ALTERNATIVES TO BUILDING ANOTHER COUNTY JAIL

Building a new $200 million county jail because of overcrowding will
do little to address the fact our prisons and jails are quickly
becoming holding cells for people with mental illness and substance
abuse problems. The New York Times on Nov. 1 reported that American
prisons and jails contain three times more mentally ill people than do
psychiatric hospitals. Substance abuse may be an even bigger problem.
A study conducted at the Oklahoma County jail in 2000 found that
approximately 70 percent of those arrested tested positive for drugs
at the time of arrest. If testing had been done for alcohol as well,
those figures undoubtedly would have been even higher.

Jails are not equipped to provide the same services as mental health
or substance abuse treatment facilities. Without adequate medication,
counseling or other services, many people with mental illness or
substance abuse problems never receive treatment for the root cause of
their behavior.

We can pour millions of dollars into jails and prisons every year and
still not address the true issue. Treat the prisoners in the Oklahoma
County jail who have mental illness or substance abuse problems, and
plenty of jail cells will open up.

A task force to study Oklahoma's high female incarceration rate
recently found that when funding for substance abuse treatment goes
up, the need for incarceration goes down. High-incarceration states
such as Oklahoma spend much less on state-supported alcohol and drug
treatment programs. Oklahoma is near the bottom of the list, spending
an average of $6.06 per capita for such programs, compared with a
national average of $13.17.

In spite of a lack of resources toward this end, Oklahoma is striving
to provide more cost-effective ways to treat people with substance
abuse and mental illness.

One example is the drug court program, overseen by the Oklahoma
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Drug courts,
an alternative to incarceration for certain nonviolent drug offenders,
offer a highly structured, district court-supervised substance abuse
treatment program at an average annual cost of $5,000 per year, per
person, compared with a minimum of $17,000 for sending the same person
to prison. Drug courts also reduce the rate at which people re-offend
when compared with those who serve out their entire sentences.

Another successful example is the Oklahoma County mental health court,
which just celebrated its first birthday and is one of only a handful
of such courts nationwide. Mental health courts are an alternative to
incarceration for people with a diagnosed mental illness --
schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or severe depression -- who are
charged with a misdemeanor or nonviolent felony.

In time, the mental health court could save Oklahoma taxpayers
hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, with savings averaging
approximately $15,000 per year per defendant. More importantly, it
offers more dignified treatment for people with mental illness in the
justice system.

Both of these programs prove there are more efficient, cost-effective
ways to benefit the taxpayer and the person who needs help.

So before we think about spending yet another $200 million in taxpayer
money on a new county jail, let's think about other alternatives to
incarceration that work.

Brown is deputy commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental
Health and Substance Abuse Services.