LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — In a quiet courtroom tucked contained in the Las Vegas Justice Court docket, lives are being rebuilt — not punished. As a substitute of jail time, people battling untreated psychological sickness or habit are being supplied a brand new path: one crammed with counseling, care, and a shot at redemption.
For Choose Eric Goodman, this mission is greater than skilled — it’s private.
“When I was 19, I lost a good friend of mine to suicide,” Goodman mentioned. “Over the years, I’ve lost a number of friends to suicide or drug addiction. Every time that happened, I just wished I had done something.”
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Now, from the bench, he’s doing one thing huge. Simply months after taking the gavel in 2009, Goodman observed a troubling sample: the identical individuals showing in his courtroom many times — a lot of them homeless, addicted, and dwelling with critical psychological sickness. Jail, he realized, was not the reply.
In February 2023, Goodman partnered with fellow Justice Court docket Choose Nadia Wooden to launch the Las Vegas Municipal Court docket Psychological Well being Court docket Program. Their objective: deal with the foundation causes of crime via therapy, not incarceration.
“Sometimes 30 to 40 percent of our jail population is on medication for mental health conditions,” Wooden defined. “The system wasn’t built to treat them. This program is.”
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This system is open to individuals over 18 with a critical psychological well being sickness and a misdemeanor.
Individuals should voluntarily decide to a rigorous program involving remedy, case administration, treatment stabilization, substance abuse therapy, and housing assist. Thus far, 11 individuals have accomplished this system. Many are actually off the streets, sober, and in steady housing for the primary time in years. However the affect goes past the people.
“It costs over $100,000 a year to keep someone in jail,” Wooden mentioned. “With our program, it costs between $12,000 to $14,000 a year to have these individuals housed, fed, taken care of, receiving treatment, (and) receiving medication.”
For Goodman, commencement days are emotional.
“When I see them graduate and move on with their lives and be successful, it really touches me because I’ll always think back to my friend who gave up early in life,” Goodman mentioned. “That was the end of his life, now these people are changing their lives, and they have a chance for a future.”
Goodman and Wooden mentioned this system not solely saves lives — it makes the group safer. They hope to develop this system within the coming years, reaching extra people in want — and persevering with to shift the justice system from punishment to chance.
