Ceremony Recognizes Graduate From Norfolk Mental Health Court Program
NORFOLK, Va. — A 44-year-old man was recognized on Tuesday for having graduated from the Norfolk Circuit Court Mental Health Docket following his fulfillment of supervised probation and his demonstration of commitment to his health and sobriety.
The Mental Health Docket is a collaborative program of the Norfolk Circuit Court, the Norfolk Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, Norfolk Probation and Parole, the Norfolk Public Defender’s Office, the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office, and the Norfolk Community Services Board. The program addresses the unique needs of people charged with crimes who were previously diagnosed with serious mental illnesses. Such people who plead guilty to certain nonviolent offenses may be screened for entry to the Mental Health Docket — which is one of the Circuit Court’s three therapeutic alternative dockets — and the participants who complete the docket’s requirements graduate when a judge deems them capable of completing a period of unsupervised probation, which is also known as being of uniform good behavior.
Today’s graduate, who has a history of mental illness, entered the Mental Health Docket in December 2022 after he pleaded guilty to three violations of supervised probation. The graduate has a criminal conviction history dating back to 1997, and his crimes were fueled by his mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse. On Tuesday afternoon, Judge Joseph C. Lindsey sentenced the graduate on his probation violations to complete one year of unsupervised probation, and a representative of Probation and Parole awarded the graduate with a certificate of completion.
“If it wasn’t for this program, I wouldn’t have truly been able to get clean,” the graduate said. “Because everybody kept their faith in me, it made me go the extra length.”
“I am so proud of today’s graduate of the Mental Health Court therapeutic docket and so thankful to the Therapeutic Treatment Team for their untiring efforts to help our graduate get help and help himself,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “If we want to do more than just punish people — if we want to help them reenter society and succeed — we must address the root causes of their problems. Here in Norfolk, I will continue to support treatment, therapy, and alternatives to prison where appropriate. That is how to build a safer and fairer community.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Anetra L. Robinson prosecutes cases on the Mental Health Docket on behalf of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
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