California’s South Tahoe Mental Health Court Diverts Patients From Jail, Prison

Circle Connections: New Products & Services Courts that divert mentally ill patients from jails and prisons help reintegrate those people back into the community, according to mental health officials. But without support programs available after an inmate's release, many of those individuals fall back into the criminal justice system. El Dorado County operates a behavioral health court in South Lake Tahoe targets mentally-ill adults and youth in the justice system, according to the superior court's website. It's an intensive program that evaluates, treats and monitors about 30 participants per year by providing outpatient mental health treatment . . .