DALTON, Ga. — Corey Cochran is in the Whitfield County jail, serving a sentence for misdemeanor probation violation. He’s not scheduled to get out until November. But his mother, Angela Cochran, says she fears he may not make it that long.

“He’d been hurting himself,” she said.

She and Corey’s stepfather, Tommy McCollum, provided the Daily Citizen-News with photos that show a man’s forearms with what appear to be several severe burns. It isn’t clear from the photos how old the injuries are. The couple say they aren’t sure if the sheriff’s office knows that Corey, who they say has severe mental illness, harms himself.

“He wears long-sleeve shirts,” said McCollum.

Sheriff’s Office Capt. Wesley Lynch said jail personnel weren’t aware of any issues but when contacted by a reporter they immediately had medical staff check Corey out and placed him on observation.

Lynch said he could not give further details because of federal medical privacy laws. But he said as soon as jail personnel are alerted that an inmate may have a problem related to mental health they have that person placed under special observation and evaluated by medical staff.

“Unfortunately, in the past when we have dealt with this, it has seemed like there weren’t a lot of resources available to us,” he said. “If there’s an emergency issue, we try to get them hospitalization. We try to coordinate with the district attorney’s office and the courts and let them know if there’s someone with a severe problem. We struggle with it just like the families struggle with it. I’m hoping the Mental Health Court will help with this issue.”

The Conasauga Judicial Circuit, which includes Whitfield and Murray counties, recently received a $159,497 grant from the Office of the Governor’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to establish a Mental Health Court, which will be geared toward addressing criminal defendants whose behavior is driven by mental health issues. This court will be presided over by Superior Court Judge Scott Minter.

“We are now putting together our policies and procedures to help us choose the people we think we can help most,” said Minter. “Once we have that in place and we have our treatment providers in place, we’ll be ready to take people in. We are hoping that will be in September.”

Minter said that because of the court’s limited budget it will have to focus its efforts on those it can help the most.

“We want to help as many as we possibly can,” he said. “But a Mental Health Court our size, our budget, in our state would typically be able to handle about 20 different participants at a time, and that’s probably a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people suffering from mental illness in our judicial system.”

Corey’s parents say they are worried about their son.

“He was diagnosed when he was 14 with paranoid schizophrenia. He’s also bipolar,” said McCollum.

Corey Cochran is now 22.

“He hears voices in his head, really bad,” said Angela Cochran. “He can’t concentrate. He can’t even watch TV. He’ll say, ‘That wasn’t me, mom.’ He thinks I can hear the voices, too.”

His mother and stepfather say he’s been in several mental health facilities in both Tennessee and Georgia.

“But it has all been short term, no more than seven days. He needs long term,” McCollum said.

They say he tells them the medicine he has been given has never worked.

“He says the alcohol is the only thing that helps him with the voices in his head. But when he drinks alcohol he gets belligerent,” said Angela Cochran.

They say he’s had a number of alcohol-related arrests.

When he was sent to jail in May, Corey Cochran was on probation for obstruction of a law enforcement officer, simple battery on a peace officer and public intoxication. His probation was revoked after he was arrested again in April for public intoxication in Hamilton County, Tennessee (Chattanooga).

Superior Court Judge William Boyett handled his probation revocation.

“At his revocation hearing, he admitted the violation, so there wasn’t a full-blown probation revocation hearing,” Boyett said. “There’s nothing in the file that I can see that would alert me that he had mental health problems. It was a public intoxication case.”

Following a 2010 settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, Georgia closed its mental health hospitals, moving patients with mental illness or developmental disabilities into appropriate programs in local communities.

“There has been a nationwide movement to take people with mental illness out of institutional settings,” said Mike Mullet, community relations director for the Highland Rivers Community Service Board. “There were concerns that there were people in these hospitals that didn’t need to be there.”

Headquartered in Dalton, Highland Rivers provides treatment and support services for adults, children and families affected by mental health disorders, intellectual and developmental disabilities and addictive diseases across a 12-county region of northwest Georgia, including Whitfield and Murray.

“We’ve found that even people with severe mental illness can live and function outside institutional settings if they have access to the right services and support,” Mullet said. “There aren’t that many long-term institutional settings for mental health care now. Georgia has redirected those resources to the community service boards. We work with a lot of people with complex mental illness, chronic mental illness who do require long-term support.”

Mullet said Highland Rivers staff are going to reach out to Corey Cochran’s family to see what support they can provide.

But in the meantime, his parents remain worried.

“My mom talked to him on video, and she said he was just pacing back and forth,” said Angela Cochran.