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Idaho Judge Receives $120,000 Award For Creating A Mental Health Court For Seriously Ill Defendants
BOSTON – For years, Brent Moss, District Judge for the 7th District Court of Idaho, saw people come before his bench with severe mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression. They were in court because they had committed a felony, often related to drugs, but Moss knew that a prison sentence was unlikely to offer rehabilitation or treatment, especially for those with serious disabilities, and that incarceration would only exacerbate their illness.
Determined to do something about it what he saw as an injustice, Judge Moss traveled to California to observe one of the nation’s first mental health court. He returned to rural Eastern Idaho with a plan to implement the California model there. Despite resistance and skepticism from many sides, Moss succeeded in opening the court in August of 2002.
The Judge’s district includes Bonneville County, a small community of some 80,000, and Madison County, a rural area of 28,000 in the upper Snake River Valley. Although home to Brigham Young University’s Idaho campus, the area’s economy is predominantly agricultural and light manufacturing. Half of those served by the mental health court are female and almost all are poor.
The court uses regular hearings, frequent drug tests, and access to a prescribed regimen of treatment for defendants coming before it. There are serious consequences for those who don’t follow the rules and rewards for those who do. Since its launch in 2002, the court has reduced jail time for its participants by a remarkable 85 percent and hospital time by 97 percent.
It is for his work establishing the first mental health court in Idaho that Moss being honored as one of 10 outstanding individuals from across America chosen to receive the 2006 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program award.
“As a 30-year veteran trial court administrator, I have worked with over 100 judges,” said Burt Butler. “Judge Moss stands out as that unique one percent who not only advocates for healthy communities and lifestyles, individual-by-individual, but also provides leadership to develop real partnerships and coalitions among oft-competing legal, human service, and health care professionals.”
Tracy Sessions, Regional Director of the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare, spoke to Judge Moss’s work from a public health perspective. “His efforts are saving lives, reuniting families, lessening burdens on prisons and showing communities it can be done if you work together,” she said.
“Last summer’s devastating hurricanes brought into focus for all Americans the gaping holes in this country’s safety net,” said Catherine Dunham, Ed.D., Program Director, Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program. “It reinforced what we know to be true; that local leaders taking the initiative are really the first and best responders whether the issue is access to care or youth development in underserved areas.”
The program awards $1.2 million each year to health leaders who have surmounted personal and other obstacles to help Americans gain access to heath care and social services. Moss and this year’s other health leaders were honored at a June 21 event at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey. He received $105,000 to further the work of his program and a $15,000 personal award.
Moss was chosen from more than 300 people nominated this year. Since 1992, the program has distributed 140 awards in 47 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Those chosen are nominated by civic leaders, health professionals, government representatives and others inspired by their efforts to provide essential health services to their communities. This year’s award winners represent urban and rural areas of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, and the District of Columbia.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.
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