WESLACO - Hidalgo County opened a new mental health court geared towards treating people with mental health issues who are charged with a crime.

The court was created in partnership with Tropical Texas Behavioral Health. Staff at the facility will handle mental health evaluations.

Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez said it was created to end the cycle of people with mental health issues continually getting jailed without addressing the root of their problems.

“Because of the few options that we had, ultimately, the only things that we were able to do was either put them on probation or send them to jail and that’s it,” he said. “Obviously, we have to take into consideration the community, making sure the community is safe. But now what we are doing is making sure that person is safe, and if the person is safe then the community is safe.”

Once evaluated and allowed in the program, each person will be provided medication and counseling, along with other mandates the team decides is best to treat the individual.