Madison Organizing in Strength, Equity, and Solidarity
for Criminal Legal System Reform

Improving Mental Health Treatment in Dane County – Desired Future Conditions

by | Apr 24, 2018 | Behavioral Health, Featured, JSRI Justice System Reform Initiatives, Resources

Improving Mental Health Treatment in Dane County
and Keeping People Out of the Criminal Justice System

The criminal justice system is not designed to meet the needs of people needing mental health care. Yet, today, a large portion of people in the Dane County Jail have mental health issues (nearly 40% are receiving psychotropic medications) and there is a high racial disparity in this population. Many stakeholders in the county are now working to reduce the number of people with mental health issues who are incarcerated in the jail and are searching for effective approaches to achieve this objective. As a contribution to this effort, MOSES (Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality, and Solidarity) offers the following Desired Future Conditions to describe an improved criminal justice system, an improved mental health care delivery system, and the kind of community in which we desire to live.

Desired Future Conditions

Dane County Mental Health System

  1. There is timely access to effective mental health care for everyone in Dane County through a coordinated system of providers, regardless of payer status. Trauma-informed care practices are an essential part of the system.
  1. There is a coordinated approach among service providers, referring organizations, first responders, etc. to help people navigate the system and find the services that they need, including housing, transportation, employment, and other supportive services.
  1. Case management (identification of needs and coordination of services) is available to all individuals who need it, bridging provider and agency boundaries. Peer support specialists are involved throughout the system.

Dane County Crisis/Restoration Center and Crisis Management

  1. A Crisis/Restoration Center (providing mental health urgent care services 24 hours a day) is available to anyone in the community needing such services. The Crisis/Restoration Center provides immediate triage and stabilization followed by seamless/uninterrupted access to community services for longer-term treatment as needed. These services include treatment for co-occurring substance abuse disorders as needed.
  2. First Responders (law enforcement officers, fire, EMS, 911 dispatchers), when responding to a call, have access to professional mental health consultation (in person on the scene, or through phone consultation) regarding background information and in making a decision on the appropriate next steps and/or facility placement for the individuals involved or needing assistance.
  3. The Crisis/Restoration Center provides a viable treatment option in lieu of charging people with a crime and booking them into the Dane County Jail.
  4. Dane County embraces and has established policies and procedures to direct people with mental illness who have a police contact to a treatment facility or program rather than into the criminal justice system. All First Responders are trained to identify and respond appropriately to people having a mental health crisis.
  1. The Department of Corrections, Division of Community Corrections proactively determines needs for services for those on probation and supervision and assures that appropriate clients receive treatment from the mental health care delivery system as a way of improving compliance with rules, in lieu of probation holds and seeking revocation to state prison.

Dane County Jail Policy and Procedures

  1. Jail intake personnel are trained and empowered to identify people with mental health issues who need to be diverted to the Crisis/Restoration Center.
  1. The psychiatric services contractor is empowered to identify people in the jail who need to be moved to a mental health treatment center to prevent decompensation, and to recommend such action to jail supervision.
  1. There are measurable definitions for identifying people in the jail who have mental health issues and these definitions are utilized by trained personnel to implement and regularly and transparently evaluate best practices. People with mental health challenges are not subjected to solitary confinement and/or sensory deprivation.
  1. The jail emphasizes continuity of care for people with mental health issues. This care includes connecting with providers in the community, maintaining current medications, and doing reentry planning that connects individuals to mental health and other supportive services when they are released.

Administration and Management

  1. Key stakeholders from the mental health system, the criminal justice system, and the community meet at least quarterly as partners in overseeing the management of these two systems.
  2. Data is developed and used to manage and evaluate the systems and is also shared with the public in meaningful and transparent ways to enable citizens to understand the operations of our criminal justice systems. Programs and policies are evidence-based and routinely assessed to provide accountability.
  3. While respecting HIPPA and other confidentiality requirements, information is shared among agencies and providers to better serve individuals with mental health issues. Family involvement is sought in order to develop and provide support for effective, holistic treatment plans.

Prepared by MOSES Justice System Reform Initiative, Crisis-Restoration Center Workgroup, April 2018

MOSES Responds to Dane County Board Resolution 556

by | Mar 9, 2015 | Advocacy, Resources

MOSES Jail Task Force has written a position statement, approved by the MOSES general body, with suggestions to improve County Board Resolution 556.  
We have been informed that, in deference to mourning in the community for Tony Robinson, one of the co-sponsors of Resolution 556 requested that consideration of of Resolution 556 be removed from the agendas of the PP&J and HHN committee meetings scheduled for Tuesday, Mar. 10. The item has been removed and will be scheduled for a future meeting. The MOSES Jail Task Force will inform us of when Resolution 556 will be considered by these committees.
 

MOSES Abbreviated Position Points for Resolution 556
on Dane County Jail and Criminal Justice System

The MOSES Jail Task Force has the following three primary goals:

  1. Stop all unnecessary incarceration
    1. End racial disparities
    2. Treatment instead of jail for people with mental illness, developmental disabilities, or addictions
  2. Improve jail conditions for those inside
  3. Ensure that any facility changes promote goals 1 and 2

MOSES’s full position statement of March 7, 2015, elaborates on these goals in an effort to strengthen Resolution 556, currently before the County Board. Below is a condensed version of the position points found in the full position statement.

1. Create Crisis Intervention and Restoration Centers:Create community­based jail alternatives including one or more crisis intervention or restoration centers, and locate the centers to provide equitable access, especially to people of color. Commit to increasing County funding for mental health services, and also use BadgerCare and other health insurance to expand such services.

2. Expand Alternatives and Diversions: Expand current diversion programs and alternatives to incarceration, including electronic monitoring (home detention), drug courts, and restorative courts, while also increasing racially equitable access and participation. Charge the Length of Stay Work Group with determining how to expand existing and other alternatives and diversions.

3. Achieve Racial Equity: Set measurable and concrete goals for increasing racial equity in access to and participation in all services and programs discussed in Resolution 556, and include achievement of racial equity in the missions of all three work groups. Include specific racial equity goals in all sections of Resolution 556.

4. Address Life and Safety Concerns:Obtain from the Sheriff specific information about the immediate facilities needs that are related to life and safety, as well as racially disaggregated data about the people most at risk due to these issues. Wait on making broader jail space planning decisions until the number of people in the County jail has decreased from other policy changes.

5. Strengthen the Work Groups: Commit the County Board to act on the work groups’ recommendations. Solicit participation in the work groups from national experts who have proven experience in community transformation, reducing incarceration, and/or decreasing racial disparities. Charge the work groups to identify how specific policy changes can be implemented.

6. Implement Better Data Systems: Immediately build a Dane County Criminal Justice Dashboard that pulls data from existing systems. Make this information, disaggregated by relevant factors, available to the general public, as well as to all parts of the criminal justice system and other social service agencies.

7. Connect People to BadgerCare and FoodShare: Make it a County priority to facilitate helping people, including those incarcerated in the County jail, to apply for BadgerCare, Affordable Care Act health insurance, FoodShare, and/or FoodShare Employment and Training.

8. Refocus Planning to Reduce Jail Space Needs: Require Mead and Hunt (M&H) to consider three or more reform scenarios that lead to different reductions in the jail population. Make clear that M&H does not have sway over the three work groups. Make any contract with M&H available for public review before being adopted.

If you have questions, please contact the MOSES Jail Task Force at mosesjailtaskforce@googlegroups.com.

Visit http://groups.google.com/group/MOSESjailtaskforce to subscribe to the MOSES Jail Task Force email list.