The Counsel of State Governments (CGS) Justice Center reports that a Hillsborough County Jail Superintendent and a District Court Judge became concerned that the number of inmates with serious mental health illnesses that were being held in the Manchester, New Hampshire correctional facility seemed to have risen significantly over time.
Superintendent James O’Mara and Judge James Leary wanted to know the cause of this proliferation of mentally ill inmates,who seemed to stay longer in the jail when compared with those who were not mentally ill, and so they contacted the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to do an analysis on who was being locked up, how long they stayed in jail, and what was the cause of an increase in mentally ill prisoners.
The results of the GSGreport, Using Data to Maximize the Results of Diversion Programs Targeting People with Mental Illnesses: What Other Counties Can Learn from Hillsborough County (Manchester), NH, was “a slap in the face,” according to Judge Leary. The report found:
Mentally ill pre-trial detainees spent three times as long behind bars than those who were not classified as having a serious mental illness
Mentally ill pre-trial detainees stayed in jail longer even if their crimes were not serious in nature
Once the analysis was received, those in the Hillsborough criminal justice system offered different theories on why it took three times as long to decide whether to release a person with a serious mental illness on bond, hand down a sentence of time served, or to send the person to a state prison, as compared to those without a diagnosis of a serious mental illness. The theories often reflect back on the profession of the theorist:
Defense attorneys believe that economics play a major role, as their clients, and their families, cannot afford bail or other resources.
Those in the corrections field claim that seriously mentally ill defendants lacked the ability to advocate for themselves to be released pending trial.
Mental health professionals offered that the lack of affordable housing and the dearth of available beds in psychiatric facilities prevent the court from releasing the defendants back into the streets.
Judges and prosecutors stated that there could be a breach in public safety if those with a serious mental illness were released on personal recognizance, so therefore they were held pending trial.
Hillsborough County officials discovered that keeping those with serious mental illnesses locked up before trial:
Cost the County a considerable amount of money for the average 36 days they spent in pre-trial custody
Did not increase public safety, as those inmates were often released back into the community without being connected to a mental health treatment agency or facility, and were released without other necessary services.
Superintendent O'Mara hopes that the result of the CSG report will open the eyes of other county and state correctional officials throughout America so that the mentally ill will be held for shorter periods pending trial, and will be connected to the service providers that can offer help once they are released.
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