Topic: Mental Health

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Lake County achieved a modest reduction in their average daily jail population as they began implementing their SJC strategies. The initial planning and implementation work paved the way for a quick system response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020 and sustained efforts into 2021. Since the pandemic began, Lake County has maintained an average monthly ADP around 18% below their baseline.

In order to look outside the system to the community impacts, Lake County partnered with community researchers to conduct preliminary outreach and learn about the issues most important to the community. This initial effort prompted the Lake County Equity Team to look deeper at data to identify potential intervention points in the pretrial phase. The Team decided to explore existing data around failures to appear for court hearings and has partnered with researchers to learn more about the reasons why people don’t appear, in order to identify potential policy and practices changes that best support hearing attendance.

Participation in the Safety and Justice Challenge also increased collaboration and connection between criminal justice system actors and the community in Lake County’s efforts to rethink its justice system.

Lake County recognized it was critical to meet people’s behavioral health needs to help them avoid more system involvement or keep them out of the system entirely. To that end, Lake County worked tirelessly to launch the Living Room Wellness Center and expand the COAST program.

The Wellness Center will be open 24/7 with clinical staff available, many of whom have lived experience with the justice system, and will serve as both a walk-in facility and police-drop off for crisis intervention services. It is an exciting program that centers the justice-involved person and seeks to provide a holistic approach. The COAST program is also expanding to include a peer support specialist who works with the social worker and sheriff’s deputy to provide follow up support after a person has an opioid overdose or is in a mental health crisis and has a law enforcement encounter.

A critical component to the future success of the Wellness Center was crisis intervention team (CIT) training for Sheriff’s deputies. Between 2018 and 2021, 99% of deputies were trained in CIT to best position officers to effectively communicate and de-escalate situations with individuals in crisis.

Remaining Challenges

There are always challenges when implementing system reform efforts and Lake County is focused on meeting the challenges head on. Criminal justice system partners will continue to address concerns about how best to keep the community safe, while valuing every person’s rights and human dignity.

Additionally, while the jail population declined under COVID-19, the pandemic continues to have a significant impact on every aspect of the county’s local justice system and uniquely affects incarcerated people. Through their SJC work, Lake has laid a foundation of collaborative, data-driven strategies, including the necessary internal infrastructure and local stakeholders supportive of the work, and positioned the county to respond to the pandemic swiftly and effectively.

Moving forward, Lake County will continue to emphasize the importance of improving data capacity and transparency to inform future system improvements and implement best practices that reduce the jail population while working towards eliminating systematic racial and ethnic disparities.

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The pretrial court processing pilot in New Haven increased the number of defendants who are diverted to a community-based program instead of jail, and it reduced the length of stay by two weeks.

The Hartford Alternative to Arrest Project helped support roughly 800 individuals with mental health, substance abuse, and housing needs. These individuals were redirected to alternative services instead of jail.

Because of the expanded Jail Diversion Substance Abuse program, people with substance use disorders were provided with access to court-based diversion to detox and residential treatment to avoid pretrial detention.

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The county’s Rapid Diversion Program started as a pilot in June 2019. Because the original pilot program was so successful in supporting its participants, it has seen multiple phases of expansion, helping people in more areas in Los Angeles County get access to critical resources and support.

From the launch in June 2019 to January 2021, the Rapid Diversion Program supported 134 people. The program had a 0% rearrest rate for graduates of the program. All of the program’s graduated clients were connected to stable housing, job resources, and secured ongoing access to mental health services. The Rapid Diversion Program is also fast: as of January 2021, 68% of participants were being placed in treatment within a week; 42% were placed the same day.

Because of its success, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted in January 2021 to fund expansion of the initial pilot. The Rapid Diversion Program is currently one of the initiatives under the Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) Initiative, which is helping to grow the reach of the program. The ATI Initiative’s goal is to build a more equitable justice infrastructure by expanding rapid diversion program to additional courts, and expanding eligibility to felony offenses, giving judicial officers an alternative to incarceration for individuals residing in communities with the greatest needs.

The impact of the Rapid Diversion Program can best be told through its participants’ experiences. For example, client L. had a degree and a steady job, until his mental health worsened. He lost his job, became homeless and was jailed and arrested multiple times. The pilot program staff interviewed him at a misdemeanor arraignment and were able to place him at an in-patient program with mental health services. L. graduated from the program, and now has a steady job and an apartment by the beach. During a recent interview, he emphasized that without diversion he would still be homeless and cycling in and out of jail.

Remaining Challenges

Los Angeles County is focused on addressing its remaining challenges in its local justice system.

First, the County Board of Supervisors (BOS) ordered a part of the County Jail known as “Men’s Central Jail” (MJC) closed within 12 months. That motion was adopted in July 2020, and the jail is currently set to close in 2022.

Referrals to diversion under the pilot program have been limited by the few treatment programs and housing available in the county. The expansion of the Safety and Justice Challenge pilot program will include widening the availability of services and housing in the catchment areas of courthouses involved.

In addition, racial and ethnic disparities have continued to persist in the local jail despite the reduction in the jail population. The solutions in place now are designed to address deep, systemic changes that will create equity in the long-term.

Cultural change with regard to the county’s over-reliance on jails will be slow. By allowing access to the pilot program and other ways to allow safe release of individuals from jails, stakeholders in the justice system are working to change the local culture that has long viewed jails as a solution to community problems that have deep socioeconomic causes. Los Angeles County is shifting to treatment rather than punishment, leading with the strategy “care first, jails last.”

Last, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on every aspect of the county’s local justice system and continues to uniquely affect those incarcerated in local jails. The foundation of collaborative, data-driven strategies, including the necessary structures and collaboration from local stakeholders that are in place to support these strategies, has set the county up well to respond to the pandemic effectively.

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Milwaukee County has far exceeded its original goal, which was to reduce the overall jail population by 19%, thanks to a partnership among system and community stakeholders working hand-in-hand to build a more fair, efficient, and effective justice system.

As a result of the county’s efforts to center racial equity, county departments are now required to use an equity budget tool across multiple domains, including workforce inclusivity and diversity, people-focused design, employee perspective, and improved performance/equity practice.

The county’s emphasis on trauma-informed practices resulted in a better understanding of trauma among system stakeholders. Over 500 county employees were trained in how trauma impacts people throughout the justice system.

Remaining Challenges

Milwaukee County is focused on addressing its remaining challenges in its local justice system.

Racial disparities continue to persist in the local justice system. Going forward, the Race, Equity, and Procedural Justice workgroup outlined a six-point Racial Equity strategy. Under this strategy, the CJC will hire a racial equity coordinator, engage in analyses to address disparities at system decision points, develop a criminal justice strategic plan with system and community partners, re-launch a criminal justice learning series, and invite community members and people with lived experience to join criminal justice workgroups.

Lastly, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on every aspect of the county’s local justice system and continues to uniquely affect those incarcerated in the local jail. However, the foundation of collaborative, data-driven strategies supported by the Safety and Justice Challenge, including the necessary structures and collaboration from local stakeholders that are in place to support these strategies, has set the county up well to respond to the pandemic effectively.