Pubdate: Mon, 10 Nov 2003
Source: Bradenton Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2003 Bradenton Herald
Contact:  http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradentonherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/58
Author: John Rutherford

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.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens