Pubdate: Thu, 22 Feb 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Section: Points West
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Steve Lopez

AN RX TO THIN CALIFORNIA PRISON POPULATION

In the ongoing flap over prison overcrowding in California and what 
to do about it, little consideration has been given to inmates such 
as Stephan Lilly.

I wrote about the Los Angeles man late last year, when his conviction 
on charges stemming from a scuffle with a security guard were counted 
as a third strike. Despite a years-long battle with schizophrenia, 
and the fact that one of the three strikes was a threat that involved 
no physical contact, Lilly got 25 to life.

California's prisons are jammed with thousands of mentally ill 
inmates who didn't get help before their incarceration and aren't 
likely to get much while locked up. Not only is that like a chapter 
out of the Dark Ages, but the high rate of repeat crimes among 
parolees is costing taxpayers a fortune.

Tomorrow, state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat from Sacramento, 
will introduce a bill that calls for a complete overhaul of mental 
health care behind bars, with the goal of putting a big dent in both 
the overcrowding problem and the high recidivism rates.

"I would argue very strongly that it's the missing element of 
corrections reform," Steinberg said. How can you talk about getting a 
handle on overcrowding, he asks, without doing something about the 
fact that an estimated 20%-25% of the state's 170,000 inmates are 
bipolar, schizophrenic, clinically depressed or otherwise afflicted?

Steinberg expects a vigorous debate over the details of his 
legislation, especially on funding and staffing, areas on which he is 
a little vague. But the basic idea is to establish mental health 
courts that can divert worthy defendants into treatment instead of 
prison, to bolster services behind prison walls, and to prepare 
inmates for a return to community-based programs once they've served 
their time.

"California has the highest recidivism rate in the country," said 
Adam Mendelsohn, a spokesman for Gov. Schwarzenegger. He said his 
boss wants a comprehensive overhaul of prisons, and "the governor 
would welcome a discussion about the mental health aspect."

Steinberg brings real credibility to the subject and has worked 
previously with the governor on mental health. He was the godfather 
of Prop. 63 in 2004, which taxed the state's highest income earners 
to fund new mental health services across California, based on a 
model that includes housing, treatment, job training and a raft of 
additional support services.

Steinberg still hopes that Prop. 63's yearly infusions of roughly 
$1.6 billion will go a long way toward reducing skid row populations 
that began growing when the state shut mental hospitals under 
then-Gov. Ronald Reagan and reneged on a promise to build community clinics.

One thing he won't stand for, Steinberg said, is stealing money from 
Prop. 63 to pay for his new plan. If the governor can find $10.9 
billion for his prison reform plan, the senator argued, the state 
should be able to shift funds or find additional revenue to pay for a 
mental health overhaul that could deliver long-term savings.

Steinberg pointed to a program that was a precursor to Prop. 63, in 
which formerly homeless clients with mental illness had a 56% 
reduction in hospitalization and a 72% reduction in incarceration. 
That program cost roughly one-third as much per person as it costs to 
lock someone up in prison for a year.

Stephan Lilly might not be facing life in prison, his attorney Donna 
Tryfman told me, if Steinberg's legislation were already in place.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman