COLUMBIA — An arrangement approved June 16 by South Carolina’s top court official clears the way for nonviolent Midlands defendants who live with a mental illness to have felony charges dismissed if they agree to receive treatment.
The Richland County Mental Health Court was installed nearly 20 years ago. But unlike other agencies, the program was overseen entirely by the county probate judge.
The latest change approved by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty hands supervision over to the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. That falls more in line with similar mental health courts in four other counties, including Charleston.
The new arrangement allows prosecutors to offer to drop the most serious charges facing defendants, including felonies. Under the probate court, that incentive did not exist, and likely contributed to lower participation, said Hans Pauling, an assistant 5th Circuit solicitor.
“It became an issue with getting referrals because (defendants) didn’t always see the benefit,” Pauling said. “There would be no carrot at the end.”
Richland County’s program is available to defendants with an identifiable mental illness without any violent offenses on their record. Qualifying defendants are typically referred by a judge, through agreements arranged by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The shift in Richland is the latest effort by the state’s law enforcement officials to offer diversions for nonviolent offenders who live with disorders like addiction or mental illness.
Lawmakers passed the Mental Health Court Program Act in 2015. Horry and York then opened their own courts, under the administration of the local solicitors. Greenville and Charleston already had their own courts.
More recently, Jamal Sutherland’s death in sheriff's custody in January renewed debates around how law enforcement cares for people with mental illness. Sutherland died after deputies at the Charleston County jail jolted him with a stun gun and pressed into his back. The 31-year-old Goose Creek resident had been treated for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder since he was a teen.
State Sen. Gerald Malloy, a Hartsville Democrat, helped draft the legislation around mental health courts. He said the state’s jails have swelled with defendants with mental illness who don’t receive the help they need.
“We treat them as common criminals,” Malloy said. “What’s really needed is treatment more than incarceration.”
Richland County — which also offers diversionary programs for addicts, the homeless and veterans — opened its mental health court with the state Supreme Court’s permission in 2003. But court rules gave broad administrative authority to the probate court, and have sat mostly unchanged since.
Solicitor Byron Gipson said he eyed the change soon after he took office in 2019, before the pandemic caused delays. His office, with an overall operating budget of roughly $4 million, employs three full-time employees to help coordinate the circuit’s diversionary programs.
As it stands, Richland’s mental health court is equipped to handle no more than 30 cases at a time, Probate Judge Amy McCulloch said. She and others said they hope the new rules will provide a boost to participation.
But McCulloch stressed that caseloads must not exceed levels that staff are capable of handling: “The treatment couldn’t be compromised just to serve more people.”
Richland defendants referred by a magistrate or municipal court judge must participate in the program for no fewer than three months. Upon completion, because those lower courts only handle minor offenses, charges are automatically dismissed.
Referrals from circuit court, which handles felonies, require defendants participate for at least a year.