Fact Sheet #7
Post-Booking Diversion
Jail-Based Diversion Programs
Thresholds, Chicago, Illinois
Population Served: Individuals incarcerated at the Cook County Jail
who have a serious mental illness and a history of arrests, and often a substance
abuse problem, and are likely to benefit from the program.
Program Description: Thresholds is a psychiatric rehabilitation program in Chicago
using the Assertive Community Treatment Model (ACT) to provide services to individuals
with mental illnesses who have been arrested. Caseworkers accompany members
to court dates and work with the court to secure release into the program's
custody. Thresholds then provides a range of intensive case management services,
medication monitoring, housing assistance, transportation and money management
services. Caseworkers visit each program member at least once a day and staff
members are available around the clock.
The caseworkers find affordable housing for members, usually in single-room-occupancy
hotels rather than in group homes. They assist members with community adjustment—for
example, taking them shopping or helping them do their laundry. Members also
go on group outings to restaurants, ball games or the beach.
One of the unique aspects of the program is that it delivers long-term services
across cases, staying with clients through subsequent hospitalizations and arrests.
Services are available for as long as a member wishes to stay in the program.
There are up to 40 members at any one time in the long-term program. Thresholds
also provides short-term services for a period of 90 days. The short-term program
has a capacity of 25 members.
Funding: $495,000 from the Illinois Department of Mental Health
Outcomes: 82.2% decrease in days spent in jail; 85.5% drop in hospitalizations.
Cost Benefit: Thresholds costs $26 per day per person, compared to $70
per day in jail. The program has saved Illinois State Hospitals an estimated
$916,000 in one year.
More information on www.thresholds.org
Jail Diversion, Bernalillon County, New Mexico
Population Served: Individuals who have been placed in jail and are
determined to have a mental illness and to be suitable for alternative placement.
The great majority of those served have co-occurring substance abuse problems.
Almost 40% of those referred were charged with a felony; others, with a misdemeanor.
Program Description: The county operates both a CIT pre-booking diversion
program and the post-booking diversion initiative described here. The police
department CIT team transports individuals to local mental health agencies for
evaluation and treatment. The post-booking diversion program screens individuals
for pretrial release.
The three-person county Pretrial Services Division receives referrals from
attorneys, judges, jail staff, mental health providers, family members or the
police, and works with law enforcement, judges and mental health professionals.
Those referred are assessed to determine if pretrial conditional release is
appropriate. If so, the pretrial services staff provide a highly structured,
concentrated form of supervision, with stringent reporting requirements. Pretrial
specialists conduct regular visits and assess information provided by family
members, case managers and service providers.
Pretrial staff work closely with the local mental health center, where a forensic
case manager facilitates treatment and acts as a liaison between treatment services
and the criminal justice system. In addition, two officers in the adult probation
department in Albuquerque are assigned specifically to work with people with
mental health problems.
Under a pilot program, individuals who are themselves in recovery from serious
mental illness provide community support.
The jail diversion project in Bernalillo County began in 1996 and a similar
program has since been started in Dona Ana County, with grants from the state
Department of Health.
Outcomes: From July 1997 to June 1998, 107 people were referred to the
project and 67% have not returned to jail. Jail bed days have been reduced by
4, 740 in 6 months, saving the jail $355,500 and helping to reduce jail over-crowding.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Population Served: Individuals who have committed less serious offenses.
Program Description: This program began 27 years ago after two people
committed suicide in the local jail. Montgomery County now has an array of programming.
In addition to pre- and post-booking diversion for offenders with mental illnesses,
"co-terminous jail diversion" occurs when police arrest an offender
and file charges, but also deliver him or her directly into psychiatric treatment.
Mental health services are furnished through a comprehensive service agency,
Emergency Services (MCES). Post-booking diversion is the result of regular and
direct communication between MCES and the county jail. Inmates with mental health
and substance abuse problems are identified by regular screening or by trained
correctional officers, or are already known to MCES. They can then be conditionally
released, as negotiated on their behalf by MCES, with the promise of mental
health services. Alternatively, charges may be dropped once someone is identified
as an MCES client who may benefit more from mental health treatment than from
prosecution. The county has specialized public defenders with training related
to mental health. MCES also furnishes mental health services on-site in the
county correctional facility and provides mental health training of correctional
officers.
MCES services include a mobile crisis intervention team, case managers (short-term,
long-term, forensic), a forensic social worker, a criminal justice intern and
a transition specialist. Cooperation between MCES and the correctional facility,
with efforts by intensive case managers and social workers, opens up a variety
of treatment options. Collaboration is overseen through an interagency task
force, which includes every relevant agency and which has kept meeting for 27
years to work out inter-system issues.
Funding: Provided through Bucks and Montgomery Counties.
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