MENTAL ILLNESS NOT A CRIME

Editor, the News-Sentinel:

Our elected officials must avoid further criminalization of mental illness
as they consider the jail overcrowding issue. An audit of the Tennessee
Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities reveals that
more Tennesseans with psychiatric disorders are in jails or prisons than in
our mental health institutes.

Knox County is no exception. Attorney General Randy Nichols estimates that
35 percent of inmates have a mental illness. People need treatment, not
punishment, for medical conditions that affect their brain and behavior.

The needs of people with mental illness, 50 percent of whom have a
co-occurring substance abuse disorder, should be addressed as a less
costly, more humane solution. Overcrowding could be alleviated by diverting
persons with mental illness into treatment, better serving the individuals
and our community.

In Knox County, mental health crises may result in persons being arrested
for having treatable conditions. Persons with heart attacks are not at such
risk, but woe to those with a brain attack.

Persons jailed need screening for mental illness and substance abuse and
timely access to treatment. If we prevent recidivism, we relieve
overcrowding and contribute to the recovery of persons with these
disorders. Without appropriate treatment, those released are more likely to
re-offend, cycling in and out of the criminal justice system or committed
to Lakeshore Mental Health Institute.

The solution includes countywide crisis intervention teams, pre-booking
diversion for symptomatic misdemeanants, availability of community-based
treatment - including housing. Mental health courts must assess treatment
needs, mandating care instead of incarceration when warranted. Any new jail
facility needs a mental health unit to protect a population that does not
need a criminal education while in a vulnerable state.

Endorse solutions that safeguard us all. One out of every five citizens -
75,000 Knox Countians - has a mental illness. It could happen to any of us;
it has happened to my family.

Sheryl McCormick