MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS GROWS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

We Must Take A Comprehensive Approach To Meet The Needs Of Those
Treated, Not Just Add More Beds

In recent weeks, newspapers have been filled with news of the
Department of Children and Families ("DCF") being sued for not having
enough state hospital beds for people charged with a felony and
determined to be mentally ill or insane.

Florida currently has 1,416 designated forensic beds statewide within
six mental health facilities. The waiting list, which now exceeds
300, is comprised of people charged with a felony and determined by
the court system to be incompetent because of a mental illness, or
are people who are found not guilty by reason of insanity.

This has resulted in significant delays in the DCF transferring these
jail inmates for court-ordered treatment.

This is a crisis not just for county and state governments but also
for the individual who is waiting for and dependent upon appropriate treatment.

This crisis is not just in the waiting in jails for a forensic bed
and commensurate appropriate treatment, but that it is much bigger
and broader in scope.

Florida has a growing number of adults and youth with mental illness
housed in local jails, state prisons and juvenile justice facilities.
The numbers and the severity of the mental health and substance abuse
problems have raised concern among policymakers, advocates, and
front- line criminal justice professionals.

We taxpayers should not be satisfied using prisons, jails and
juvenile justice detention centers as substitutes for mental health
treatment. These are not good substitutes for proper treatment.

Large Task Ahead

The jail and prison populations are growing at a pace in Florida that
exceeds available funding in county and state budgets.

Despite a dramatic increase in spending on corrections both for
juveniles and adults, rates of failure among children and adults
released from prison and jail, especially those with mental illness,
remain unacceptably high, continues to jeopardize public safety and
predictably results in a cycle of recidivism that makes no sense for
society or the individual.

In response to the growing crisis, the Florida Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Corporation, created by the Legislature to advise the
Governor and Legislature on the public substance abuse and mental
health systems, in July convened a Select Committee on Criminal Justice.

The committee was charged with developing a strategic plan for
substance abuse and mental health diversion, in-custody treatment for
both substance abuse and mental illness, and aftercare services for
juveniles and adults involved in the criminal justice systems.

We have been using a variety of sources as background information,
including prior studies, needs assessments by state agencies, and
research from advocacy groups such as Florida Partners in Crisis, the
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill for Florida, and the Florida
Association of Counties.

Creating A Dialogue

The corporation recognizes there are many initiatives currently in
place in local communities and our recommendations will recognize
those existing strengths in communities and systems of care.

The corporation is encouraging dialogue among individuals, advocates,
and agencies to find a better way of handling the criminal justice
population with substance abuse and mental health treatment needs -
one that would address the crisis through collaborative approaches
involving both the criminal justice and the public mental health and
substance abuse services delivery systems.

The corporation board in its 2006 report will be recommending
enhanced diversion services, enhanced in-custody treatment and
enhanced aftercare substance abuse and mental health services for
juveniles and adults entering and leaving the Florida criminal justice system.

Florida needs a comprehensive approach, including increased funding
for treatment (Florida ranks 48th in the nation in per capita in
mental health funding), to address the problem at different stages of
criminal justice system involvement, including prevention.

Building more forensic beds, while necessary, is a narrow solution to
a complex crisis that has been building for many years. The
corporation has consistently stated that increased investments need
to be made in the mental health and substance abuse systems to
decrease the frequency of arrests and re-arrests; decrease admissions
to hospitals, emergency departments and crisis stabilization units;
and in the case of children reduce school failures and decrease
out-of-home placements such as foster care.

Finding Solutions

We earnestly hope that Governor-elect Crist and the newly elected
legislature will in a comprehensive fashion address the mental health
and substance abuse treatment crisis.

We all have to do our level best to work together to reduce the
tremendous human, social and financial costs of unmet mental health
and substance abuse treatment needs on all Floridians.

On Dec. 4, the DCF compiled a 13-point list of forensic waitlist
actions that bring greater focus, clarity, review of past actions and
the promise of future forensic treatment capacity expansion to the
DCF forensic waitlist problem.

This is right and good. But the corporation believes that the real
solution lies in our willingness to agree to a more comprehensive
approach that addresses the entire scope of the problem.