Lawmakers are working to change the way New Mexico's courts treat people who have severe mental illness, including those deemed incompetent to stand trial.
House Bill 8, which passed the House over the weekend, includes legislation which would expand the circumstances in which people found dangerous could be put in a residential facility against their will. It would also increase options for treatment in the community for defendants with mental illness.
Supreme Court Justice Briana Zamora has worked on the issue, including pilot diversion programs to get people help in the community. Zamora spoke to KUNM about the work, starting with the 10 years she spent as a trial court judge
BRIANA ZAMORA: All I did was criminal cases. So I dealt with a lot of individuals who were determined to be incompetent, and I got there frustrated with that process, and I left the trial courts frustrated with that process, because these are the only individuals that there were no programs for, that there were no connections to services or treatment.
One of the things I saw in the trial court was families begging me to help their child or help their niece or help their nephew or help their neighbor. And I had no jurisdiction, because I had to dismiss the case, and there was no program at that time to connect them to services. And then, sure enough, I'd see them a few weeks later, their family, and eventually you see them a few months later or a few years later, and they no longer have the family support. So that's how I became so interested in the issue and so passionate about it, just simply the frustration of not having any options as a trial court judge.
KUNM: For the past two or three years, I believe you've served as the Supreme Court's liaison to the Commission on mental health and competency. What work has that commission done?
ZAMORA: I'll say three things. First is that we've trained judges. We did a training at the law school regarding competency and severe mental illness. We also developed the competency diversion program, which is the first time in the past 40 years, where these individuals are actually getting connected to services and treatment. And the commission worked on a very rough draft of a competency statute and what changes they believed would be appropriate.
KUNM: How would the legislation that's proposed in this session change the process in court for defendants with mental illness?
ZAMORA: There's a difference between treatment like we think of it where someone receives a full assessment, their needs are determined, whether it's housing and food or whether they have schizophrenia and need medication and maybe counseling or other type of treatment.
And then there's competency restoration. Competency restoration is not treatment as you think of it. The purpose of restoration is to educate a defendant so that they become – so that they can understand the process. The legislation, the last I saw, would increase the number of people who would be eligible for competency restoration, and these are your very serious crimes, or individuals who are at risk of committing very serious crimes. So it's focused on making sure that more people are held accountable through the criminal justice process and perhaps found competent. It also creates something that did not and currently does not exist in New Mexico, which is restoring them in the community and not sending everyone to New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute. And with all that said, at least the last draft that I saw does permit the diversion program that we currently have in place.
KUNM: Some civil rights advocates have criticized the law for opening the door to people having treatment in jail rather than in hospital, as already happens in some places like California. Will it?
ZAMORA: I don't know, because we haven't really done this before in New Mexico, my whole focus with the courts is really diverting them at that first setting to treatment. In fact, I want to expand this program, not just to the misdemeanors, which we're currently doing, but to non-violent felonies. Most of these folks will likely have their case dismissed regardless. So if we can, let's try this out. Let's see what happens when we provide them with medication, provide them with actual treatment and provide them with connections to services that they need, like food, housing, water. So that's my primary focus in this situation. I don't know of any jail-based treatment programs currently that deal with this particular population, but really my goal for the judiciary is, what can we do out in the community for these individuals
