Pilot program to divert some offenders away from jail and to treatment expanded
By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
The Administrative Office of the Courts told the interim Judiciary Committee that a pilot program to divert some qualifying low-level offenders away from jail and into substance use disorder or mental health treatment is expanding into seven more counties.
“We had a discussion with all of our partners to discuss expansion because what we realized is that our case navigators could take on a little bit more work,” said Angela Darcy, executive officer for the AOC Department of Pretrial Services. “And so we are substantially expanding this year and next year.”
The Behavioral Health Conditional Dismissal Program was created from the passage of Senate Bill 90 during the 2022 legislative session. The pilot program initially included 11 counties, including Christian, Clark, Daviess, Greenup, Hopkins, Kenton, Letcher, Madison, McCracken, Oldham and Pulaski counties.
The new pilot sites are Henry, Lewis, Wayne, Warren, Johnson, Russell and Pike counties. All but Pike County are up and running.
The program is funded from the settlement monies that Kentucky and other states received from opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Darcy said the program gives people facing low-level criminal charges an opportunity to better their lives by diverting them away from the court system and into a behavioral health or substance use disorder treatment program and other services such as education, vocational services and housing assistance.
“It has a wide array of services, such as adult education,” Darcy said. “They can go to college. They can go to cosmetology school. If they choose to, they can just get a GED. Some people just want to read, so it’s really an opportunity to try and improve lives and then get some people that treatment that they so desperately need.”
To be eligible, the defendant must be a Kentucky resident and at least 18 years of age. The defendant cannot be charged with a violent offense, sexual offense, a DUI, or a domestic violence offense. Also, they cannot have a protective order filed against them.
Previous convictions are also considered, and the defendant must be considered low-risk for failure to appear or new criminal activity, according to the presentation. Additionally, defendants are clinically assessed for substance use and mental health disorders.
“The prosecutors have the opportunity to override some of those disqualifying offenses and put them into the program themselves, and we’ve seen a substantial amount of prosecutor overrides in this program,” Darcy said.
Dufeck said 1,400 of the interviewed defendants were eligible for the Behavioral Health Conditional Dismissal Program program in 2023 and 4,600 were ineligible.
According to the presentation, defendants were ineligible for a variety of reasons. Dufeck said around 15% were charged with class A, B or C felonies, and 4.1% were charged with a violent offense.
“And DUI is the big one,” Dufeck said. “A little bit more than a third of the folks are currently charged with a DUI … That’s about 2,900 people that came through the door that were charged with a DUI, and that’s what kicked them out of eligibility.”
Judiciary Committee Co-Chairman Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, who sponsored SB 90, called on the legislature to “please consider” finding a way to get drunk drivers access to behavioral health intervention earlier through this program.
“I’m not saying they’ve all got to get a chance, I’m not. And I don’t know what it needs to look like, but that’s a category of people who have a behavioral health problem that everyone agrees they need help with,” he said. “Let’s get them help much earlier in the pipeline. I implore you to try to consider ways to do that.”
Westerfield, who did not run for re-election in 2024, also encouraged his colleagues to consider expanding eligibility altogether.
“We’re leaving a lot of people out that could benefit from behavioral health intervention,” he said while also acknowledging there is a limit to who should be eligible to participate.
When it comes to recidivism, Darcy said there are 125 people who have completed the program and 84% of those people have not faced new charges.
“It is a hard program to complete,” Darcy said. “It’s not easy for them, but it changes their lives. And when you hear the stories, you’re so moved and … your heart is warmed by just the sheer velocity of the people we’re helping.”
While the program is growing, Darcy said there are barriers.
“There are some counties that have kind of stalled with participation … and there’s just that overall continued hesitation from some of those partners,” Darcy said. “It could be the prosecutor, the defense attorneys or sometimes our other partners.”
Darcy said the Administrative Office of the Courts plans to meet with those counties to learn what they can do to improve participation rates and the program.
Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
