Fact Sheet #9
Comprehensive Diversion Approaches
Diversion at Various Points in the Criminal Justice Continuum
Project Link, New York
Population Served: Approximately 100 individuals with severe
mental illnesses, histories of previous involvement with the criminal justice
system and of non-adherence to outpatient treatment. The majority have been
charged with a felony or have a past felony conviction, most of them violent
felonies involving physical assault. Three quarters of the individuals served
are psychotic and over 80% have co-occurring substance abuse. Two thirds have
no high school diploma, one third are homeless. About half are on parole or
probation or have charges pending.
Program Description: Project LINK is a university-led consortium
of five community agencies featuring a mobile treatment team with a forensic
psychiatrist, a dual diagnosis treatment residence and culturally competent
staff. Services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Case advocates,
employees of Project LINK's partner agencies, are assigned to clients. Each
has a caseload of about 20. Case advocates link many individuals to existing
services and housing is provided in single-unit supervised apartments.
Individuals with the highest need (generally with co-occurring
substance abuse disorders) for more intensive services receive services from
the mobile treatment team based on the ACT model. They also have access to a
supervised residential program, which furnishes integrated treatment for co-occurring
disorders, self-help groups and a psycho-education group. Individuals generally
stay in this program for two years.
Clients are referred from multiple sources, including jails, state prisons,
public defenders and police departments. Staff collaborate with probation and
parole officers and provide training on mental illness and on Project LINK to
those working in the criminal justice system.
Consumers have played an important role in Project LINK's development,
in identifying particularly pressing needs, such as housing, and in monitoring
the program. Consumer satisfaction is high. Program leaders attribute their
success to coordination and linkage with an array of service agencies and to
the fact that cultural issues are addressed (the population is heavily minority,
primarily African-American).
Cost: 1998-99 operating budget: $681,455 (case advocacy
services $430,000; ACT team and residential services $251,455).
Funding: from various sources, particularly the state mental
health authority and the county.
Cost Benefit: Jail costs for clients declined from $672
per month to $157. Total mental health service costs (including Project LINK)
declined from $197,899 to $42, 247 in one year.
Outcomes: Significant reduction in number of incarcerations
and average days spent in jail, from 9.1 to 2.1 per month and from 107 to 46
per year. Average hospital days and number of hospitalizations also declined.
Significant reductions in total incarcerations.
More information: Project LINK, Steven Lambert (717/275-0300)
Maryland's Community Criminal Justice Treatment Program
Population Served: Individuals 18 and older who have a
serious mental illness with or without a co-occurring substance abuse disorder,
who come into contact with the criminal justice system. The program targets
offenders who are confined as well as probationers and parolees, particularly
those who are homeless.
Program Description: The Maryland Community Criminal Justice
Treatment Program is a multiagency collaboration that provides shelter and treatment
to offenders with mental illnesses in their communities. It operates in 21 of
the state's 24 jurisdictions. All locations provide post-booking diversion and
community follow-up after release (including services for probationers and parolees)
and some provide pre-booking diversion.
Individuals enter the program in various ways. Some are identified
following arrest; others self-refer or are referred by the arresting officer,
the classification officer, or medical or other jail staff. Probation and parole
officers have support from case managers, who monitor and report clients' progress.
Initially the program focused on jail-based services and services to those released.
Over time, it has expanded the use of community-based diversion options and
increasingly stresses the need to address homelessness and dual-diagnosis issues.
The state mental health authority has awarded grants to localities
to develop interagency advisory boards to oversee the program. These boards
are composed of law enforcement officials, state attorneys, public defenders,
prison wardens, mental health and substance abuse providers, education officials
and others. The local boards use the funds to develop collaborative transitional
case management services between treatment and criminal justice professionals.
Essential features of the program are: strong collaboration between
state and local providers and local advisory boards to provide ongoing leadership;
case management, crisis intervention, screening, counseling, release planning
and community follow-up services; an emphasis on housing and services for homeless
individuals; appropriate services for individuals with co-occurring mental illnesses
and substance abuse; and training provided for criminal justice and treatment
professionals.
Funding: State mental health authority (approximately $1
million) and several federal grants: mental health (PATH $300,000), housing
(Shelter Plus Care, $6 million) and Justice (Byrne grants $5.5 million.)
Outcomes: The program has improved the identification and
treatment of individuals with mental illnesses who are in jail, reduced disruption
in local jails and expanded community-based services for offenders and defendants.
It has also reduced recidivism in local jails.
More information: Coordinating Community Services for Mentally
Ill Offenders: Maryland's Community Criminal Justice Treatment Program, National
Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice,
Washington, D.C. 1999.
|
