DECRIMINALIZE ILLNESS

Florida's law enforcement and corrections systems have become the state's
de facto mental health treatment providers. More often than not, our law
enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and parole
officers are being forced to serve as the first responders and overseers of
a system ill equipped to deal with the consequences of an underfunded
treatment system that is stretched beyond capacity.

While headline-grabbing tragedies often serve to define the problem in the
eyes of both the public and our policy-makers, the day-to-day realities for
our officers and judges are much different. A more familiar scenario is one
in which an officer responds to repeated incidents involving an individual
known to have a history of mental illness. With nowhere to take him or her
for treatment or crisis intervention, the officer is forced to place the
person under arrest, often for such minor infractions as disturbing the
peace or loitering.

Then the process begins.

The individual makes a court appearance where the prosecutor is forced to
follow through on what often becomes a never-ending cycle of nuisance
charges. The person pleads guilty to time served and is released back on
the street, with insufficient treatment and a week's supply of medications.
Predictably, they soon cycle back into the system. And the process begins
all over again.

According to a report recently released by Human Rights Watch, somewhere
between 200,000 and 300,000 men and women in U.S. prisons suffer from
mental disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major
depression. An estimated 70,000 are psychotic on any given day. Florida
houses about 10,000 of those prisoners who suffer from severe mental
illnesses. Yet, many prison mental health services are woefully deficient,
crippled by understaffing, insufficient facilities, and limited programs.
All too often seriously ill prisoners receive little or no meaningful
treatment.

Prisons were never intended to be facilities for the mentally ill, yet that
is one of their primary roles today. Far too many men and women who cannot
get mental health treatment in the community are swept into the criminal
justice system after they commit a relatively minor crime. In the United
States, there are three times more mentally ill people in prisons than in
mental health hospitals, and prisoners have rates of mental illness that
are two to four times greater than the rates of members of the general public.

Outside the corrections system, there is a lack of community-based
treatment for people with mental illnesses who are already living in local
communities. Funding for community-based care and treatment has not kept
pace with the need almost anywhere in the country. That means the burden
has shifted to the criminal justice system to provide limited access to
treatment, in effect criminalizing mental illness and substance abuse.

Instead of providing care and treatment, it seems policymakers have fallen
into a form of denial about the magnitude of the problem. As a result,
millions of taxpayer dollars are being misdirected and hundreds of
thousands of people suffering with mental illnesses and substance
addictions are being warehoused in our jails and prison systems. This
solution is a travesty, and a major disservice to the families who are
urgently seeking quality treatment for their loved ones - and to our law
enforcement professionals. Families and professionals interacting in the
mental health community are bringing to light a point of view of justice,
public safety, cost-effectiveness and medical solutions for these medical
conditions.

Advocacy organizations, such as Florida Partners in Crisis, unite law
enforcement, medical, state agency and judicial system officials with
advocates and families in a collaborative effort to work for change in the
state's mental health care system. Florida Partners in Crisis' objective is
to foster collaboration and cooperation among the many human service
agencies to improve mental health services and processes, and to redirect
people suffering with mental illnesses from the corrections system to the
health care system. This is one step toward change, but more needs to be done.

Building more prisons and jail space to accommodate people who need
treatment does not make sense for our communities, our families or our
criminal justice system. In a time when state and local government funding
is stretched thin, we need to look for the most cost-effective means to
address these problems. Ensuring that people have appropriate access to
treatment and medications offers the best return on investment for Florida
families and Florida taxpayers.

John Rutherford is state director of Florida Partners in Crisis and sheriff
of Duval County.