JoCo on the Go Podcast: Special Treatment Courts Update

On episode #171 of JoCo on the Go, we check in on two treatment courts in Johnson County after they have been operating for a year: a behavioral health court and another adult treatment court, commonly known as drug court. We speak with judges and a mental health professional who talk about how the courts are serving defendants who choose to take advantage of the extra support the court programs provide.

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Highlights:

Time Subject
00:49 Introduction
01:37 About drug treatment court
06:49 Why is this court a good approach?
10:34 About behavioral health court
13:53 Requirements to stay in the court
18:24 Benefits of the two courts

Transcript

Eric Schultz 0:00 

Many people charged with crime have underlying mental health or substance abuse issues, or both, that lead to their problem behavior. That's what led to Kansas' 10th Judicial District Court in Johnson County to start two new specialty courts about a year ago. They are adult drug treatment court and behavioral health court. Like the very successful veterans treatment court, these programs connect people to services so that their run -ns with the law don't keep happening over and over. On this edition of JoCo on the Go, we'll check in with these new court programs one year in.

Announcer 0:35 

Whether you live in or just love Johnson County, Kansas, JoCo on the Go has everything Johnson County. Here's what's happening and what's coming up in the community you call home.

Eric Schultz 0:49 

Thanks for joining us for JoCo on the Go. I'm Eric Schultz from the Johnson County public information office. On today's program, we'll take a look at adult drug treatment court and behavioral health court one year after they started taking cases. A little later, we'll hear from Judge Robert Wonnell, who presides over behavioral health court, and Brandi Lane from the Johnson County Mental Health Center. She's the deputy division director for adult services. But first, I want to introduce District Judge Kelly Ryan of the Kansas 10th Judicial Court here in Johnson County. He presides over adult drug treatment court. Judge Ryan, how are you doing today? And welcome.

Judge Kelly Ryan 1:25 

Doing well, great to be with you. Eric.

Eric Schultz 1:27 

So before we ask you how everything's going a year in, just give us a little overview of what adult drug treatment court is and how it works.

Judge Kelly Ryan 1:37 

What a treatment court does is, in our case, supervising persons while they're on probation. Their criminal case has been resolved. It is a post-sentencing or post-conviction court. This is, by its nature, recognizing that people when they have a drug abuse or alcohol abuse disorder or a problem that going on probation doesn't automatically hit a switch and they stop, they have to have the support of treatment and learning about their own behaviors to make a change.

Eric Schultz 2:20 

What are the advantages for everyone involved, of having someone with a drug addiction problem who's committed a crime, going into your program versus just going into regular probation?

Judge Kelly Ryan 2:33 

Well there is in what we call standard probation, or even an intensive supervision probation, the difference from the standard or intensive supervision and being in a treatment court, you have the regular probation terms. But on top of that, these folks are going to be in it, typically, for a longer period of time than they would with a standard probation, and that is because of the phases that we go through. There are six phases that's going to take you 18 months to get through, if you follow through and succeed at each stage as you go. During that time, the difference here is that any participant knows that they will be tested at least twice a week. They don't know when, it's all random. But they're going to be tested for drugs twice a week. It may be back-to-back days. It could be three times one week and maybe once the next week. But that is, for the obvious reason, keeping them honest and keeping them from using drugs. Another part is that all of the participants here are what we would call a Senate Bill 123 probation. That is, they have a history of use and perhaps some criminal convictions in their background that the state funds their treatment, which is a huge benefit for them, instead of having access through perhaps health insurance, but many of these folks do not have health insurance, so it's getting whatever community resources are available. We have a regular treatment provider that does both the group therapy sessions with these folks, and those we're talking about testing them twice a week. They're reporting to their probation officer, on a weekly basis. They are attending at least three-hour classes for group treatment program, and another one hour on an individual basis. That's each week, that is probably six to eight times more intensive than a regular probation.

Eric Schultz 4:42 

Judge Ryan, I want to ask you about the first group of cases over the past 12 months, or approximately 12 months, that have started in this program. How are they doing, and how overall is this court doing, you know, one year in?

Judge Kelly Ryan 4:55 

I think, I think we're doing very well. We're continually evolving in how we operate and how we try to work with our participants. We started the first week of November of 2023, so we just passed a year here a couple of months ago. We started out with, really, two people for the first couple weeks, and then it went to five, to where we're now presently up to 16 people in the court. There are two people who are still part of the drug court, but they're in long-term treatment, so they're not part of the bi-weekly meetings that we have as far as court appearances and all. Those persons that have come in, I don't have for you the total number of people that have applied, but we try to get anyone who wants to be in this program to accept them in as long as they're willing to work. We've had three people who started drug treatment court and have failed to return, failed to come back. There's been warrants out for their arrest, and it will still consider them to come back in, depending upon what's been going on and kind of where they're at that point. But of our core 18 people right now, they're all in various stages. But we have, I would say, a group of three to five persons who are in the later phases of our court, and we're going to be getting ready to...There's no doubt in my mind we're going to have at least, at least two graduations this spring from people who have worked their way through the entirety of the program.

Eric Schultz 6:34 

I want to ask you, obviously, one year in and still waiting on our first graduation, it's going to be a while before we have hard data for Johnson County. But what kind of evidence is out there to suggest that this is a good approach?

Judge Kelly Ryan 6:49 

For the drug court concept is about 25, a little bit more than 25 years old, and there are now, I think, over 500 different drug courts throughout the country. So there's lots of data to show about recidivism is, you know, the percentage of times that persons who go through and succeed at a drug treatment court or another type of treatment court, do they come back? Are they back in the system at any point in time? And usually the marker that they will use is, upon successful completion, graduation from a treatment court, have they committed a new crime within the next two years after that? That success rate is over 75%, 75-80% probably on a norm. There'll be some that are better than that, some maybe a little bit less than that. But compare that to persons who don't go through a treatment court. They go through probation, they may end up in prison for a period of time. They finish their probation. Even if they do well, that recidivism, them coming back into the criminal justice system is higher if they don't have the treatment because it does...that's one of the best factors to convince people why you need a treatment court is doing what we're doing, we see a lot of the same people keep coming back, coming back, coming back, new cases, new charges, new crimes. And what we're doing in a regular probation doesn't always work for a lot of people, and when there is evidence of usage of drugs and that there's a, you know, an addiction, there's a disorder involved, that's why we're trying to address that, because that's the reason in great part why they're committing more crimes.

Eric Schultz 8:36 

Our drug treatment court in Johnson County is a year old. So new. Veterans treatment court has been around a while. We've had it in Johnson County, I believe it's nine years. What's it like for you in both that court and, similarly, in drug court, to have a case before you and really see a person turn their lives around, turn a corner, and be able to see them, you know, get through and graduate?

Judge Kelly Ryan 9:03 

Yeah, graduations are literally one of the highlights from my perspective of being on the bench. The times that I've assisted Judge McCarthy, who's the primary judge in veterans treatment court, when I've sat in when he's out for any reason, I will always remember a veteran coming in, it wasn't even for graduation, it was they were succeeding. They were progressing. They were moving forward. And kind of out of the blue, he said, "I've got to tell you, I owe you all my life, because I don't think I would still be alive if I hadn't gotten involved in this, because I can see the change." What greater significance can you get than that, that you're helping someone make their lives better, and even maybe saving their lives.

Eric Schultz 9:57 

Judge Ryan, I really appreciate you sitting down with us and giving us that progress report one year in and continued success with that very successful adult drug treatment court program.

Judge Kelly Ryan 10:09 

Great. Thank you. I appreciate your interest, Eric. Good talking with you.

Eric Schultz 10:12 

I'm now joined by Judge Robert Wonnell of the Kansas 10 Judicial District Court in Johnson County. He presides over behavioral health court. Judge Wonnell, thanks for joining us and welcome.

Judge Robert Wonnell 10:25 

Thank you so much. Truly happy to be here.

Eric Schultz 10:28 

So Judge Wonnell, tell us about behavioral health court and give us your assessment of how it's going one year in.

Judge Robert Wonnell 10:34 

Sure. I think it's going really well. I think like all one year olds, we're still learning how to walk. And what I mean by that is we've had participants. We have some participants who are on pace to graduate. We have some participants that were not able to successfully continue in the program. So I think it's going well because we're learning how to best address the situation, how to make sure that we have the appropriate resources in place. But ultimately, I think it's going well because our goal through this process is to reduce, if not eliminate, the chances that any individual would have interaction with the justice system in the future.

Eric Schultz 11:24 

Give us some idea of who you're taking into the program. How does someone become eligible to be in this court?

Judge Robert Wonnell 11:30 

The court is designed to be what we call a post-adjudication court, and that means that every individual that we have is someone who has been convicted or pled to the crime in question. We don't have anyone whose charges are pending, and we do have gating criteria, or eligibility criteria. Just briefly, I'll tell you that they have to be Johnson County residents, they have to be clients of Johnson County Mental Health, their qualifying conviction has to correlate with what we say SMI or SPMI, serious mental illness, and they have to be willing to participate in the program voluntarily at the start. So those are kind of some eligibility requirement. I'll also tell you, from a legal perspective, we do have some exclusionary crimes. We don't allow anyone with a level one to four felony to be in, felony sex offenses or homicides. They're not allowed based on our manual and our program requirements. So a lot of misdemeanor. We have some lower-level felony participants as well. So that's the who of the participants in our court.

Eric Schultz 12:46 

What makes behavioral health court a better alternative than regular probation?

Judge Robert Wonnell 12:50 

So an individual with serious mental illness, historically, when they're placed on probation, sometimes can have a lower rate of success than an individual placed on the same probation who does not have a serious mental illness. So historically or traditionally, an individual with severe mental illness would be placed on probation, and they would miss some appointments or certain things would happen that would be deemed violations of the probation. They would have the process of an allegation of a violation, potentially revocation of the probation and maybe back to incarceration. So the program is designed to make sure that they're getting adequate attention to the treatment that may be available are necessary that increases their chances of successfully completing probation.

Eric Schultz 13:46 

So they're on probation, they're in this program. What sorts of requirements do they have to meet? You know, in order to stay in the program, in order to make it through?

Judge Robert Wonnell 13:53 

It's a great question, because I think sometimes when you hear of a specialty court or an alternative probation plan, you might think that individuals might want to participate in it because it's easier, or you have a better chance of staying out of jail. The truth is that our program has more requirements. Our program has, sometimes in certain circumstances, more drug testing. Our program has, in certain circumstances, more meetings with supervision, with the probation officers, because we are engaged in how the process is working, and is the individual getting treatment? Are they medication compliant? These are things that are an enhanced requirement.

Eric Schultz 14:41 

And so as court has gone along this last year, these last months, how are the people in the program doing? How are they doing meeting those requirements?

Judge Robert Wonnell 14:50 

I think overall, they're doing well. If you have any history or experience with the justice system or with behavioral health, I think you'll know that, despite your best efforts and despite community efforts, you're likely not going to function at 100% on 100% reduction, recidivism, 100% graduation rate. But the individuals that we have, I think, are doing well. We have had two individuals that ultimately were terminated from the program and were not able to continue. We currently have nine individuals that are in the program right now and some are struggling to progress. But we're addressing the struggles, and we're trying to identify why their struggles, and some of them are progressing wonderfully and are on pace to absolutely graduate very soon.

Eric Schultz 15:48 

And do you find yourself forming a relationship with them? It's a little bit different than a regular criminal court, isn't it?

Judge Robert Wonnell 15:55 

It is different than a regular criminal court, and I think the participants understand that and acknowledge that, and I think that's one of the factors that contributes to the overall success. To answer your question, yes. Obviously it is a relationship that is appropriate within the confines of a criminal case and within the confines of the canons of judicial conduct, but yes. On my other dockets, I'm not typically asking participants what their hobbies are, or if there's a particular type of music that they like. A lot of participants will tell me they like an artist. So I go and I listen to the artist, and then at the next docket setting, we'll chat about it a little bit. So, yes, there is, and that's intentional. That's intentional so that they know this program is designed as the court to assist them and help them with treatment for their serious mental illness, and part of that is developing that relationship.

Eric Schultz 17:01 

Judge Wonnell, I want to thank you for joining us on JoCo on the Go, and giving us that look into behavioral health court and continued success in the future.

Judge Robert Wonnell 17:13 

I appreciate that, and if I may, I'll just tell you and anyone listening that the behavioral health court is an open and public proceeding. It happens at 2:30 every other Thursday afternoon if you're interested. Anyone from the public is welcome to come and join, and if you have someone that you know who's involved in the justice system, they can ask their attorney, is this a program that they might be eligible for? Anyone that meets the criteria that we discussed earlier is eligible to request to be in the program. The forms are online. It's a very simple referral. Referral can come from anyone.

Eric Schultz 17:53 

That's great information. I appreciate you sharing that with us. Alright, thanks again for being on our program.

Judge Robert Wonnell 17:59 

Have a great day.

Eric Schultz 18:01 

I'm now joined by Brandi Lane from the Johnson County Mental Health Center. She's the deputy division director of adult services. Welcome, Brandi.

Brandi Lane 18:09 

Hi. Thanks for having me.

Eric Schultz 18:10

So for the Mental Health Center, many of the people accepted into these courts are your clients. What makes drug treatment court and behavioral health court more beneficial to them than if they went through the normal criminal justice process or regular probation?

Brandi Lane 18:24 

So the nice thing about treatment courts is that they allow opportunities for clients to get more intensive and wraparound services that includes everybody that they're having contact with. So their mental health provider, substance use providers, their defense attorney, the prosecutor, court services and probation officers, and law enforcement as well as the judge. So having all of those individuals participate in this person's treatment and their recovery really shows that person that we're invested in their success. You know, we're there to help them if they stumble. We're there to celebrate them when they are succeeding, and that can go a long way for those clients. We check in with them frequently, so it's that joint effort from all of us that shows the client that we're invested in their recovery and their success, and then helping them, obviously, find the resources and help that they need to stay successful once they complete the program.

Eric Schultz 19:24 

Without the program, would it be up to them to just find all this on their own?

Brandi Lane 19:30 

They could, but it's really nice to be able to have people that can help guide you through that process. You know, if somebody's struggling with addiction, if they're struggling with mental health issues, that can make it really hard to get all of that together on their own, so having all of those supports that are willing to help them and help figure that out is what can help them be successful in the long run.

Eric Schultz 19:53 

Talk about how you've intentionally built in rewards to help motivate them and sanctions if they're not doing what they're supposed to do, and just how each of those works as motivation.

Brandi Lane 20:06 

Sure. So just like anything, rewards and sanctions are as meaningful as they can be to that person. So I think one of the things that we do really well, from our judges all the way to all the individuals that are working day to day with our clients, is getting to know them. You know, understanding and asking questions about, what are their likes, what are their interests, what hobbies do they have? You know, sometimes we might give a gift card to somebody or support them in some way. I think our judge has told some clients, if you do really well and you want to sing one of the songs that you've written in court one day, then you can do that. In behavioral health court, we also have what's called a hope box. So at every docket, every individual gets to take something out of that box. And it has things in it, like little snacks, candy, relaxation stickers and things like that that clients can use, and they get that just for attending. That's a reward in and of itself, just for showing up and for showing them that we care that they came today. And they do similar things in drug court as well, where they have a box that they can select from, and then, when they have successes, they also have tickets that they can get. And quarterly, they do drawings for prizes and stuff out of those tickets as well.

Eric Schultz 21:33 

Do the sanctions, do you feel like, serve as a deterrent? How's that going?

Brandi Lane 21:37 

So for sanctions and treatment responses, that might include things like journaling, maybe having to write an essay that you have to present to the court. But it can also include things like extra treatment sessions, being placed on house arrest, including, like, increases in that person's level of care. So maybe if that person is in drug court, and they're currently participating in outpatient level of treatment, we might decide that that person would have more benefit from an intensive outpatient, which is more hours during the week, more time spent in treatment, or maybe they need to go back to residential treatment. So again, it's also trying to find, what are the things that we think are most meaningful, because we want it to be something that will help the client get over that stumbling block that they've run into. In a positive way, even though it's called a sanction, in a way that can be helpful to them long term. It's not just a punishment where we're trying to, you know, sort of shake our finger at them. It's what can we do to try to help you be successful, knowing that you stumbled? It also means that sometimes clients will ask for assistance on their own. So I know in drug court, we've had clients that have asked to be placed on house arrest or asked to be placed on a breathalyzer, because they needed that increased area of accountability that they weren't getting without those things. So even clients can say, you know, raise their hand and say, "I need this to help me more," and we will try to work with them if that's what's needed. Jail can also be a sanction. We, of course, try to make that a very last possible option, because we know in a lot of cases, it may not really serve as a deterrent for the client, and in some cases, can be more harmful than helpful. Particularly for clients that really struggle with substance use, there's evidence that shows that jail can actually increase the likelihood of overdose afterwards. So unless we don't have any other option, or there's a pretty significant reason why, we want jail to be the last possible option.

Eric Schultz 23:57 

Do your clients have a self-awareness, because in many cases, it's not their first offense. They're sort of cycling in and out of the justice system with repeated offenses. Is there some self-awareness on their part that this program can help them sort of break that cycle?

Brandi Lane 24:17

I think so, and I think that that comes from just time in the program as well. For some individuals, the goal for any treatment court is that we're going to help the client meet their goals while they're in our program that help them make changes for when they're out of our program. They can learn skills to help maintain their recovery. They get resources that they need to help with things like housing or employment or even just getting connected to benefits.

Eric Schultz 24:45 

So really providing them the tools that they need once they're out of the program, does that help it seem less scary for them to leave the program?

Brandi Lane 24:54 

Yeah, I think so. You know, when people feel that they're in a good place in their recovery and they've built those resources, it makes it a little easier to transition into a little bit less intensive. So instead of, you know, going to case management and therapy, I go to an NA meeting or an AA meeting or I have another support group that I utilize. And I've, you know, felt good about where I'm at and that I can do that without needing, like, case management or therapy.

Eric Schultz 25:28 

Brandi, I want to thank you for joining us on JoCo on the Go to talk about Johnson County Mental Health Center's role in behavioral health court and in adult drug court. Appreciate your time today. Thank you.

Brandi Lane 25:41 

Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you.

Eric Schultz 25:43 

I also want to thank district court judges Kelly Ryan and Robert Wonnell for coming on the program. For anyone wanting to learn more about Johnson County special courts, you can send an email to treatmentcourts@jocogov.org. Thanks for listening to JoCo on the Go.

Announcer 25:59 

You just heard JoCo on the Go. Join us next time for more everything Johnson County. Have a topic you want to discuss? We want to hear from you. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter at jocogov. For more on this podcast, visit jocogov.org/podcast. Thanks for listening.

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