ATLANTA — State behavioral and criminal justice leaders are encouraging more diversion from institutions including jail and hospitals for misdemeanor cases that judges believe could be mental health-related.

The earlier the diversion, the more likely the individual will be successful,” said Karen Bailey, former state director of Forensic Services at Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. “The longer you put somebody in an institution, the more likely they are going to lose their job, their housing and your social supports.”

Early diversions in the court process could lead to less stigma and less involvement in the criminal system, she said.

Bailey suggested judges extend outpatient commitment for cases that involve forensic services for minor cases in order to free up superior court resources.

Forensic cases generally entail those who are “incompetent to stand trial,” or those who don’t have factual or rational understanding of the proceedings against them. Forensic cases also involve those who plead “(NGRI) not guilty by reason of insanity,” meaning that their mental state at the time of the alleged offense prevented them from being responsible for their behavior.

There’s a small NGRI population in Georgia.

“Not that many people are found NGRI every year; people think it’s a huge number,” Bailey. “It’s a very small number, maybe 10-15 people are discharged into the community from our state hospital system as NGRI.”

Twenty to 25% of cases that go through the courts are ordered incompetent to stand trial, Bailey said, and her emphasis on diversion focuses on that population. After going to the hospital for treatment, about 80% of them gain competency.

While approximately 350 people in Georgia are in forensic status under outpatient commitment, Bailey said outpatient is not often referred by judges after a mental health professional confirms incompetency. Instead, impatient commitment is most often referred by judges, according to Bailey.

{“They can go outpatient, but generally they go to a state hospital for restoration … almost all … a very, very large percentage,” Bailey said during a Sept. 28 Georgia House Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission Involuntary Commitment Subcommittee meeting.

On average, restoration takes about 120 days and a lot of resources go in to restoring someone, Bailey said, most often resulting in the person receiving treatment, losing their jobs or livelihoods.

Bailey encourages diversion if the court’s intent is not to prosecute, especially since some health-related misdemeanor cases result in dropped charges.

If there’s intent to prosecute, Bailey suggested that outpatient restoration is ideal for low-level offenses and misdemeanors.

“You could do inpatient restoration for a short period of time and then follow it with outpatient restoration,” she explained. “So instead of keeping an individual out of the community for 90-120 days to six months (or longer), they could go in the hospital for a week or two to begin medicine. and if they do well, the restoration could continue to outpatient. This is a benefit to the state as far as resources, but it’s also a benefit toward the individual again, so they don’t lose employment, housing and social supports.”