People with mental health issues don’t always respond to the traditional judicial system.
That’s the driving force behind a new mental health calendar established this week in Clallam County District Court 1 which targets offenders who suffer from mental illness.
Six people are already in the program, and Judge Rick Porter anticipates as many as 50 offenders will eventually be added to the calendar.
Hopefully, they will stop committing crimes and get the treatment they need to function in the community, he said.
“It’s very, very effective, because it just puts a little bit of backbone into the whole mental health process,” Porter said Thursday.
The new program — a collaborative effort among prosecutors, defense attorneys, Peninsula Community Mental Health Center and the court — providers offenders with mental health evaluations, gets them into treatment or counseling, ensures that they are working with mental health professionals and usually keeps them out of jail.
