Warren County’s criminal justice system is poised to offer an alternative to incarceration to eligible defendants experiencing mental health needs.

The state’s mental health court system will expand into Warren County thanks to a grant from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance that was awarded to Kentucky’s Administrative Office of the Courts.

The grant will fund the establishment of a mental health court and a pretrial mental health diversion program that will be available to defendants charged with non-violent, non-sexual misdemeanors or Class D felonies who are experiencing behavioral health issues, including mental illness, intellectual disabilities or substance use disorder.

The programs are designed to provide access to treatment for eligible defendants instead of incarceration.

“We’ve seen a lot of interest in the last few years in starting a mental health court here, and we have so many different organizations in the community that would like to work together to ensure the success of individuals and to break the cycle of repeat offenders in the system,” said Warren District Court Judge Kim Geoghegan. “We believe early intervention is important, and we’re happy to see so many people in our community willing to help us start this program and provide their assistance.”

Geoghegan said both programs are anticipated to begin in October.

The grant will fund the hiring of a case navigator for the pretrial mental health diversion initiative and a program project coordinator, who will run the mental health court docket and manage cases there.

First-time offenders can be identified as candidates for diversion by the prosecutor or defense attorney or referred by Pretrial Services to the pretrial mental health diversion initiative. The case navigator will discuss the program with them and arrange for a clinical screening to confirm their eligibility for treatment.

From there, defendants can access mental health treatment, counseling, inpatient or community-based outpatient services and linkage to recovery housing and other resources.

Mental health court currently functions in 11 Kentucky counties as one of the state’s specialty courts, alongside drug court and veterans treatment court, to divert defendants from incarceration.

Defendants charged with non-violent, non-sexual misdemeanors or Class D felonies who are 18 years or older and Kentucky residents with no previous serious criminal convictions can be identified as candidates for mental health court and also undergo a screening and assessment process to confirm eligibility.

From there, eligible defendants can be ordered to mental health court, where they are connected with a number of treatment options and support services.

Participants who successfully complete the diversion initiative or mental health court can have their criminal charges dismissed or conditionally discharged through probation.

The groundwork for both programs here was laid late last year, when the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health held a town hall meeting in November at Sloan Convention Center. The meeting brought criminal justice professionals, health care providers and people with personal experience with mental illness together to discuss ways the state’s justice system can improve how it addresses issues involving substance abuse and mental illness.

Warren Circuit Judge Chris Cohron has prior familiarity with Tennessee’s mental health court system through his experience as a public defender in Nashville, and he believes a similar system here would help alleviate overcrowding at the jail, reduce recidivism, save taxpayers’ money and put defendants on a better path toward stable living.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in Frankfort over the years testifying on various criminal justice issues, and one thing I have said countless times in front of the legislature is that the criminal justice system is a poor substitute for true mental health treatment,” Cohron said during a community forum Monday at the Warren County Justice Center. “What we’ve seen so many times is … we run into so many situations where there’s not an option, and the fallback decision is let the criminal justice system figure it out, let the jail figure it out, and that’s always been very frustrating for us.

“The main objective, first, is the safety of our public, but we also need to make sure that we are using our resources wisely … we want to make sure that this program works for Warren County.”