Mental Health Court launches
Trammell Woods has stood before Criminal Court Judge Don Poole numerous times.
The 31-year-old knows what it’s like to wear an orange jail jumpsuit, and he has a record in Hamilton County littered with charges of aggravated burglary, possession of cocaine and theft of property.
Woods said he was caught in a cycle and not prepared to deal with “rough patches” in life. He said no one helped him take his meds or “get balanced.”
But he said being in court this time is different.
“I’m not just getting in trouble. I’m getting help,” Woods said.
Woods is one of four men, each diagnosed with a mental illness, who are the first participants in the Hamilton County Mental Health Court. The program, which officially launched Thursday, provides mentally ill offenders the opportunity to receive alternative sentencing in exchange for increased accountability and mandatory treatment.
To qualify for the program,
offenders must be Hamilton County residents and have some insight into their mental illness. Each participant volunteers to be part of the court and is given a strict regimen of check-ups, mental health treatment and supervision tailored to their illness.
Poole checks in with participants and caseworkers weekly and, on Thursday, he spoke to each man individually with a gentle, personal approach.
“How are you doing this week?” “How’s your job?” “Is this better for you? Will this be better for your life?”
These are just a few of the questions he asked the men, always referring to them by name and listening intently to their answers.
“The whole idea of this mental health court is to work with people on a weekly, regular basis to make that quality of life better,” Poole said. “… When I originally was on the bench, I thought maybe 35 to 40 percent of the people before me had some sort of mental illness. Statistics seem to bear this out.”
Poole praised the collaboration and planning between city and county leaders, judges, attorneys, mental health advocates and law enforcement for getting the court started and offering participants the resources they need to be productive members of the community.
Anna Protano-Biggs, an assistant public defender who has helped start the mental health court, said she hopes it will drastically reduce recidivism rates here, as it has in similar courts across the nation.
“The power this could have in our community and our clients’ lives is huge,” Protano-Biggs said. “Otherwise, these people would go back into the community without this wraparound support.”
Samantha Bayles, sentencing advocate for the public defender’s office, said the court should be able to accommodate 50 to 100 participants within the first year. Nine people already are in the pipeline waiting to be on the docket.
Audrey Griggs, a caseworker involved with the court and employed by Helen Ross McNabb Center, a behavioral health services agency, said the new court is a step in the right direction.
“This mental health court provides linkage between the participants and the resources they need,” Griggs said. “… I hope more continues to be done.”
Joseph Fields, 46, is another client of the new court and said Poole specifically recommended him to be a part of this program. Fields has struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction on top of his mental illness for years. He said he never had accountability to get clean until now.
“Being here is helping me way more than being in jail,” Fields said. “Judge Poole, he’s been good to me. He’s helping me be free and make myself a better person.”
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi. anderson@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6592.