Kane officials introduced a mental health court, the first one of its kind in the county on Monday. This has been done with a motive to pick out sober and non violent defendants, and give them treatment instead of allowing them to languish in the jails.
U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) allowed a $250,000 fund to help with administration of Kane County Treatment Alternative Court.Kane Chief Judge Donald Hudson said the mental health court has been planned on the lines of parallel programs in Cook, DuPage and Winnebago Counties. This program, according to Hudson will focus on low profile, non-violent offenders, who are in touch with the criminal justice system owing to mental illness.
James Mueller, the county's executive director of court services said "I've been in probation for 30 years and, for most of that time, these are the `invisible people. In fact, in probation, we even have a name for these people. These are the `under-the-bridge-crowd.' They live and they function in our community, but we hope they stay invisible,"
James further went on to say "With both federal and local help we can address a problem in our community and provide a better life for these individuals,"
Kane County Circuit Judge Timothy Sheldon will hold fort at the court, once a week .
The goal of the program is to treat the root cause of the behavior , that is the mental condition, so that the prisoner is able to lead a normal life.
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