By Bill O’Dea
As a Hudson County Commissioner, I have been an advocate for criminal justice reform. I have sponsored initiatives that are core components of Hudson County’s rehabilitative services program.
Three initiatives I am most proud of are the creation of onsite job training in the areas of construction and culinary arts, the implementation of a literacy program (which was the brainchild of a group of young Hudson County high school and college students), and most importantly the creation of a re-entry program that included a licensed drug rehabilitation program, the first of its kind in the state.
This final initiative resulted after then-Freeholder Jeff Dublin and I met a woman at the A. Harry Moore housing site who told us that she had been released from the jail a week prior and was counting the days before she went back! She explained that there existed NO programs at the facility for women with substance abuse issues and NO re-entry services for women.
Jeff and I began a crusade to address this and with the support of then-County Executive Tom DeGise and Director Aviles, we were able to get both of these programs funded and up and running.
As some may know, these programs have been replicated by startup reentry services across the state. Building upon this commitment to criminal justice reform and recognizing the critical role of rehabilitative services, it is now time to take the next equally important step.
I am calling upon the Hudson County judiciary and prosecutor to work with the County Executive and legislative branches and initiate the necessary steps to establish a mental health unit and court. Currently, the Essex County prosecutor touts its mental health diversion initiative which includes a mental health unit. Established in 2012, the program seeks to identify earlier in the process non-violent offenders (such as shoplifters) with a history of mental illness and divert them into treatment programs either as an alternative to incarceration or in conjunction with it. Union County runs a similar unit. It includes a case manager who can link individuals to individualized treatment plans.
In December 2022, S3428 was proposed by state Sen. Turner and Gopal -- the Assembly version by then-Assemblywoman, now Sen. Angela McKnight. It would have created a Mental Health Court pilot program modeled after the Florida and New York programs.
The bill needs to be enacted and funded. There are 42 mental health courts in New York and 500 across the country.
The first mental health court in the country was started in 1997, in Broward County, Florida. Since then, data has shown that 70% of mental health court program graduates had lower rates of recidivism and an improved quality of life. Creating a new county mental health court will be cost-effective by prioritizing rehabilitation over punishment.
Currently, Amy Albert, a public defender in Hudson County, has been doing the work of what is considered a mental health court. The county must improve on this service and put resources into it. Hudson County has 30 to 40 individuals at any time who are incarcerated while awaiting trial and they are not getting all of the mental health services they need, defendants just get assigned to a mental health floor. While this service is needed, it is not equipped to treat individuals with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, and bipolar psychosis.
The way the county has been a leader in other reforms we now need to be one in the area of mental health. Jails are not designed to be mental health facilities. The physical conditions at a criminal detention facility work against treatment. Unfortunately, they have become ineffective de facto treatment centers because the clinical options are limited. This proposal will expand services and place individuals in environments with a significantly better chance of success.
The county must create an official partnership between the Hudson County Court, Correctional Center, the Department of Health and Human Services and Meadowview Psychiatric Hospital to make this program successful. The fact that the county owns and operates a psychiatric hospital gives it unique access to services and professionals to assist with this initiative. This, along with a properly staffed mental health unit in the Prosecutor’s Office and creation of a mental health court will fully equip us to properly address those who come in contact with the criminal justice system and suffer from a mental illness.
As chief of staff to previous County Executive Tom DeGise, County Executive Craig Guy was instrumental in helping enact the programs outlined in the first two paragraphs above. I fully expect him now as the Executive to take the lead on the initiatives proposed here related to mental health. I look forward to working together to make this a reality.
Bill O’Dea represents District 2 on the Hudson County Board of Commissioners and is a candidate for mayor of Jersey City in the 2025 elections.
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