‘Stepping Up’ aims at mental illnesses in jails
♦ County commissioners and NAMI Rome learn about Chatham County’s diversion center.
The issue of mental illness and how it is handled by the criminal justice system can be both a financial and humanitarian burden on local governments.
“Ignoring mental illness in the criminal justice system is the easy way out,” Floyd County Superior Court Judge Jack Niedrach said. “And in the long term, it is the most expensive way to go about it.”
Annually, around 11 million people are admitted into jails in the United States and two million of them have some sort of mental illness, according to Mark Stovell, the senior policy analyst for the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
Stovell was among the presenters who spoke to local community leaders about the Stepping Up Initiative in a Tuesday virtual forum hosted by the Rome chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
After looking at the data, Stovell and other members of the justice center created the Stepping Up Initiative, a national organization designed to help county governments address the issue of people with mental illnesses coming into jail. Since 2015 when it was started, 500 counties have adopted the initiative, including Floyd County in 2018.
County Commissioner Allison Watters and Chair Scotty Hancock represented the board during the forum. After adopting the initiative, the two created a task force with the help of County Clerk Erin Elrod and NAMI members.
While they haven’t been able to meet in a long time, they said, the task force has been giving input on the new medical and mental health wings under construction at the Jail. Two special purpose, local option sales tax packages earmarked about $6 million for the project.
On the other side of the state, Chatham County recently established a Behavioral Crisis Center for the same amount of money. According to Chatham County Commissioner Helen Stone, the center is designed as an alternative place where people who deal with mental illness and substance abuse can be taken when they commit minor crimes.
Since it opened in June, over 100 people have received treatment at the center and never stepped foot into the jail, Stone said. While at the center, the person is given a bed, food and resources for them to go to for treatment. While Chatham County funds the center, it is managed by Gateway Behavioral Services.
The point of the diversion center, as Stone called it, is to reduce the recidivism rate and actually treat people, instead of constantly sending them back to jail for misdemeanors and minor crimes or keeping them jailed for long periods time. This benefits the person in need of treatment, the families, law enforcement and the taxpayers, she said.
Watters and Hancock said they hope the new jail wings will serve a similar purpose but they believe Floyd County could also benefit from a sort of diversion center.
Stone said their local EMS has also used the center for calls where a person is suffering a sort of breakdown or is struggling.
After hearing this, Hancock said he believes they should start bringing representatives from local hospitals to the task force and discuss how they could benefit from a possible diversion center as well. The commissioners said they would stay in contact with Stone for future questions and forums involving the Stepping Up Initiative.
Anyone interested in getting involved with the task force or NAMI may contact Elrod at elrode@floydcountyga.org. To watch the full forum, go to NAMI, Rome GA’S Facebook page.