JAIL DIVERSION:  THE PROBLEM

By Kermit F. Klaerner

          Having recently attended “Jail Diversion Conference:  Bridging the Gaps in Mental Health,” I was alerted to several things that make the diversion of persons with mental illnesses from incarceration to treatment beneficial to all entities concerned.  First, diversion from jail or juvenile detention facilities will remove persons with mental illnesses from the criminal justice system (other than felons)and will get them to the medical and professional services they require; secondly, it will economically benefit local incarceration facilities by lowering the number of inmates having to be housed and fed, and also by relieving enforcement officials of much of the burden of handling these individuals; and, finally, it will help alleviate some of the overcrowding in our jails and detention centers, thereby possibly negating the necessity for new facilities.

          Statistics show that persons with mental illnesses are normally incarcerated twice as long as other inmates.  This is due to the fact that many persons with mental illnesses do not have the capacity to advocate for themselves and obtain bail for their release, or that they do not have someone in the “outside world” to obtain bail (thus release from jail) for them. 

          According to a landmark 1999 Department of Justice report, sixteen (16) percent of all adult inmates in U.S. prisons and jails have a mental illness; and of this number, seventy (70) percent are in jail for non-violent offenses.  Even more alarming is the fact that “an astounding eighty (80) percent of youth entering the juvenile justice system have a mental disorder,” according to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.

          It has been noted that the “failure to meet the needs of people with mental illnesses forces criminal and juvenile justice systems to handle a population they are ill equipped to serve.”  Ron Honberg, a spokesman for the Campaign for Mental Health Reform and national director of public policy and legal affairs at the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) stated that “criminalizing mental illness is a failed public policy.”  He continued by stating that “often, inmates with mental illnesses receive little treatment, are subject to segregation or abuse by other prisoners, serve longer sentences and have little access to discharge services to help them transition from the criminal justice system to successful lives in the community;” however, this does not seem to be a major issue in our community.

          Honberg concludes by stating that “if the nation is going to promote effective alternatives to needless and harmful incarceration, then law enforcement, the courts, corrections and all levels of the mental health system must work in concert.”  The only solution to the problem of non-incarceration of the mentally ill is for all agencies affected by the problem to work together and come up with a viable solution.  Many cities (including San Antonio, Houston, and San Angelo) have already addressed the problem and have working models in place.  Each model is unique to the needs of the community, but the key to their successes is cooperation among the courts, law enforcement agencies, mental health professionals, and the support of the local community.

          Next week’s column will discuss various solutions to the problems and look at what point intervention can take place to assure the effective diversion of persons with mental illnesses away from the justice system and into effective treatment programs, and the following week’s column will present a brief look at the models for some of the diversion systems currently being used in other communities in Texas.

Kermit F. Klaerner is the executive director of the Mental Health Association in Abilene.  Mental Health Matters is sponsored by the Mental Health Association, phone (325) 673-2300, e-mail mhaa@bitstreet.com.  Need help?  Call the Hope Line (325) 673-2300.