The recipient of this week's Ben's Bell is City Court Judge Michael Lex.
He was nominated by a colleague, Kate Lawson, who said Lex is an advocate for the mentally ill. Lex has been the presiding judge for Tucson's Mental Health Court (MHC) for 10 years.
"He spearheaded development of this court to better serve the mentally ill and homeless population in Tucson," Lawson wrote in her nomination. "Judge Lex found that a person with mental illness was likely to spend 18 days longer in the jail than a person without mental illness who committed a similar crime."
Lex collaborated with members of the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona (CPSA) to develop a system that directed defendants with psychological problems to the MHC.
"It was a completely new concept. We had the first mental health court in Arizona," said Lawson, who works for CPSA.
People are also reading…
Said Lex after being belled Friday: "I was interested in mentally ill defendants because, on a regular basis, I had them appearing in my court and the normal sanctions we'd impose - jail time and fine - weren't discouraging their criminal conduct. If anything, it accelerated it."
Instead, Lex enrolled defendants into a diversion program and monitored their progress.
"He saw how much they were struggling dealing with life. He wanted to provide a better service for these disenfranchised members of our community," Lawson said. "People's lives have been completely altered. His impact is felt in his level of individual attention that he pays to every defendant."
The project
The Ben's Bells Project began in March 2003, one year after Ben Maré Packard died of croup, just before his third birthday. His family hopes it reminds people to be kind, to help ease one another's pain. The latest phase of the project began in September 2005, weekly "bellings" for those among us who make our community a better, kinder place to live.
If you know people who deserve a Ben's Bell, go to www.bensbells.org/Nominate.html to nominate them. To learn more about the project, and find out how you can make bells, go to www.bensbells.org or call 628-2829.
Contact reporter Kimberly Matas at kmatas@azstarnet.com or at 573-4191.
$25M distribution center to be built in Tucson
