WICHITA, Kan. — Municipal Judge Bryce Abbott slid into a high-backed leather chair behind a stack of bloated manila files documenting the dilemma of adults seeking refuge in Kansas’ groundbreaking mental health court.
He shoved enough progress-report files aside to create a line of sight to defendants and family members, social workers, counselors and the public defender and prosecutor gathered in front of him for a review of dozens of ongoing cases. Action began with the “Rocket Docket” – a kind of flash-bang, front-of-the-line reward for folks dealing responsibly with their nonviolent criminal misconduct, underlying behavioral health condition and, often, a multitude of housing, employment, substance abuse, transportation or anti-social issues.
These courtroom exchanges were swift, relaxed and suggested the cycle of incarceration for some of these offenders could be severed, according to The Topeka Capital-Journal.
“You haven’t been in trouble,” Abbott said to one of the first called to the bench. “Keep it up.”
Moments such as these displayed the promise of intervention by officers of the court monitoring law-breakers in a way far different in style and substance than most defendants were used to. The backbone of the operation, a rarity in the Kansas court system, is the public-private collaboration on case management under the discretionary eye of a judge devoted to a concentrated caseload.
Since its inception in 2009, Abbott said, the Wichita Municipal Court’s voluntary version of therapeutic jurisprudence improved quality of life for graduates, diminished recidivism and saved taxpayers millions of dollars. It was started with a U.S. Department of Justice grant and sustained with financial backing by the city.
As names of participants were checked off the judge’s list, a middle-age male struggling to cope was ushered into the courtroom. Evidence was external. He was wearing Sedgwick County Jail’s standard ill-fitting orange jumpsuit. An encounter with Wichita law enforcement left his ankles and wrists bound in chains that clanked with every move.
