TRY AGAIN

Mental Health, Prison Reforms Are a Must

While it may seem a long way off until another legislative session
enlivens the capital city, for champions of serious prison reform as
it relates to mental illness and substance abuse, the education of
lawmakers and support of the public cannot resume too soon.

Last week, a trio of leaders - the state's drug czar, an experienced
Miami judge and a conservative state representative - announced
continuing efforts to reform the forensic system and save taxpayers
millions. Reforms would include expanding community-based diversion
and re-entry programs such as mental health courts, crisis
intervention teams in law enforcement and re-entry services. These
would become alternatives to forensic hospitals whose primary purpose
is not rehabilitation but restoration of "competency" so the
incarcerated mentally ill person can stand trial.

It is Florida's traditional yet short-sighted program that, as Rep.
William Snyder, R-Stuart, said, must be changed both as a human-rights
matter that helps prevent recidivism and as a cost-reduction plan for
the state.

Incarcerating the mentally ill in our already overcrowded prisons is
"almost madness," he said in a statewide telephone conference
Wednesday announcing his intention to re-file HB 7103/SB 2018, which
was moving through committees successfully this spring, but not
quickly enough to pass by session's end.

This broad reform measure is also a top priority of Dade County Judge
Steven Leifman, special adviser on criminal justice and mental health
for the Supreme Court of Florida, and of William H. Janes, assistant
secretary in the Department of Children and Families and the state's
so-called drug czar.

DCF spends some $250 million a year to pay for 1,700 forensic hospital
beds for defendants with mental illnesses. Some 30 percent of all
women who are behind bars and 14.5 percent of men have serious mental
illnesses, Mr. Leifman said.

If the money was diverted to preventive and community-based care,
Floridians with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar
disorder, which contribute to their substance abuse and unlawful
activities, wouldn't be continually recycling through the system.

Late last month, the state's business community announced its support
of an outright halt to prison construction and implementation of
reforms in the criminal justice system that acknowledge both the
state's deep budget crisis and the ample evidence that incarcerating
nonviolent offenders is folly.

With such powerhouses as Associated Industries of Florida as part of
this "Coalition for Smart Justice," plus the impressive support of top
leaders in law enforcement, former attorneys general and judges,
lawmakers will surely begin to acknowledge the wisdom of expanding
drug and alcohol treatment, faith-based and character-building
programs both within prisons and, outside, community-based programs.

Such ambitious reforms won't be easy to accomplish, but today's
fragmented system is not doing the job, and its costs are incalculable
as the revolving door never stops. Switching the emphasis from
incarceration to rehabilitation of nonviolent offenders makes
financial and humane good sense. That is what smart public policy is
all about.

Late last month, the state's business community announced its support
of an outright halt to prison construction and implementation of
reforms in the criminal justice system that acknowledge both the
state's deep budget crisis and the ample evidence that incarcerating
nonviolent offenders is folly.

With such powerhouses as Associated Industries of Florida as part of
this "Coalition for Smart Justice," plus the impressive support of top
leaders in law enforcement, former attorneys general and judges,
lawmakers will surely begin to acknowledge the wisdom of expanding
drug and alcohol treatment, faith-based and character-building
programs both within prisons and, outside, community-based programs.

Such ambitious reforms won't be easy to accomplish, but today's
fragmented system is not doing the job, and its costs are incalculable
as the revolving door never stops. Switching the emphasis from
incarceration to rehabilitation of nonviolent offenders makes
financial and humane good sense. That is what smart public policy is
all about.