By DEBORAH E. LANS
Second in a series
HUDSON–This court feels different. The judge enters without pomp and opens the session by introducing herself and explaining some of what is on tap for the day: there will be two graduations. There are some visitors from the state court system, there to observe. A local artist is present, and he will be offering art therapy classes. He introduces himself, explains a bit about his own mental health history and his efforts to use art as a therapeutic mechanism.
Then the judge, Cheryl Roberts, gets down to business, with the first case of the day. But, the traditional court officer’s stern opening cry: “The State of New York versus John Jones” has been replaced, and instead Judge Roberts asks: “Mr. Jones, are you ready?” And, when Mr. Jones reaches his spot at the table at the front of the crisp, modern courtroom, the judge’s first words are warm. She asks, with genuine interest, “How are you today?” and there follows a discussion about the defendant’s progress, as it has been reported to the court by the various mental health professionals involved in Mr. Jones’ case during a conference held in private before the court session formally opened.
A key player in the process is Carl Quinn, the resource coordinator for the Hudson City Mental Health Court and a certified peer specialist. He is the link between the defendant, the court, and the treatment players. Certified peer specialists are those who have experienced mental health or substance abuse issues themselves and who have received specialized training that enables them to use their lived experience to help others.
Over the course of the next several hours, 16 cases will be addressed, each in an individualized manner. In every one, Judge Roberts and Mr. Quinn will acknowledge the progress and effort made by the defendant. If there have been lapses, those will be addressed as well, but with positive suggestions. In one case, the judge suggests that the defendant be inspired by his public defender’s wardrobe to write a poem about a bow tie. In another case, there is an exchange with one of the many partners who support the program – the County Mental Health Center – about providing anger management classes and, because the defendant also raised physical health care issues, a referral to the Healthcare Consortium.
In a third instance, the judge holds a conference at the bench with the defendant and counsel to address non-compliance issues in a private manner. The defendant is an artist, and he and the judge discuss possible art therapy. The defendant’s mother is also present, and the judge reaches out to her to see if she has any questions.
About 10 cases in, a tall, bearded defendant sits at the front of the courtroom bouncing in his chair. Judge Roberts tells him kindly that she is concerned about his ability to work with his attorney and the court in a way that allows him to participate in the court’s process. He has no job, no car, lives with his mother, and is, he says, “very smart but pissed at people, attacking him, harassing him, giving him the wrong meds.” He insists that “half the people in the country have disappeared.” The District Attorney, his own lawyer and the judge agree that a psychiatric evaluation is needed. Arrangements for an evaluation are made with the Columbia County Mental Health Center coordinator who is present throughout the morning’s session. The defendant’s mother interjects that her son is acting out because he had to wait an hour for his case to be reached. The judge gently calms the mother, while her son is talking to his lawyer and intermittently apologizing to the court. What could have been a violent situation was deftly and gently handled.
The highlight of the session is two “graduations.” In the first, the defendant this article will call “Jay” approaches the bench. He is tall, lanky, has bushy hair and is wearing a camouflage shirt. Both the current District Attorney Chris Liberati-Conant, and a former ADA Carl Whitbeck, are present, the latter because the case was begun during his tenure. The judge thanks them both for allowing the case to be processed in the Mental Health Court, rather than as a traditional criminal matter.
When Jay was first before Judge Roberts he was in his early 20s; he had already been given a number of second chances and, instead, had reoffended. For that reason, a presentence report by the Probation Department recommended that he be jailed. But Judge Roberts declined. Jay had three children of his own. Moreover, as boys mature slowly, she reasoned that his brain was not even yet fully developed.
The judge and the then-prosecutor agreed to give Jay yet another chance, and now both that prosecutor and the current DA are congratulating Jay on his accomplishments. Jay himself acknowledges that “it has been a long journey and I am glad to be able to move on with my life.”
The judge not only presents Jay with a certificate but also four homemade cupcakes – one for Jay and one for each of his three children – and a book of Buddhist affirmations. She commends Jay on using breath work as a calming mechanism, and she hugs him. The prosecutors both shake his hand.
The second graduate, who this article will call Tomas, was charged with putting litter on the Amtrak tracks and was off his medications and possibly suicidal when arrested. He is heavily tattooed and, as a graduation gift, the judge gives him a book about tattoos, as well as cupcakes and a bracelet to snap as an aid to self-control.
A policeman rises to acknowledge Tomas’ accomplishments, and Tomas’ new employer at the state’s Parks Department speaks about Tomas’ persistence and success. The judge ends the ceremony by giving Tomas a mini elephant to remind him that he can push through anything and that his treatment team, like a herd of elephants, “never leaves anyone behind” and will always be there for him.
There are numerous partners working in the court: the Columbia County Mental Health Center, the Department of Social Services, Twin County Recovery (often mental health and substance abuse issues go hand-in-hand), Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, a local yoga studio, and the art therapy program, among others.
Key to the program is the DA’s participation. (Mr. Liberati-Conant has been an enthusiastic supporter of the court’s work.) When a misdemeanor is charged (the Hudson City Court cannot hear felony cases), the court, DA and defense attorney may consider whether the defendant might better be served if his case is handled in the Mental Health Court. If there is agreement that it should be, including of course the agreement of the defendant, then the defendant engages in a recommended treatment program that can include anger management, mental health counseling, substance use disorder counseling, group peer sessions, art therapy or yoga, among other programs. At the end of the treatment period, as was the case with Jay and Tomas, if all the conditions have been met, the charges may be dismissed or they may be reduced – an outcome that can serve as an incentive to participation in the program.
Even then, a defendant may still owe a mandatory state-imposed “surcharge.” The court typically gives the defendant time to pay it.
The Mental Health Court is one of the state’s “problem-solving courts.” Judge Roberts, who has an abiding interest and expertise in the intersection of the justice system and persons living with mental health issues, sought approval from the state’s Office of Court Administration for the creation of the treatment court upon her appointment to the bench by Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson in August 2022. Currently, she is working to expand the court’s jurisdiction so that any town court in the county can refer a matter to the Hudson court, opening up treatment opportunities for a larger group of county residents.
The idea behind the court is, at one level, simple and commonsensical. Many of those involved in the criminal justice system have mental health issues and often those issues prompt or entwine with the behavior that results in arrests. Indeed, according to Judge Roberts, “65% of our docket in Hudson City Court involves people with known or suspected mental illness or substance use disorder, and at least half of the people incarcerated across the country have mental illness.” Those percentages are even higher for women.
Rather than incarcerating those who treatment can benefit, why not address the root cause, particularly since, according to a recent study in Psychiatric Services, involvement in the criminal justice system “can interfere with mental health and . . .worsen the course of illness or outcomes among those with existing mental illnesses.” That incarceration can worsen mental issues was confirmed by a New York State Bar Association analysis. That report noted that “Effective mental health treatment focuses on empowering people, but prisons systematically strip people of their humanity, autonomy, and agency.”
Too, while, by law, prisons must provide mental health services, the treatment is often purely medication-based and lacking in efficacy.
The U.S. is widely known for having by far the highest incarceration rate of any independent democracy, with every state in the nation outstripping the incarceration rate of most countries. New York imprisons its citizens at a higher rate than, among many others: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, China, the U.K., Spain, France, Germany and Japan. Moreover, as the Prison Policy Initiative puts it, many of the incarcerated are on a spin cycle of “Arrest, Release, Repeat,” with more than one in four of the 4.9 million people the nation incarcerates every year being jailed multiple times.
Those with multiple arrests are disproportionately Black, low-income, less educated and unemployed. Perhaps more importantly the vast majority are arrested for non-violent offenses.
Indeed, many say that prison has become a de facto mental health system in this country. The 2022-2024 Community Health Needs Assessment for Columbia and Greene Counties, prepared under the mandate of the state’s Department of Health, identified three priorities to be addressed by the health care systems of the two counties. The number two priority was to enhance mental and substance use disorders prevention and treatment because both counties experience rates of mental-health-related hospitalizations and suicide exceeding those in the state and in the Capital Region.
If incarceration more often than not exacerbates the underlying causes of many non-violent crimes – harming mental health, diminishing economic prospects and disrupting family ties – earlier interventions promise hope. A 2009 report prepared by the Council of State Governments Justice Center in New York found that participants in mental health courts are less likely to be rearrested and have lower rates of recidivism than those who go through the traditional criminal system.
Moreover, providing mental health care outside of prisons is virtually always less expensive than the cost of jailing someone.
There are many forms of “diversion” – means of exiting the criminal justice system without a conviction – and of alternatives to incarceration – entailing some court involvement, sometimes a conviction but not incarceration. The Mental Health Court in Hudson provides one.
Future articles will examine others, as well as local programs that seek to diminish the effects of incarceration on families and assist those who are incarcerated to reenter the community more productively.
To contact reporter Deborah Lans email deborahlans@icloud.com.
“The Mental Health Court is one of the state’s ‘problem-solving courts.’”
