This is how to reduce repeat misdemeanors

Sometimes, all it takes is somebody to give you a chance.

Tarrant County’s Enhanced Mental Health Services Docket provides repeat misdemeanor offenders the ability to get proper treatment for mental health issues or substance use disorders.

Spearheaded by Magistrate Judge Rainey Webb, the program provides the services needed, like substance use disorder treatment, proper medication, counseling, on a case-by-case basis.

She said many in the Tarrant County court system kept seeing the same nonviolent offenders in their misdemeanors courts.

“It’s obvious they have some mental health issue, but they are being arrested because they had nowhere else to go,” she said in a telephone interview.

She wanted to stop the spiral.

The program started in 2015 with the goal to cut down the amount of arrests and help people with multiple misdemeanors get their lives back on track with a conditional bond.

Conditions usually include taking medications as prescribed and sleeping in the same place every night.

Not only has the program reduced arrests and taxpayer costs, but it has also changed lives.

Webb has success story after story of people getting better. Some of the repeat offenders bounced in and out of jail for decades. Now they are living a stable life with a home, job or car.

Almost half of the docket’s participants haven’t had any new cases filed. The average of cases filed dropped to about 1.5 new cases a year.

The program’s success comes from its compassionate team members and their willingness to assess a participant's needs individually.

“Everyone is rooting for everyone in this program,” Webb said of the people helping make EMHS Docket so successful.

Webb said she wants to push for some type of crisis treatment facility where people could temporarily get both medical and psychiatric help — something sorely needed in Tarrant County.

The EMHS Docket needs resources and housing, but it doesn’t lack the county’s support or the drive to make people’s lives better.

Programs like the EMHS Docket show the compassion and communication wanted in our court system.

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 6:24 PM with the headline "This is how to reduce repeat misdemeanors."