-medicating or trying to self-treat with substances instead of getting on the proper medication. So everybody we see has that primary mental health diagnosis but a lot of those we see also have the co-occurring substance use issues," she says. "Our primary focus is to make sure they're getting treatment so they don't reoffend. When people have mental health diagnoses and they're untreated, that's when they're encountering the criminal justice system. They have interactions with the police because they're not on their meds, and they end up getting charged with something like resisting arrest, disorderly person, or assault and battery either on a police officer or even hospital personnel."

RBTC is completely voluntary and because it is a regional program, eligible defendants can be referred to the program from any District Court in Wayne County. Participating offenders must be 18 years or older, must reside in Wayne County, and have a history of receiving mental health treatment. The offense must be a one year or less misdemeanor, or a felony reduced to a one year misdemeanor originating from

Wayne County. Minimum commitment to the program is 12 months, maximum is 24 months. The program is entirely grant-funded through the state of Michigan.

O'Leary says some defendants enter the program as part of a plea agreement in which their initial charges are either lessened or dismissed entirely at a neighboring district court. She adds that it is important that police officers, lawyers, and prosecutors are aware of the RBTC at 29th District Court. "Our goal is to educate a wide variety of people, we start with educating the police departments because usually the police are the first to have contact with someone on the streets with that mental health diagnosis. We encourage police to flag a person who may be a mental health court candidate. We try to educate prosecutors and attorneys because they're encountering the case once it's been charged. They can make it part of their plea agreement where they resolve the case and make our program a condition of their plea agreement. But ultimately the judge has to be the one to agree to send the case to us."

In addition to Chief Judge O'Leary, the team at RBTC includes the RBTC coordinator, the prosecuting attorney's office, defense attorney, a mental health coordinator, a probation officer, a home compliance officer, and a community mental health agency. All work together to ensure participating defendants are receiving mental health care and substance use treatment, reporting in with their probation officer, cooperating with home visits, which ensure the home environment is safe and drug-free, and are participating in mandatory drug testing and community service. Participants must appear in person at initial sentencing at the 29th District Court in Wayne and if they incur any violations throughout their time with the program. O'Leary says other check-ins and meeting are handled virtually, which benefit those participants who struggle with transportation or child care issues. Supportive services which may be offered if needed include assistance with obtaining a state ID card, utilizing a food pantry, or assistance with utility payments. "The goal with the program is that we have to make them the best version of themselves that they can be, and that's different things for different people," says O'Leary.

O'Leary says she has been satisfied to see how some people's perception of the judicial system changes as they go through the RBTC Program. "So often people don't think the judicial system cares about the underlying problems, that the court is just here to punish people, collect costs, and move you on your way. That is not what we're doing here at our court; our focus is on treatment to prevent reoffending and to make them better people in the community, make them better parents, husbands, wives, aunts, uncles, whatever they are. I think it's important the community knows we're focusing on treatment, rehabilitation and helping people to prevent them from re-entering the justice system," she says. "Generally people aren't happy when they come to court. I have an opportunity to take people who may have had previous negative interaction with the judicial system and show them the positives that can come out of our court

system, and that we truly do care about helping them and making them better. That's a very, very common comment that I get from our graduates of the program, where they say, 'I never really had a judge care about me,' They leave with a positive taste of the judicial system." To find out more about the 29th District Court's RBTC Program, go to https://www.cityofwayne.com/ and click on 29th District Court.