Washoe County has several specialty courts to help defendants deal with underlying problems before it’s too late. Drug court and Veterans court are two good examples. But recently in Municipal court another so-called specialty court has been established—this time for prostitutes.

Judge Jim Van Winkle says he got the idea from a Las Vegas court in Clark County. He says that court was showing quite a bit of success so he decided to try it here to stop these women from going through a revolving door.

Reno Police have often made busts on 4th street for solicitation. It's a misdemeanor, but often it leads to other more serious crimes or helps fuel addictions. At least that's what two women told me.

“Yea there's a lot of them that start doing it because they are addicted to drugs and that's the only reason that they are doing it in the first place,” says Chelsie Sutton.

“I would say it was for everything from a place ot stay at night, drugs, money, food, basically everything,” says Tiffany Thomas.

We met both Chelsie and Tiffany in Washoe County Jail. Both are in for more serious problems, but they both say they dabbled in prostitution to feed various addictions.

Municipal Court Judge Jim Van Winkle says he sees many of the same women over and over appearing in his court on solicitation charge. That's when he decided to start a "solicitation court"

“Convictions from California to Southern Nevada from other states and so it was just something I felt it was needed to do something about so we could stop the revolving door problem,” says Judge Van Winkle.

Judge Van Winkle says in the last three months, four or five women have opted for solicitation court. But he expects more as time goes on. Those women agree to frequent drug testing, counseling, and court appearances as opposed to sentencing.

Both Chelsie and Tiffany think it's a great idea, but they would require more.

“Something like a vocational rehab connected to it so that you can learn a trade to start working,” says Tiffany.

Judge Van Winkle says the court works with a Scarlet Covering, a support group that attempts to get women out of prostitution, both legal and illegal, as well as strip clubs.

Solicitation is the second specialty court established at Reno Municipal Court. The first was drug court to help defendants with first and second time DUI offenses.