This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for its newsletter here. Many counties, including Putnam and Dutchess, don't have them On a recent July morning, a defendant appeared in a New York courtroom in a loose-fitting white dress shirt, his wrists handcuffed at his back. "The DA's fed up, they say you belong in prison," Judge Matthew D'Emic told the man. "I'm not saying that. I'm trying to help you." D'Emic runs the Brooklyn Mental Health Court. Instead of sending the man back to jail, he was releasing him to a residential treatment facility. Colorful decorations softened the courtroom. A banner on D'Emic's bench read, "Hello summer," and images of tropical fruit adorned the walls. "The question is," D'Emic said, "How do we give you a foundation for the rest of your life that is built on bedrock and not on sand?" The defendants on D'Emic's docket typically live with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Most arrive in his courtroom facing felony charges related to assault, robbery or burglary. In exchange for a guilty plea, they can access community-based mental health treatment, supportive housing and other services. If they complete the court-supervised program, their charges are generally reduced or dismissed. For many participants, it pays off. Recent graduation rates from the program have ranged from 73 to 87 percent, according to data from the Center for Justice Innovation, which runs the court in partnership with the state judicial system. An evaluation of the court found that participants tend to see significant reductions in re-arrest. More than 40 mental health courts like D'Emic's have sprung up across New York state since the early 2000s, part of a growing effort to provide alternatives to incarceration. Their goal, proponents say, is to stabilize vulnerable New Yorkers, interrupt cycles of hospitalization and incarceration, and create safer communities. Research, though limited, suggests that they can be effective at reducing recidivism and driving increased use of mental health services. But while New York state's network of mental health courts has expanded in recent years, its reach remains modest. Roughly 1,700 people were active, compliant participants in mental health courts statewide last year, according to data from the Office of Court Administration for the New York State Unified Court System obtained through a FOIL request. About half of New York's 62 counties still don't have a mental health court, including Dutchess and Putnam. Unlike drug courts, which serve people with substance use issues, mental health courts aren't required by state law. "You walk over an invisible line that divides two counties, and the legal outcomes are completely different," said Leanne Lapp, the public defender in Ontario County, near Rochester. (A law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December provides a stopgap, allowing a case to be transferred from a county that doesn't have a mental health court to a neighboring one that does.) Graphic: Eliza Fawcett / New York Focus At the Brooklyn Mental Health Court, widely seen as a model for judicial diversion, a total of 1,560 people have graduated from the program from when it opened in 2002 to the end of last year. Meanwhile, about 1,600 people with a serious mental illness were incarcerated in New York City jails in December alone. Judicial diversion can be powerfully effective, participants and advocates say, but it's a path that's open to very few New Yorkers who might benefit from it. In a statement, Al Baker, spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration, said that the court system "relies on deep, differentiated assessments of every individual" to determine eligibility for mental health courts. Many incarcerated people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness don't meet the criteria for diversion, he noted, and some who would be eligible for diversion choose...
