'These are people with mental health breakdowns': Treatment approach to criminal justice (2024)

Judge Selena Solis — who sits on the bench of the busy 243rd District Court overseeing hundreds of cases every year — has noticed a large number of defendants suffering from a similar disorder.

Mental illnesses are prevalent in the El Paso County criminal justice system and the major cause of criminal behavior and recidivism, she said.

Solis quickly realized there are few, if any, options for adult defendants with a history of mental health problems to get the treatment they need to avoid incarceration.

"I am a court of general jurisdiction, so I have a criminal docket and a civil docket," Solis said. "I'm still fairly new to the bench — this is my fifth year. I noticed in my criminal cases that we would see the same people cycling in and out of the criminal justice system. And a lot of these individuals had some sort of mental health illness, whether it be bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, severe depression, where they hallucinate.

"They're competent. This isn't a competency court. If someone is found legally incompetent, they would not qualify for our court. These are just people who have mental health breakdowns that end up finding themselves in the criminal justice system."

After witnessing defendants suffering from mental illnesses appearing before her repeatedly, Solis decided to start the INSPIRE Treatment Court. The goal is to help mentally ill defendants get mental health care instead of a jail cell.

The number of cases involving mental illnesses in the El Paso court system is hard to determine as criminal cases fluctuate daily, Solis said. But it is clear defendants with mental health diagnoses are an issue El Paso must address, she added.

"El Paso is first on so many different things," Solis said. "There's just so many issues that we have been the first in the state to address, and that's what I admire about El Paso. But we're not the first when it comes to mental health courts.

"Most of the mental health courts in the state — there's only a dozen, more or less — only address misdemeanor offenses, not felony offenses. So we are a felony court, this is something we can be first to address."

Independence, Namaste, Safety, Purposeful, Insightful, Resilience, Empowerment

Solis is providing a holistic approach to mental health care while trying to avoid the adverse aspects of the criminal justice system.

INSPIRE Treatment Court, which stands for Independence, Namaste, Safety, Purposeful, Insightful, Resilience, Empowerment, is in the pilot stage with seven defendants currently in the program.

The court's goal is to help defendants get proper mental health care, continue their treatments, take their medication and find stability in their lives, Solis said.

"We want to show them that they are resilient and there's a way to keep them from coming back into the criminal justice system and then give them the empowerment so they can become more emboldened to continue taking their medications and any other mental health treatments they need," she said.

"We see these individuals, half of them are not on their medications when they get arrested and they don't belong in the jail. The detention officers, God bless 'em, they're not medical health providers and they're not trained and equipped to take care of individuals suffering from mental health issues."

The court's approach is significantly different, with a focus on defendants with a legitimate mental health diagnosis.

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"We have a team and it's non-adversarial," Solis said. "When you walk into court, everyone is scared because there's someone prosecuting you for doing something wrong, then you've got a defense attorney, someone defending you, and the consequences are jail time for the most part."

The defendants in the court face various charges, including burglary of habitation, evading arrest, arson, aggravated assaults and possession of controlled substances.

To qualify for the program, the defendant must be 18 years old or older, have a mental health diagnosis, be charged with a felony or already on probation, Solis said.

Currently, the treatment court is running on a volunteer basis with several agencies lending staff to help the program launch, Solis said.

The agencies include the El Paso District Attorney's Office, El Paso County Public Defenders Office, El Paso Criminal Justice Coordination Department, El PasoCountyCommunity Supervision andCorrections Department and Emergence Health Network, a local mental health authority.

"The criminal justice system really has two sides to it," El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks said. "One side is providing the rehabilitative, kind of a diversion side. If a person has become involved in the criminal justice system and we can do something to help that person not ever become involved in the criminal justice system again (with) a rehabilitative, a diversion type of program that helps people not become career criminals, then we have a duty to try to do that."

A major milestone was recently achieved for the program when Solis received a $200,000 grant from the Office of the Texas Governor's Public Safety Office. The grant, which was awarded Tuesday, Oct. 24, will be used for staffing, mental health services, treatment and counseling, and other program related costs, Solis said.

Solis wants to prove the mental health court in El Paso can be successful before possibly asking the county for funds, she said.

"We are in a pilot program right now," Solis said. "Everyone says that you can create and run a specialty court on a shoestring budget, but that's not really true. We need one in El Paso. For the size of our city, it's unconscionable that our judiciary courts do not have a mental health specialty court.

"Right now, I have not gone to the county commissioners to ask them for funding. Why? One, because everyone always asks them for money. But two, I want to prove to them that we can do this. I want to earn their respect and have something to base it on, so that when I go to them and I can say, 'Okay, this is why it costs this much money, and this is why we need money.'"

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The creation of the specialty court has already earned the praise of the El Paso County Commissioners Court.

"We are excited because it's a component to address a major issue in the criminal justice system," El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said. "We have a drug court and alcohol court, and we have a veteran's treatment court, and now we have this one. In each one of the others, they handle the mental health component as well. It's very difficult to separate it, but this one is more specific.

"You can't imagine how many people with a mental health issue end up in the criminal system, so it's going to help us with one of the big challenges we have right now."

'Nexus between crime, mental illness'

El Paso lawyer Sergio Saldivar has dozens of cases involving clients suffering from mental illnesses. His focus is not only on defending his clients against the criminal charges they are facing, but also to ensure they get the help they need to avoid becoming repeat offenders.

"Mental illnesses are rarely addressed in the criminal justice system," Saldivar said. "A lot of the time, in order to get people with mental illnesses effective treatment, you have to have a mental illness court, so the defendants are properly screened for mental defects and get assistance for schizophrenia, bipolar depression, PTSD or other similar mental illnesses they are suffering from because there is a nexus between the crime and the mental illness."

Addressing mental illnesses in the pretrial phase not only helps the defendants but the community as well, Saldivar said.

"If they are incarcerated, they are not going to get treatment, and without treatment, the conditions can worsen. They can then become a danger to themselves or the inmates around them," Saldivar said. "Also, recidivism is always something that needs to be looked at. If they get the right care and treatment, hopefully it will prevent recidivism and these people can get their lives back on track without a criminal case hanging over them and impacting them for the rest of their lives.

"They can become productive members of society. A mental health court, where people with these types of concerns are given a chance to go through a treatment program or rehabilitation, is the proper way to handle these cases, not just throwing them in jail."

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The number of mental health cases is not necessarily higher now than in the past, Saldivar said. It is just society is finally paying attention to the issue, he added.

It's a problem that is difficult to ignore in El Paso and other U.S. cities. It's not uncommon to see people with mental illnesses struggling on street corners, shopping centers or vacant properties.

"The courts are finally starting to recognize it and they're finally trying to address it," Saldivar said. "Judge Solis' mental illness court is a key start for our area to truly look at mental illness, and its impact on the criminal justice system and the people who need help.

"Jail is not always the answer. We must look at mental health issues and do everything we can to help these people suffering from mental illnesses."

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter@AMartinezEPT.