Virginia Beach sheriff looks to build more humane approach to jailing mentally ill people
Virginian-PilotMar 05, 2019
"Treatment of the mentally ill is a huge problem, the largest problem we have in jails today," he said. "It was a long process to get here."
Stolle said in his two decades as a legislator -- before becoming a sheriff -- he thought he understood the issues around jailing people with mental illness.
"Then I came here. I probably didn't understand it nearly as well as I thought I did," he said.
The budget amendment, which Stolle says the governor has promised to sign, will provide:
* An additional 12 positions for mental health workers.
* Screening tools for inmates with mental illness within the first 48 hours of booking into jail.
* Discharge planning to ensure inmates continue to receive medications and have somewhere to go upon release.
* Followup with inmates once they've left to ensure they are making appointments and getting medication.
The plan was put together by the
"What this allows us to do is screen and assess people and make interventions," said
Stolle said he reached out to Senate Majority Leader
"Everyone knows there's a mental health problem in jails but the question is what is the solution to this," said Undersheriff
Stolle said more work needs to be done. He wants to convert one of his jail buildings to a mental health treatment facility that would take people with mental illness who were arrested for minor crimes and send them into treatment. He said he's also talked to other local sheriffs about the issue and that it may make more sense to create a regional facility, rather than one just for
Stolle said he's tough on crime but many people with mental illness aren't really criminals. He's watched as the percentage of inmates with mental illness in his jail, which currently houses about 1,400 people, rose from 16 percent in 2010 to nearly 30 percent today.
"The illness manifests itself in minor crimes and because we don't have the ability to treat the illness, we treat the minor crimes and get people off the street. I think that is less and less accepted in society," he said.
He sees the additional funding as a step in fixing what is really a state-wide problem.
"I think the state has an obligation to provide more funding," Stolle said. "Otherwise we are writing these people off."
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