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)1: <br />October 27, 2014 <br />Board of County Commissioners <br />Indian River County, Florida <br />1801 27th Street <br />. Vero Beach, FL 32960-3388 <br />• <br />Dear Commissioners: <br />OFFICE OI - <br />tamoub ..littp <br />Public Defender <br />NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT <br />216 SOUTH SECOND STREET <br />FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA 34950 <br />TELEPHONE (772) 462-2048 <br />FAX (772) 462-2047. <br />The Office of the Public Defender, 19th Judicial'Circuit, fully supports the Mental Health <br />Collaborative Diversion Strategies Task Group in their recommendation to implement a mental <br />health court in Indian River County. <br />The Diversion Strategies Task Group, consisting of Police Chiefs, State Attorneys; Public <br />Defenders and Judges, has joined together to explore ways to connect:the mentally ill within the <br />criminal justice system with mental health services in the community. <br />• <br />Over the last 30 years, jails and prisons have become the primary repositoryy for people <br />struggling with mental illness. More than half of the inmates being held in the ,Indian River <br />County Jail are diagnosed with a mental illness. It is an'expensive system -of care that often fails <br />to effectively address the true problem. With available community resources dwindling for <br />people with serious mental illness (SMI), the courts see more repeat offenders with untreated <br />mental illness. Florida's jails and prisons are not designed, equipped, or funded to deal with SMI,' <br />so the use of the problem -solving court model is a logical response. <br />•Mental health courts generally share the following goals: to improve public safety by reducing <br />criminal recidivism; to improve the quality of life of people with SMI's and increase their <br />participation in effective treatment; .and to reduce court- and corrections -related costs through <br />administrative efficiencies and often by providing an alternative to incarceration: <br />Monitoring and treating offenders with SMI in a mental health court is more effective, efficient, <br />and less expensive than the remedies available through traditional justice system approaches. <br />Like drug courts, mental health courts hold offenders accountable while linking them to the <br />treatment services they need to address their mental illness. <br />• <br />13 <br />