Quality of Life drops charges upon treatment or housing completion
The Marion County Public Defender Agency and the county prosecutor’s office have begun routing people arrested at Indianapolis hospitals for low-level misdemeanors into the Quality of Life diversion program — a treatment- and housing-based alternative that drops charges upon completion, according to an Associated Press report.
The change follows a Mirror Indy investigation that examined the practice of hospital security personnel calling police on patients. Gulbrandsen said hospital officers tend to opt for immediate arrest when patients act disruptively, rather than retaining them for clinical care.
“The vast majority of these cases are driven by mental health or substance abuse,” said Kendal Gulbrandsen, a lawyer who oversees the misdemeanor division at the Marion County Public Defender Agency. “Hospital officers want our clients gone immediately. They tend to go straight to an arrest.”
Under the new referral practice, public defenders specifically direct people picked up at Indianapolis hospitals into Quality of Life when charges include disorderly conduct, resisting law enforcement, or trespassing, Gulbrandsen said. Battery cases require the alleged victim’s approval before the defendant can join the diversion track.
The Quality of Life program was created by the Marion County prosecutor’s office in 2021. It predates the public defender’s new hospital-focused referral practice but provides the mechanism that makes it work: participants who find housing or complete treatment for mental health or substance abuse through the program have their criminal charges dropped.