Court Building Now Also Houses Mental Health Clinic

In response to judges who say they see too many people in their courtrooms because of undiagnosed mental disorders, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty cut the ribbon to an urgent-care clinic at the D.C. Superior Court building yesterday.

The D.C. Department of Mental Health, in partnership with the D.C. Superior Court and the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, obtained a $1.5 million grant to open the facility in June, and since then 146 people have been treated, officials said.

"There is a real need in D.C. Superior Court when people come to see if there is extra mental health services that can be provided to help them get back on their feet," Fenty (D) said as he toured the clinic, which is staffed by a psychiatrist, social workers and other mental health professionals 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

The facility is on the first floor of the Moultrie Court House building.

Magistrate Judge Michael J. McCarthy's courtroom is next door. The clinic is already filled with people charged with misdemeanor crimes who need mental health treatment, he said.

"You can see the result of working together with the Department of Mental Health" and the Psychiatric Institute staff, said McCarthy, who yesterday referred a man in his courtroom for treatment.

"We are just happy that it is here. . . . What we are doing here in Superior Court is [groundbreaking] nationwide."

Steve Steury, a psychiatrist and chief clinical officer for the Department of Mental Health, came up with placing a clinic at the court because "there seems to be a lot of mentally ill people who were being arrested for quality-of-life crimes like open containers, aggressive panhandling and trespassing.

"They can either go to jail or go to treatment," he said, adding that of the 146 people who have been treated, 110 were homeless, 60 people were given a community mental health provider and eight were referred to an emergency psychiatric facility.

"This clinic is going to benefit so many members of our community," said the new D.C. Superior Court chief judge, Lee Satterfield, who praised Judge Ann O'Regan Kerry, chief of the Courts Criminal Division, for leading the effort to open the facility.

"This is one of the more important initiatives we have been able to undertake at the Superior Court," Kerry said. "Every day in our misdemeanor calendar, we see mentally ill folks coming before the courts untreated, with no ability to get services and no prospect to prevent their rearrest."