Solution to Overcrowded Jails

Solution to Overcrowded Jails

Mental Health Officials Have Plan For Overcrowded Jails

by Jarrett Dunbar WTVO Rockford, Illinois October 7, 2004

Overcrowded jails are a problem, not just in Rockford, but all over the country. Mental health officials believe they've found a way to help deal with the problem.

"Fourteen percent of population are people with mental illness," says Frank Ware of the Janet Wattles Mental Health Center. "Some of those people actually have committed very minor crimes."

Ware believes putting those people in treatment centers instead of jail will relieve overcrowding and strain on law enforcement.

"Treating illness in jail brings additional responsibilities," says Ware. "Monitoring medication, monitoring mental health status, those types of things that would really be better performed by mental health workers."

The City of Rockford is ready to begin doing just that.

"We have over 30 officers that are trained in crisis intervention training, that are bringing people to the mental health center when they can instead of incarcerating them," says Ware.

Rockford's system would be beneficial in two ways. It would not only relieve some of the overcrowding in jails, but it will also help get the treatment that criminals with mental illness need, so hopefully, they won't commit the crimes again.

Source: WTVO

Jail study finds 16% mentally ill

by KHURRAM SAEED THE JOURNAL NEWS October 8, 2004

A new county government study has found that about 16 percent of people in Rockland's jail and criminal-justice system have a severe mental illness such as depression or schizophrenia.

The figure is in line with state and national statistics. The study also provides, for the first time, factual evidence for a group of local mental-health advocates who want to create a special criminal court that would order treatment instead of jail time for residents with mental disorders.

Of the 236 mentally ill people surveyed, the vast majority, 209 individuals or 88 percent, were charged with either misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies. The remainder, 27 people, were charged with violent felonies.

The findings were turned over to the Rockland District Attorney's Office last month for review, and future meetings are planned among the parties to see if the court, or some compromise version of it, could become a reality.

The six-month study was conducted by the Rockland County Department of Mental Health at the request of the Criminal Justice Task Force, which is made up of mental-health advocates, family members and law enforcement.

Covering the period from the second week of November 2003 to April 2004, the study looked at the mental health of 205 inmates and 32 people who had been charged with a crime and awaiting trial.

It found that about 40 of the 251 inmates in the jail on an average day have a mental illness.

The most common diagnoses were major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Of those with a mental illness, 62 percent also were addicted to drugs or alcohol, the survey found.

The county study also examined some of the financial costs.

Rena Finkelstein, co-chair of the task force, said it cost $175 a day to house a person at the county jail. Another $240,000 was spent in overtime from the beginning of the year until July 19 to watch inmates who were placed on suicide watch or precautionary watch.

"The data backs up the fact that Rockland County has a need" for a mental-health court, said Finkelstein, who is co-president of NAMI-FAMILYA, the local affiliate of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. "We're similar to the state and the national situation. And as a far as a mental-health court is concerned, we feel it is not only better for people with mental illness and more humanitarian, it is a cost-saving matter as well."

Jail Chief William Clark confirmed yesterday that the study's financial figures were accurate.

Clark, who supports the creation of the mental-health court, said jails and prisons have become the new mental hospitals with the closing of government-funded psychiatric facilities.

"I believe the jail has become that to an extent," Clark said. "We have closings of hospitals, and I think that we have become the hospital in some instances."

As for the $240,000 to pay for suicide watch and or precautionary watch, Clark noted not everyone in it had a psychiatric disorder. Some people were in the circumstance, where one correction officer watches one individual inmate, because of the nature of their crime or because it was their first time in jail. But, he said, a number of people under suicide watch tended to have a mental illness.

Rockland District Attorney Michael Bongiorno cautioned against reading too much into the study and the potential financial savings resulting from the creation of a mental-health court.

"It might divert some people out of the system," Bongiorno said. "But I just don't want the public to be sold that this is a panacea and that everything is going to be hunky-dory and save the jail money, because it's not."

Many people with mental illness in the criminal-justice system never end up in jail. Some are placed on probation, ordered to perform community service or sent to a drug-treatment program.

"Just because someone suffers from a mental illness doesn't mean they should be diverted from the criminal-justice system and criminal sanctions," he said.

Setting up such a court also is a complicated matter with many potential obstacles, he noted. Where would the court be placed? Who would preside over it? Who would pay for it? And will all judges buy into the program and agree to send defendants to the court?

"It becomes a whole to-do," the district attorney said yesterday.

About 90 mental-health courts have been established or are in planning stages nationwide, according to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, part of the U.S. Justice Department.

Supporters of the mental-health court model have been working on the concept for three years. Some want a pilot program established, much like the county's drug court or Clarkstown's domestic-violence court.

Marge Davitt, behavioral health administrator at the county jail, said the specialized courts have been shown to change behavior and improve lives. Treatment is better than locking people up.

"It winds up costing taxpayers a whole lot less in the long run," Davitt said. "It's a pay now or pay later." -

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Source: Journal News

This 'Mental Health E-News' posting is a service of the New York Ass'n of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, a statewide coalition of people who use and/or provide community mental health services dedicated to improving services and social conditions for people with psychiatric disabilities by promoting their recovery, rehabilitation and rights. To join our list, please click on the E-News Subscription button.

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