JONESBORO — There’s a real need for a Misdemeanor Mental Health Court in Clayton County, according to Magistrate Court judges and other officials.
During a presentation at a Clayton County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, March 12, Judge Latrevia Kates-Johnson said the system is increasingly being overrun by misdemeanor suspects who need help — not incarceration.
“This is something that must happen,” she told commissioners, adding that “our jail has become a shelter” and “we’ve got to do something and do it now.”
She said part of the problem is all the arrests at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport come into the Clayton County court system, and it’s overwhelming the jail.
The proposed mental health court is modeled on one in DeKalb County, with Fulton County having a similar program.
“The jail is not equipped to take care of them (those with mental illness), to serve them — they don’t have the resources,” she said. “On a daily basis it is heart-wrenching to see all these people — our people — that come before us just begging for help.”
The mental health court — a voluntary program that would operate in conjunction with The Clayton Center — would provide participants with a highly-structured alternative to incarceration.
The program would involve treatment services, support services, education and intense supervision.
“Putting them in jail is not the answer,” Johnson said.
She stressed that the four-phase program is misdemeanor only and participants would be pre-screened. Those with felonies, DUIs and sex offenses would not be eligible.
Johnson told commissioners that State Court judges are on board with the program as well as the Solicitor General’s Office.
“I completely wholeheartedly believe that we need to a misdemeanor mental health court,” Clayton County Solicitor General…
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