Judge Milton Mack

Well, when I became a probate judge, that's when I started hearing these mental health cases, and I had no familiarity with them at all.

But it did take me long to say, I don't think this is working.

I'm seeing the same people over and over and over again.

This person's been hospitalized by every probate judge who's served since 1970, and with multiple hospitalizations, and it just seemed to me that things weren't working.

We weren't accomplishing anything, that we were just in this revolving door.

I started to agitate for change, you might say.

This led to my being appointed to the Governor's Mental Health Commission in 2004.

When I was appointed, the points I wanted to make were the mental health system was an inpatient model in an outpatient world.

It was focused on hospitalization and preventing hospitalization, but not promoting that, not focused on getting people well.

So I advocated a number of changes, which the commission adopted, but I really got nowhere.

But I kept plugging along.

And then one day, Channel 7 came in and wanted to film a mental health case.

Early in my career, I probably would not have done that.

But I thought, you know, the public should see this.

They should see what's going on.

So I'm televised a mental health trial.

That led to the investigative reporter coming in and saying he wanted to do a series, filming cases, talking to the family members, talking to persons with mental illness and so forth.

And the series was called Waiting for Disaster.

I said, the way the mental health system works is you just imagine a train going down the tracks and the bridge is out.

So we have two choices.