LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – More people who have a serious mental illness now have the opportunity to have their charges dropped if they volunteer for a treatment program.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, which serves New Mexico\u2019s most populous city of Albuquerque, launched a competency diversion pilot program.<\/p>\n
This is an expansion of a pilot program New Mexico first launched in 2024 with funding from a special legislative session.<\/p>\n
Other courts that have implemented competency diversion pilot programs include Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Rio Arriba counties in the First Judicial District of Santa Fe; in Do\u00f1a Ana County in the Third Judicial District, in San Miguel, Guadalupe, and Mora counties in the Fourth Judicial District, and in Lincoln and Otero counties in the Twelfth Judicial District. <\/p>\n
Breaking the cycle<\/p>\n
New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Briana Zamora said the criminal justice system has become a revolving door for some people living with serious mental illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is one individual in Albuquerque who has 159 misdemeanors,\u201d Zamora said.<\/p>\n
Zamora said the cycle often plays out the same way: an individual commits an offense, is found incompetent to stand trial, the case is dismissed, and the cycle repeats.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir families would beg me to help them. In New Mexico, unless the person is found dangerous, the case is dismissed, and the court no longer has jurisdiction, so my hands were tied. There was nothing I could do,\u201d Zamora said.<\/p>\n
The competency diversion pilot program aims to change that pattern.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often refer to this as leveraged treatment because the defendant has a choice. You can go through the criminal justice system and face its consequences \u2014 whatever it may be, and it may be dismissal \u2014 but you still have to go through everything in between, or you can get treatment, and your case will be dismissed,\u201d Zamora said.<\/p>\n
Treatment approach<\/p>\n
Zamora said each participant\u2019s treatment is based on a biopsychosocial assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to find out psychologically and emotionally, what do they need? Even socially, do they need a house? Do they need food? What is needed to make this person whole, so hopefully they don\u2019t reoffend and can become productive members of our community,\u201d Zamora said.<\/p>\n
Stacey Boone, Senior Statewide Behavioral Health Program Manager of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts, said the program\u2019s success depends heavily on case navigators \u2014 trained staff who connect participants to treatment and community services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are individuals that are out there working with the person on a day-to-day basis, making sure that they have not only the services they need but also a connection to someone that is interested and invested in their success, which for a lot of this population is something they have not experienced before,\u201d Boone said.<\/p>\n
Boone said building trust early is critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe start with practical support \u2014 Let\u2019s help you get a food box. Let\u2019s help you get your ID back so you can access different services. When you went into custody, you lost your animal. Let\u2019s contact the shelters together to see if you can find your pet. Really building that trust and addressing those immediate needs first, and what the person wants first, and then as that trust is built, that opens the door to conversations about more intensive behavioral-health treatments,\u201d Boone said.<\/p>\n
Program details<\/p>\n
Individuals charged with misdemeanor and nonviolent felony offenses, except DWI, may qualify for the competency diversion program. Individuals who agree to participate must be approved by their defense attorney, prosecutors, and the court. The program runs three to six months for misdemeanor cases and six months to a year for felony cases. Courts dismiss charges when participants complete the program. <\/p>\n
For now, the program focuses on people with a history of mental illness or prior findings of incompetency. Zamora said discussions are underway about expanding eligibility to anyone with a serious mental illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very challenging population. They are very high-need. When they are not on their medications, they struggle with basic daily activities. They are the individuals who tend to pick up charges every few weeks,\u201d Zamora said.<\/p>\n
As of November, 58 people have graduated from the pilot programs. With New Mexico\u2019s most populated county now participating, more people who previously had limited options now have the opportunity to gain both a legal solution and a path to care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am hopeful this will help reduce crime, keep communities safer, and treat people with the dignity and respect they deserve when they suffer from a mental illness,\u201d Zamora said.<\/p>\n
The judiciary has also started assisted outpatient treatment programs that can lead to court-ordered treatment through a civil process for individuals who repeatedly fail to adhere to voluntary treatment.<\/p>\n
While some districts in Texas have similar competency diversion programs, Lubbock is not one of them.<\/p>\n
The KCBD Investigates Team spoke with a local judge, prosecutors, and a defense attorney to learn if there is interest in starting a similar program here.<\/p>\n
You can hear their responses in our next Mental Health Crisis report.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – More people who have a serious mental illness now have the opportunity to have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":503729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[225834,225835,225836,3059,281,210,8142,1952,14012,517,143699,2222,635,50,57315,4369,225837,36210,9226,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-503728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-bernalillo","9":"tag-briana-zamora","10":"tag-competency","11":"tag-county","12":"tag-court","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-justice","15":"tag-kcbd","16":"tag-mental","17":"tag-mental-health","18":"tag-metropolitan","19":"tag-mexico","20":"tag-new","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-pilot","23":"tag-program","24":"tag-shaley","25":"tag-supreme","26":"tag-treatment","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115865198574240917","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}