From "Douglas County's Mental Health Diversion Program" (American Jails Sept/Oct 2011) by Cynthia A. Boganowski

Individuals who are incarcerated while experiencing crises in addition to homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness are still in crisis when released if treatment is not offered and resources are not provided. As the results of MHD and similar alternatives to incarceration demonstrate, the provision of individualized treatment planning and intensive case management in lieu of confinement, when appropriate, reduces criminal justice costs by focusing on treatment resources. By placing mentally ill individuals in jail rather than in treatment, society loses the contributions that people can make when they are appropriately treated.

Ongoing statistics indicate that a system that focuses on treatment and promotes recovery through program options like MHD:

• Helps with overcrowding.
• Reduces cost.
• Provides direction to participants accessing needed mental health and/or substance abuse treatment.
• Provides support and incentive for individuals to remain in treatment.
• Helps end the cycle of incarceration and crisis.
• Decreases homelessness.
• Demonstrates an increase in employment, job training, or education.

The incarceration of people with serious mental illness is of growing interest and concern nationally.  Because jails and prisons are not designed to be mental health/substance abuse treatment facilities, diverting individuals with mental illness away from jails toward more appropriate, community-based mental health treatment has become an important component of national, State, and local strategies to enhance appropriate and effective mental health treatment…download the full article from AJA.org.