Duval tries to improve system for mentally ill ; Miami-Dade has had some successes; local officials pay a visit
Florida Times UnionOct 25, 2014
Inmates wore clothes that would not rip. Others were naked. When there were two people in a cell, one slept on the floor. Welcome to the ninth floor of Gone are cotton jumpsuits because they too easily can be made into a noose. Gone are high bunks, also proven to be a hazard after a mentally ill detainee jumped from one and broke his neck. Earlier this week, two The visit came on the heels of a 26-week community study conducted by the The group from How did Why did its bond rating improve after a drop in police shootings involving mentally ill residents? What's different about The difference isn't in the detention process, but in a commitment to programs that get mentally ill defendants treatment, said Jailed individuals with mental illnesses are classified and separated from the general population if needed. Both jails use similar techniques to handle mentally ill inmates.
She led a tour of the Leifman began the transformation of The first step was to map out how the mental health system and the courts intersected. They didn't.
That's about 175,000 adults and only 1 percent of that population receives treatment in the public mental health system. The 11th Judicial Circuit (composed of Most people in the program were arrested on minor charges like theft of food, trespassing or public drunkenness. In About 300 inmates in The program links participants with community treatment and housing services. After completion, the charges are usually dropped. Leifman said most charges - before the program began - resulted in time served and release without treatment of the underlying problems. He said the program cut inmates' recidivism rate from 75 percent to about 20 percent. "We used to have an entire wing at the jail for people with misdemeanors," he said. "When I was there the other day, there was one person in the wing." The diversion programs and increased police training improve interactions with the mentally ill. That allowed Leifman said the felony program is estimated to have reduced the time mentally ill defendants spend in jail by about 16,200 days. That equals about 44 years. Another program takes defendants deemed incompetent for court proceedings and places them into a Leifman criticized the manner in which the state currently restores competency to defendants. Basically, about one-third of the state's mental health dollars for adults - about The average cost per person for taxpayers is about "The worst part of that is that 70 percent get out and either have their charges dropped, get credit for time served or probation and have very little if any access to treatment, so we spend all this money to dump them back into the streets," he said. The Forensic Hospital Diversion Program takes non-violent defendants charged with second- or third-degree felonies and provides residential treatment and community reentry services. The program also continues to follow the patients after they are released.PROGRAM BENEFITS
The effort led to a drop in worker compensation claims as police dealings with people displaying signs of mental illness became less explosive. There are fewer physical altercations and fewer shootings, Leifman said. He said before the training was used by all county law enforcement, there were about eight to 10 fatal shootings a year involving people with a mental illness. He said in the last six years there have been about four fatal shootings involving that population. A former In Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge "As a result, the individual is caught in a revolving door between community and jail," she said. "... The underlying mental illness is not addressed, and taxpayers continue to pay the cost of incarcerating individuals who instead need mental health services." Chief Judge-Elect Mark Mahon went with the delegation. He called the trip eye-opening. "They look to see if the crime is a symptom of mental illness, instead of whether a crime was committed by someone with a mental illness," he said. After that determination is made, the defendant is taken out of an expensive jail cell and placed in a mental health setting, he said. "Certainly everyone in Cole said while Basically, police can choose to take no action, return the mentally ill person to his or her family, arrest them or hospitalize them under the state's Baker Act, she said. But the Baker Act - used by law enforcement to involuntarily hospitalize people who present a threat to themselves or others - can usually hold an individual a maximum of three days. Few people hospitalized under the act follow discharge recommendations to take prescribed medications or to follow up with a community mental health provider, she said. "The need for effective mental health services extends beyond the criminal justice system," she said. "Judge [ The delegation plans a meeting soon to discuss how to implement some of what they saw in Miami.