Santa Clara County’s mental‑health arraignment pilot shortens time to treatment, officials say

Santa Clara County officials on March 13 described a pilot program that holds a specialized mental‑health arraignment calendar and brings prosecutors, defense attorneys, behavioral‑health providers and other stakeholders together early to develop individualized release and treatment plans.

Bringing the right people together earlier is the point of the pilot. “This collaboration — information sharing and multi‑agency case conferencing — is at the highest level and at the earliest stage than we've ever seen in this county,” said Brandon Cabrera of the district attorney’s office during the committee presentation.

The pilot began Oct. 18, 2024, and is held weekly on Friday afternoons, staff said. According to program leads, the calendar has served 23 clients across about 40 criminal dockets; the team reported meaningful reductions in time from arraignment to treatment or case resolution compared with historical timelines. Program staff and data presented to the committee said participants moved to programming and treatment within two to six weeks after appearing on the mental‑health arraignment calendar in many cases.

Program outcomes summarized by staff included reductions in average timelines of several months depending on case type: a reduction of more than five months for conservatorship cases, around three months for cases resolved after restoration to competency, and more than six months for mental‑health diversion cases. Neda (program lead, public defender’s office) said early identification of candidates comes from multiple sources, including arresting agencies and the county’s MCAT unit, which has been an important referral source.

Several judges, defense counsel and other system partners praised the pilot during the committee’s discussion, calling it a potential template for expanding early intervention. Alternate Public Defender Sylvia Press McDonald called it “an expressway for education that otherwise does not exist,” noting the program requires coordination and resources to scale.

Concerns and resource questions: A number of speakers, including a trial judge and county administrators, said scaling the pilot will require additional housing, treatment capacity and staff resources. County officials cautioned that some fiscal analyses may show increased short‑term costs if outpatient and housing services must be expanded while certain custody staffing levels remain in place.

Committee action: The committee voted to receive the report. Members asked administration, justice partners and behavioral‑health leaders to continue refining referral pathways and to report back on system capacity and any analyses that could inform budget decisions.

Ending: Presenters and committee members said the early results support expansion of coordinated pre‑arraignment efforts, while noting the need to align housing and behavioral‑health capacity before large‑scale expansion.