dayton municipal court

In, 2003 Judge John S. Pickrel convened the first Dayton Municipal Mental Health Docket and reviewed two candidates for potential entry into the Access II Program.

The Access II Program is designed to meet the needs of persons with mental health problems charged with misdemeanors in the city of Dayton. These individuals must be stable enough to understand and comply with program requirements. Access II candidates are referred by Dayton Police Department officers trained in crisis intervention. Additionally, individuals are referred by the City Prosecutor’s Office, Public Defender, Crisis Care specialists at the Montgomery County Jail, and a licensed social worker from Day-Mont Behavioral Healthcare.

This group meets weekly at what is termed the roundtable. The meetings are scheduled one week prior to the candidate’s court date. The probation officer is responsible for compiling comprehensive information packets for review. Day-Mont provides a mental health assessment, which includes criminal histories, to determine eligibility criteria. Subsequently, the roundtable makes a recommendation to the judge for acceptance into the program. The ultimate decision for acceptance into the program rests with the Mental Health Docket Judge.

Should the candidate be accepted into the program, he/she is immediately connected to services with Day-Mont and placed on intensive probation. The participants are involved in treatment and on probation in the Access II Program, for a period not to exceed 24 months. As needed status court hearings are set for Access II participants to ensure program compliance. Individuals graduate from the program after successfully completing the treatment plan and having no new criminal charges during the 24-month period. Upon successful completion of the program, the prosecutor files a motion to vacate the guilty plea and dismiss the charge.

A review of the Access II Program indicates two hundred and sixty-one defendants have been referred to the Access II program since mental health court began in 2003.

• Nineteen participants graduated from the program to date.
• Of the nineteen graduates, ten have remained in treatment at Day-Mont Behavioral Healthcare.
• Of the defendants accepted to date, twenty-four participants have re-offended.
• An average of Montgomery County jail days were calculated for defendants accepted into the Access II program one year prior to acceptance. Then, the numbers were examined after the defendants stayed in the program for one year.
• An average of 1,726 Montgomery County jail days were calculated prior to acceptance; while after being accepted into the program, a total of 627 days were spent in the Montgomery County Jail.
• Therefore, the group of defendants have fewer jail days participating in treatment and supervised probation in the Access II program.
  

The Safe Neighborhoods Docket began in October, 2006. The Safe Neighborhoods Program, a partnership between the Dayton Municipal Court, the Vandalia Municipal Court and the Montgomery County Family and Children First Council, is an effort to reduce misdemeanor “lifestyle” offenses that directly impact the quality of neighborhood life. These low level offenses such as disorderly conduct, trespassing, loitering, and public intoxication, in many instances are consistently committed by the same individuals in the same neighborhoods.

The establishment of the Dayton Safe Neighborhoods Docket, presided over by Judge Carl S. Henderson, and the hiring of a probation officer to provide intensive supervision to individuals accepted into the program, help to develop a relationship among the judges, the probation officer and the defendant. The role of the probation officer will be a combination of law enforcement, treatment professional, and social worker. The judge is the judicial arbitrator and mentor for the individual involved in the program.

The goals of the Safe Neighborhoods Docket are:

• Improve the safety and quality of life in the neighborhoods;
  Reduce the jail population by diverting offenders from the traditional criminal justice system;
• Free police officers to pursue and investigate violent offenders;
• Impact the offenders through behavioral and lifestyle changes to be able to function positively in the community.

Since the inception of the docket, the Safe Neighborhood Program has processed 97 cases.

Forty-one cases out of the 97 processed cases have been revoked for noncompliance. Currently there are 17 active cases in the Safe Neighborhoods Program.

The Dayton Municipal Court Housing Docket was implemented in 1999. Violators of Dayton housing and property code ordinances are prosecuted on this docket by an assigned prosecutor and assigned housing department inspectors who represent the prosecutional team in court.

The docket has provided the city with a uniform and focused response to problem properties and owners. Repeat offenders, by facing the same judge, prosecutor, housing inspector, imposed fines and other sanctions, are strongly encouraged to improve compliance with the housing and property code ordinances.

Since the implementation of the docket nine years ago: 19,748 cases have been filed; 13,276 cases have been disposed by payment at the clerk’s office or by plea of guilty to the charge; 4,650 have been found guilty, including 3,774 individuals who have paid fines and costs and 876 individuals who have been sentenced to probation or jail; and $816,230 fines and costs have been collected.

The Recovery Now! Docket, implemented in 2005, is presided over by Judge Daniel G. Gehres. The program is a partnership with the Center for Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (CADAS) along with the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board and the Dayton Municipal Court to provide inpatient substance abuse treatment for females convicted of prostitution or solicitation offenses.

While the offender is in jail or out of jail, a pre-sentence investigation and a substance abuse evaluation is completed. If the defendant is assessed to be in need of inpatient/aftercare treatment, she is eligible for the Recovery Now! Program. If deemed appropriate, the defendant is placed on supervised probation for a period up to eighteen months and transported to the 28-day inpatient residential facility of CADAS. While in the program, the probation officer meets with the offender and her CADAS Counselor to encourage completion of the program and make preparation for the second six month phase: aftercare treatment at CADAS or NOVA House outpatient facility. Additionally, the offender is in need of more intense inpatient treatment, the offender will be required to enter NOVA House halfway facility before beginning outpatient care.

While in treatment, inpatient or outpatient, the offender returns to the Recovery Now! Special Docket Judge for status hearings on progress and to receive admonishment or encouragement. Furthermore, the status hearing keeps the offender current of expectations regarding behavior and conditions of probation.
Recovery Now! continued to provide structured treatment for female offenders during the year 2007. A total of eight females entered the inpatient treatment facility at CADAS and four successfully completed the program. A total of three of the eight who participated in the program have re-offended with Soliciting/Loitering offenses.