DuPage County will send its first participants to a permanent mental health court today, making it the first in the state to embrace a counseling and treatment alternative to jail time.

Buoyed by the success of a six-month test program, officials made the program permanent and expanded it to handle 50 participants a year rather than 23.

The court funnels mentally ill offenders into a regimen of counseling, medication and well-being checkups.

"This is a beginning that is filled with hope for those in the county suffering from mental illness and caught up in the revolving door of the judicial system," State's Attorney Joe Birkett said at a news conference.

More than 30 groups involving social activists, health professionals and law enforcement officials worked for five years to make the court a reality.

The grass-roots effort sets DuPage's system apart from other mental health courts in the country that came from legislative initiatives.

The permanent court will expand on the original plan by also offering medicine and short-term housing if needed.

"We didn't want to have to say, 'Oh, by the way, you are going to have to decide whether to eat today or have meds today,' " said Augusta Clarke, assistant state's attorney. "That is not a fair choice."

Medication is key to the program's success, organizers say.

The idea is to use checkups to ensure people stay on their medication for the 18 to 24 months they are in the program and to help them learn the value of their medicine.

Early signs show it's working. One of the test program's 23 participants had been arrested three dozen times before entering the mental health court. Six months into the program, he hasn't been arrested once, Clarke said.

Robert Heap, a DuPage County board member and attorney who referred four clients to the court, said the change can be dramatic for clients who get on proper medication.

One woman accused of battery entered the courtroom sucking her thumb and baby talking, he said. After getting medication for schizophrenia, she now holds a full-time job.

Officials expect to save $400,000 this year by putting 50 people in the program instead of in jail or back on the street.

Officials estimate it costs $12,000 a year to house an inmate. DuPage law enforcement officials say they respond to about 1,000 calls a week involving mentally ill people.

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