ADVOCATE: MICHIGAN SHOULD FUND MENTAL HEALTH COURTS

ADVOCATES: MICHIGAN SHOULD FUND MENTAL HEALTH COURTS
Lansing: Starting at felony charges of assaulting police officers and breaking into cars, Jason Montney avoided immediate prosecution by participating in Genesee county's new mental health court.
He now takes medication for bipolar disorder; which he said he did not know he had before, and spends more time with his four children. His record will be cleared in August if he completes a year long treatment program, does not use drugs and attends weekly review hearings.
Montney was among advocates in Lansing urging state lawmakers to continue funding courts that let judges offer mental health treatment to offenders as an alternative to jail or prison.
The state is spending $1.7 million this budget year for pilot mental health courts in nine counties. But the money is not including in Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts in October.
“The budget recommendations the governor proposed were very painful, “Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said.
Advocates suggested, and Grandholm agreed, the courts may be able to get fundung from federal economic stimulus. Boyd mentioned possibly using some of the $67 million Michigan is eligible for from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program.
“To pull the rug out from under this promising program just doesn't make sense,” Warren District Judge Dawn Gruenburg said.
But advocates say courts in Berrien, Grand Traverse, Livingston, Oakland, Otsego, St. Clair and Wayne counties nevr may get off the ground without another year of pilot funding.
“If there's a political will, there's no question we can find $1.7 million in a state general budget that is likely to spend over $9 billlion,” said Mark Reinstein, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association in Michigan.