Tue, May 20, 2008 (2:05 a.m.)

Nevada district judges have told members of the state Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice that the cost of corrections could be lowered by expanding the Mental Health Court system.

The Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday that District Judge Jackie Glass said spending $40 million to expand the Mental Health Court to handle 3,600 additional cases would be more cost-effective than spending $180 million to build a prison that serves 1,700 inmates.

And, as Glass noted, some people who are charged with crimes end up in that situation because they have severe mental illnesses.

Nevada’s mental health courts are designed to help prevent people from becoming repeat offenders by offering them mental health treatment and other services so they can become productive citizens. They are required to appear in court once a week and must attend daily counseling sessions during their time in the program.

Those who graduate have a 91 percent success rate when it comes to staying out of trouble, the Sun’s Cy Ryan reports. There are financial savings as well. In Reno, for example, it costs $504 a day to house someone in the state mental hospital and $113 a day to keep someone in jail. But it costs only $35 a day for supportive housing within the community through the Mental Health Court program, the Sun reports.

Justice of the Peace John Tatro told the panel that since he started working as one of the program’s mental health judges in Carson City three years ago, he has completely changed his opinion of the effort, which he at first considered “coddling.”

The advisory commission is to make its recommendation about the expansion to Gov. Jim Gibbons in June. We hope the panel favors increasing the scope of this important and successful effort. It does not let criminals off the hook for their offenses, and it does ensure that those who are mentally ill receive the treatment they need. And, in the long term, it saves taxpayers money.