The Berrien County Board of Commissioners has accepted $386,000 in grants to continue running the county’s specialty courts.
At a meeting Thursday, the board accepted funding for the Sobriety Court, the Drug Treatment Court, the Mental Health Court, and the Swift and Sure Sanctions Probation Program. Those courts are all intended to help get criminal offenders the help they need to address the underlying problems that led to them being caught in the system.
All four grants are from the Michigan State Court Administrative Office.
The grant for the Sobriety court is $25,000, the grant for the Drug Treatment Court is $40,000, the grant for the Mental Health Court is $136,000, and the grant for the Swift and Sure program is $185,000. Each of those programs has been credited with reducing the inmate population at the Berrien County Jail and helping get offenders back on track.
As of 2023, the Drug Treatment Court had seen around 140 graduates with a similar number of graduates from the Mental Health Court since they were started.
