The First Judicial District Court, which covers Rio Arriba, Los Alamos and Santa Fe counties, is getting a new diversion program for people with severe mental illness.
The purpose of the diversion program is to get people out of the justice system and connected with treatment and services they need, Supreme Court Justice Briana Zamora wrote in a press release.
The program could make the area safer by addressing the mental health needs of “people who otherwise may repeatedly cycle in and out of the justice system,” First Judicial Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid wrote in the press release.
The program is open to people charged with misdemeanors, excluding drunk driving cases, and people charged with non-violent felonies.
The program works by screening people shortly after they have been arrested, Administrative Office of the Courts Spokesman Barry Massey wrote in the press release.
“Individuals who agree to participate — if approved by their defense attorney, prosecutors and the court — will be referred to the program for three to six months if it involves a misdemeanor case or six months to one year on a felony case,” he wrote.
Staff trained for the diversion program, called “navigators,” help get people in the program connected to treatment and community services. That includes helping people with housing, food and employment.
“Participants voluntarily consent to any behavioral health treatment,” he wrote. “It is not court-ordered treatment.”
A judge will then dismiss the charges after the participant has successfully gone through the plan they wrote with the diversion program staff, while criminal cases will proceed as normal for people who “fail to remain engaged with available services,” Massey wrote.
Part of the purpose of the program is to stop people with a history of mental illness from getting arrested repeatedly.
“Currently, people with untreated mental illness may frequently cycle through the justice system if they are found incompetent to stand trial because their mental illness prevents them from understanding and participating in their legal proceedings,” Massey wrote.
According to state law and court rules, if someone is not found competent to stand trial, a judge has to decide if they are a danger to the community — most often in cases of homicide or aggravated battery. If they are found not to be a danger, they are released and their case is dismissed.
Money for the program came from the 2024 special legislative session and follows similar programs in Doña Ana County in the Third Judicial District, San Miguel, Guadalupe and Mora counties in the Fourth Judicial District, and in Lincoln and Otero counties in the Twelfth Judicial District.
The mental health diversion program follows on the heels of an assisted outpatient treatment program launched earlier in the year.
“Our courts serve as community problem solvers by operating competency diversion programs,” Supreme Court Chief Justice David K. Thomson wrote. “These programs demonstrate the Judiciary’s commitment to advancing efforts by the Legislature and governor to improve how New Mexico responds to people struggling with mental illness who come into contact with the criminal justice system.”
The diversion program comes after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency on Aug. 13 in Española and Rio Arriba County, citing a “surge in violent crime, drug trafficking, and public safety threats.” Homelessness is also cited heavily in the executive order and the requests for a state of emergency from local governments.
That state of emergency means $750,000 in funding for the local governments and the ability to deploy the National Guard.
In a profile in New Mexico In Depth on the competency diversion program in Doña Ana County, the programs overseer, Magistrate Judge Alexander Rossario told the news outlet that the unhoused population is the biggest obstacle.
“Those are the ones that are hard to find, the ones that aren’t engaged,” he said.