Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Recent study finds 2/3 of Mesa County Jail inmates struggle with mental health

A first-of-its kind survey done in Mesa County suggests the majority of those inmates — in numbers surprising even longtime local justice officials — are probably mentally ill, too.

Most of them also have need for substance abuse treatment.
So, what to do about it?
. . .

Mesa County is among 20 jurisdictions in pursuit of grant funding in the $75 million Safety and Justice Challenge, awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Mesa County in May was awarded $150,000 toward identifying potential areas for reform. The challenge has a stated goal of reducing jail populations nationally.

“I was certainly not surprised we have people in jail with mental health needs,” said Mesa County Chief Judge David Bottger, a member of the group who has practiced law in Mesa County for 32 years. “But I had no idea how big that population is,” the judge said.
. . .

Inmates assessed with such needs were also found in the study to be the most likely to re-offend: Some 44 percent scored at “high to medium” risk to recidivate.
. . .

There’s also consensus, however, in Mesa County’s Safety and Challenge working group that a segment of the county’s jail population could be better served elsewhere. What that looks like, in practice, is still unknown and will be decided over the coming months.

“We think we can do better,” Rubinstein said. “Are we housing people in detention simply because we can’t move cases as fast as we should be?”


ALTERNATIVES

Diversion from jail is part of the early discussion.

Rubinstein points to the Summit View Drug Treatment Center, 650 South Ave., which Mesa County built at a cost of $5 million and opened in 2007 in response to a surge in methamphetamine-related violence in the Grand Valley. The county started diverting some drug offenders out of jail and into treatment.

“I think it’s worth exploring a similar option for the mentally ill,” Rubinstein said. “Right now, we have a problem getting qualified mental health providers to the Grand Valley. Can we use grant dollars to create incentives to get people out here to serve our population?”

Studies suggest mental health burdens on Colorado jails are growing. A survey of 10 county jails, completed in 2014 by Rocky Mountain PBS I-News, found on average that 18 percent of inmates were mentally ill in 2013. In 1992, a jail survey found 11 percent of Colorado inmates had a serious mental illness, according to the I-News report.
. . .
 

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/locking-up-the-mentally-ill#

POINT OF INTERCEPT

Kathy Capps, regional director of Mind Springs Health in Grand Junction, is not surprised by the new mental health data.

Mind Springs’ jail-based behavior services program, including mental health and substance abuse treatment, is available for 
any jail inmate. Mesa County inmates, though, must wait 30 days after initial incarceration in order to receive services, Capps noted. The jail separately contracts for crisis intervention services.

Capps, also a Safety and Justice Challenge group member, said the group is researching best practices elsewhere.

“We’re trying to look at, where is our point of intercept?” she said. “Where can we best meet the client? Is it before they are booked (in jail)? Is if after? Is it at day 30?”

“Can we do something in community-based treatment that’s more effective than having people sit in jail?”
. . .

“We have to be able to sustain this when funding is gone,” Mesa County Sheriff Matt Lewis said.

That doesn’t mean don’t think big, he said.

“Who belongs in our jail, and, are 
there opportunities through community partnerships to divert people into services rather than custody?” Lewis said. “That’s exciting to me.”