Courts, city say they’re committed to the success of Kensington Wellness Court as program returns after brief hiatus
In a joint statement Wednesday, the city and the courts said they are "committed to working together to ensure the success of the Neighborhood Wellness Court.”
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration and city court officials said Wednesday they were committed to ensuring the success of Neighborhood Wellness Court, the fast-track program for people in addiction who are arrested in Kensington that was put on hold last month amid tension between the agencies.
Wellness court resumed operations Wednesday after the city’s Office of Public Safety, which oversees the program, made a series of adjustments in how people are brought before the court. Police had not made any new arrests over the last three weeks after court leadership told the city to modify and streamline the program to ensure fairness, among other concerns, according to sources with knowledge of the conversations.
In a joint statement Wednesday, the city and the courts said they were “committed to working together to ensure the success of the Neighborhood Wellness Court.” The pilot program, which runs every Wednesday, aims to reduce the amount of public drug use in Kensington by ”providing immediate treatment and other medical and social services as needed to users without overly criminalizing their behavior,” they said.
They said they were able to “improve protocols” to allow the court to resume.
The statement came after a somewhat contentious few weeks amid differences between city leaders and some members of the court. Some judges and other officials had grown frustrated over how Parker’s team was managing and communicating about the program.
Supervising Municipal Court Judge Karen Simmons nearly shut wellness court down, sources said. The tension had been simmering after officials with the district attorney’s office, Defender Association of Philadelphia, and those in charge of the court felt they’d been excluded from much of the initial plans for the program, the sources said.
Simmons, they said, was concerned that people in certain neighborhoods were being treated differently than others, and that there wasn’t consistency on how people were deemed eligible for the court. She gave the city time to make adjustments, and Parker’s team worked through that over the last three weeks.
On Wednesday, police took eight people into custody in Kensington, most who appeared to be sleeping on sidewalks or using drugs. They were first brought to a facility on Lehigh Avenue to be evaluated by a nurse and an addiction specialist. Officials also attempted to address any outstanding arrest warrants, and connect them with a court-appointed attorney hired by the city to discuss their rights.
One man with an open arrest warrant for a robbery was taken to jail. The others were taken to wellness court, located inside the 24th Police District Headquarters.
Four people ultimately opted to go through the program and enter treatment.
A 42-year-old mother of three said she was eager to get better, and agreed to begin outpatient treatment.
“This isn’t a bad day, this is a good day. … The resources we’re giving are special,” Municipal Court Judge Henry Lewandowski III, who presides over the court, told her.
Another 34-year-old man in addiction, who said he has struggled with drug use for about 10 years, also agreed to go into treatment.
“We’re giving you a shot to finally beat this thing,” Lewandowski told him. “We’re not hanging punishment over your head, we’re offering treatment. But you gotta buy in.”
Another man who had been arrested in early April was marked as having successfully completed the terms of the program, and the case was resolved.
The number of people who have returned to court and completed the program is relatively small. Many have dropped out of treatment within days, and don’t return to court, according to data collected by The Inquirer. Two people have completed treatment and have moved into Riverview Wellness Village, the transitional housing built by Parker’s administration, officials said.
Still, city officials have said they are optimistic, and that the program needs more time to grow and develop before judging its success.