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County attorney highlights GRACE, diversion programs; cites $5 million in restored‑care savings
Summary
Cochise County attorneys described GRACE and other diversion programs that suspend charges while defendants receive mental‑health or treatment services; officials said the programs reduce restoration costs and produced diversion fee revenues intended to sustain program staff.
Kristonna Watkins, the Cochise County alternative programs manager, told the Board of Supervisors that GRACE — the county’s program for defendants with serious mental illness — and an expanded diversion program have reduced the county’s restoration and prosecution costs while connecting participants to treatment and services.
Watkins said the county developed GRACE in response to large costs for Rule‑11 restoration and in‑patient competency restoration placements, previously described by law‑enforcement staff as running tens of thousands to over $100,000 per person for out‑of‑county placements. “How I define success in the GRACE program is that somebody, once they're done with GRACE, they don't come back to the court system for at least a year,” Watkins said.
Watkins explained that GRACE and the unit’s diversion work do not automatically remove serious violent offenders…
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