Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Program in Maine works to cut jail time for mentally ill Story at Foster's Online - "A program aimed at keeping mentally ill criminals in treatment instead of jail has been deemed a success in Maine's Cumberland County. Now it's being studied by other states considering similar approaches. The Divert Offenders to Treatment program launched three years ago is a collaborative among corrections officials, police departments and mental health professionals. As part of the effort, researchers tracked 10 people with a history of mental illness who'd been in and out of jail. A combination of police sensitivity, early intervention in jail and treatment after release caused the number of repeat arrests to drop sharply..."  
  

Mental health needs viewed from two angles (Kansas) Excellent Lawrence Journal-World story on efforts to address the number of people admitted to Kansas jails "because they hadn’t gotten enough help for their mental illness" and prison "the recent debate regarding whether Lawrence Memorial Hospital should reopen its inpatient mental health unit. But mental health advocates in the community say leaders shouldn’t lose sight of trying to improve the system that still exists in Lawrence."  
  

Cities set to battle proposed mental health facility (California) Daily Bulletin story - "With the state prison system's health operations facing a federal takeover, the cities of Chino and Chino Hills will be taking a different approach in their efforts to block a mental health facility proposed near the California Institution for Men. Officials from both cities traveled to Sacramento two weeks ago to meet with state lawmakers and ask them to oppose plans by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to build a facility in Chino that would house mentally ill prisoners. A federal judge has ordered a takeover of the prison system's health operations, citing poor care and preventable deaths..."