Topic: Diversion

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Research Report

Courts Diversion Pretrial April 1, 2026

Understanding the Impact of Racial and Ethnic Disparities from Arrest to Sentencing

This report focuses on racial and ethnic disparities across three SJC sites: Pima County, AZ, New Orleans, LA, and San Francisco, CA. We examine how each of the three sites approach five major decision points in the criminal legal system: arrest, pretrial decision, diversion decision, case disposition, and sentencing. Each jurisdiction operates within a distinct context shaped by local demographics, economic conditions, and reform initiatives. The sites were selected because of their racial diversity, geographic diversity, and investment in racial and ethnic equity initiatives through the SJC and similar partnerships. Additionally, all three sites are from different regions of the country with various political contexts to provide a wider understanding of the system and to understand what trends may exist across multiple contexts versus what affects might be more localized.

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Research Report

Behavioral Health Diversion March 3, 2026

From Planning to Practice: Insights from a Survey of Crisis Stabilization Centers

This resource highlights data from two surveys of 53 U.S. jurisdictions planning and implementing crisis centers. It contains specific and practical data regarding centers’ service capacities, data collection and evaluation, staffing, funding, partnerships and collaborations, and critical challenges and lessons learned.

Solano County, CA

Action Areas Behavioral Health Collaboration Diversion

Last Updated

Background & Approach

Solano County, located at the midpoint between San Francisco and Sacramento, is engaged in both the SJC IMPACT Network and California Expansion Network. Prior to joining the IMPACT Network, the county developed initiatives related to early intervention and law enforcement responses, including Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for law enforcement and a county-wide mobile crisis team. The county also established diversion and reentry programs. Solano County has invested in various evidence-based practices and tools to support the justice-involved population with behavioral health needs. These practices include drug and mental health courts, medication-assisted treatment in jails, expansion of permanent supportive housing, peer support, and data collection within the jail. Through the IMPACT Network, Solano County is focusing on building coordination and transparency across multiple new legislative changes and requirements, including the civil Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court and the recently approved CalAIM Justice-Involved Reentry Initiative (Medicaid 1115 waiver), which allows justice-involved individuals to enroll in Medi-Cal and receive targeted services in the 90 days preceding their release.

Lead Agency

Solano County Department of Health and Social Services, Behavioral Health Division

Contact Information

Emery Cowan Chief Deputy, Behavioral Health Director, Solano County Department of Health & Social Services
ecowan@solanocounty.com

Partners

Superior Court of California, County of Solano; Solano Sheriff’s Office; Solano County Probation; Solano County Public Defender’s Office; Solano County District Attorney’s Office; Solano County Health and Social Services, Behavioral Health Division; NAMI Solano
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Natrona County, WY

Action Areas Behavioral Health Collaboration Diversion

Last Updated

Background & Approach

Natrona County is the second most populous county in Wyoming and has actively strengthened cross-system collaboration and momentum created before and during their 2021 Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) Mapping Workshop. Individuals with lived experience now provide support groups, and training within the jail and the county has expanded the number of case managers working on their jail reentry program through the Natrona Collective Health Trust. As part of the IMPACT Network, they focus on early intervention, law enforcement responses, and initial detention and court hearings. They have developed a crisis response continuum, a local navigation center for resource connection, and a housing task force. Natrona leadership is also building grant-writing capacity and partnering with the Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center to perform cost analysis around behavioral health services and incarceration.

Lead Agency

Natrona Collective Health Trust

Contact Information

Kristy Oster Director, Community Engagement, Natrona Collective Health Trust
koster@collectivehealthtrust.org

Partners

Banner Wyoming Medical Center; Casper Department of Health; Wyoming Behavioral Institute; Natrona Collective Health Trust
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Sarpy County, NE

Action Areas Behavioral Health Data Analysis Diversion

Last Updated

Background & Approach

Together with neighboring Douglas County, Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare, and Omaha Police Department, Sarpy County is part of a Criminal Justice-Mental Health Information Sharing Initiative that works to build a data sharing platform to improve the outcome for individuals in a mental crisis. The platform connects people to care, in an effort to reduce the number of individuals with mental illness in their local jails. Sarpy County has been recognized as a Stepping Up Innovator County due to its strong implementation of jail data collection and sharing through a jail population review team. They have also built ongoing cross-system collaboration through an active Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. At the re-entry stage, the jail’s specialized transition planning team identifies individuals with serious mental illness and high needs, then connects them to case management and a reentry plan prior to release to the community. In 2021, Sarpy County established the state’s first mental health Wellness Court. Through the IMPACT Network, Sarpy County focuses heavily on initial detention and court hearings, as well as pretrial incarceration, implementing pretrial risk assessment and release practices for individuals with mental health needs. Sarpy County and Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare are developing a crisis stabilization program to build a more robust set of diversion options.

Lead Agency

Sarpy County Department of Corrections

Contact Information

Jo Martin Assistant Director, Sarpy County Corrections
jomartin@sarpy.gov

Partners

Sarpy County Attorney’s Office; Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office; Sarpy County Public Defender’s Office; Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare; Sarpy County Corrections
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