WARREN — Inmates in the Trumbull County jail system will receive some extra support, thanks to a contribution from one of the county’s longest-serving Central District Court judges.

Central District Court Judge Thomas Campbell, who has held the position for the past 30 years, contributed $100,000 to the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board. The funds were presented to the board Tuesday.

Campbell said the money was part of the court’s Indigent Driver Treatment Funds, which were collected through court costs on various traffic offenses — principally OVI offenses.

Campbell said there is a mechanism within a state statute that allows courts to transfer surplus IDAT funds to alcohol, drug addiction and mental health boards for programs in the jail system. The mechanism also gave judges the authority to make the transfers.

“We’re happy to assist; I’m sure the $100,000 that we’ve done won’t cover the whole cost, but we hope to help — they’re very worthwhile,” Campbell said. “The vast majority of criminals suffer from addiction, alcohol (and) drugs; an overwhelming majority of those cases involve alcohol and drugs, and this is certainly, I think, an appropriate use for these funds to address the problems.”

Campbell said the county is working with Sheriff Mike Wilson’s office to create treatment programs for prisoners “clearly” in need of help.

He noted that some crimes, such as theft, assault and property damage, the court deals with addicts or people with mental health issues.

“While yes, we’ll certainly punish the conduct that got them into the criminal justice system, we want to get services that hopefully, they can lead more productive lives going forward,” Campbell said. “And that’s a beneficial piece of that.”

Campbell said judges might operate on the criminal justice end of things, but people in the field deal with similar issues as those specializing in mental health and recovery.

“We’re not exactly dealing with the same issues, but we’re certainly dealing with the same individuals; our job is to enforce the criminal law,” he said. “Their job is to assist people with addiction and mental health issues. But certainly, there’s a crossover.”

Campbell, who last donated $150,000 in IDAT funds to the TCMHRB in November 2017, said he didn’t recall how many people he had sent to similar services, adding it was something he had never tried accounting for.

“Doing most of my sentencing, 80%, I’ll ask, I’ll demand they be evaluated. I mean, a lot of evaluations come back and say there’s nothing needed,” he said. “This person drinks alcohol, but he’s not an alcoholic. And I incorporate these recommendations into a sentence.”

Campbell said while a “great many” people who go through the programs and evaluations return to his courtroom, there were also some success stories.

“Every once in a while, I’ll run into someone out on the street, in a store or something, and they’ll say ‘Do you remember me?’ I used to say ‘Did I treat you nice?’ but now I say ‘Did I treat you fair?'” he said. “Several of them, over the years, have come up and said that, and some will show me their coins from AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and how many years; and that’s pretty gratifying.”

Campbell said sometimes he’ll see the same person, and he’s sent the same person back to jail several times — and sometimes the programs work.

“It saves them, but it also saves society; if we allow these people to continue with unaddressed addiction, mental health issues, they’re going to commit more crimes,” he said. “They’re going to be more of a strain on society; it’s not that we do this instead of traditional criminal justice, but in addition to, incorporating it in.”

TCMHRB Executive Director April Caraway said the county’s jail staff tells them “about 80%” of incarcerated individuals deal with some kind of addiction or mental health problem.

In a news release ahead of the presentation, Caraway said they’ve seen a “large increase” in people with such issues being incarcerated since Insight at Trumbull Regional Medical Center closed several months ago.

“We lost 36 inpatient behavioral health beds, and we’ve seen a lot more people going into the jail; is it 36 more people a month?” Caraway said. “I don’t know, but we’re seeing more of them.”

Caraway said they’ve contracted with places in Canton and Cleveland to try and get people beds.

“With Judge Campbell’s vetting, we really appreciate it because we were going to have to reduce services in the jail,” Caraway said. “And now we don’t have to.”