Tagged With "Mental Illness"
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7.25+
I have spent over a decade working at the intersection of mental health and social/criminal justice systems, but it wasn't until recently when I started collecting ACE scores with the inmates I work with in county jails. Prior to working in the jails, I worked in the state prison system, where I did mental health intake evaluations at the state prison where all offenders in Minnesota enter through. So often, in the back of my mind, was the thought that "if only these guys had the right...
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A Prosecutor's Vision for a Better Justice System (dailygood.org)
I am a prosecutor. I believe in law and order. I am the adopted son of a police officer, a Marine and a hairdresser. I believe in accountability and that we should all be safe in our communities. I love my job and the people that do it. I just think that it's our responsibility to do it better. The staggering inefficiency is what drove me to criminal justice work. The unfairness of it all made me want to be a defender. The power dynamic that I came to understand made me become a prosecutor.
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Action steps using ACEs and trauma-informed care: a resilience model (link.springer.com)
The prison system is an example of the ways undigested trauma from early childhood experiences can join with the conditions of harshness and violence in many of our U.S. prisons and contribute to reinforcing a cycle of reactivity in both Correction Officers and prisoners. The correctional system is rife with challenges to the health and well being of Correction Officers (COs) as well as prisoners. Suicide rates of COs are more than double that of police officers as well as for the national...
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As need skyrockets, Sacramento jail to expand aid to mentally ill (sacbee.com)
As the Sacramento County Main Jail handles more inmates with psychiatric problems, the Sheriff’s Department is developing a new section staffed by UC Davis medical professionals, social workers and deputies that can provide intensive mental services without 24-hour care. Under a plan passed by county supervisors this month, the county within weeks will add 20 new outpatient beds to the section of the jail for inmates with mental health issues. For Sacramento’s new program, four social...
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'Badly needed': Dallas first responders laud new ways to help mentally ill in 2017 [DallasNews.com]
It's been years in the making, but finally, a plan to help scores of nonviolent, mentally ill people avoid jail and get treatment will take shape in the coming year, Dallas County leaders said Monday. The changes, to be primarily funded with a $7 million private grant, aims to bring fewer mentally ill people to the jail, release more of them while they await trial and connect them with services once they're freed so they don't return. The goal: to facilitate treatment for mentally ill people...
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Behind Bars, Mentally Ill Inmates Are Often Punished For Their Symptoms (npr.org)
By some accounts, nearly half of America's incarcerated population is mentally ill — and journalist Alisa Roth argues that most aren't getting the treatment they need. Roth has visited jails in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta and a rural women's prison in Oklahoma to assess the condition of mentally ill prisoners. She says correctional officers are on the "front lines" of mental health treatment — despite the fact that they lack clinical training. "Most of [the correctional...
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California's mentally ill inmate population keeps growing. And state money isn't enough to meet needs, lawmaker says (latimes.com)
Gov. Jerry Brown has earmarked $117 million in his new state budget to expand the number of treatment beds and mental health programs for more than 800 mentally ill inmates found incompetent to stand trial. State officials said they have struggled to keep up with the needs of a population that has jumped in size by 33% over the last three years, as judges are increasingly referring defendants to treatment. But one state lawmaker says additional funds are not enough. Legislators, he said,...
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Cycle of Risk: The Intersection of Poverty, Violence, and Trauma (issuelab.org)
We make the case that the conditions that foster violence and the conditions that perpetuate poverty are interconnected and reinforce each other; we further show the traumatic effects of violence -- and how trauma drives both poverty and violence. We then examine how violence has been used to enforce systems of racial oppression and how communities of color are disparately impacted by violence today. The conditions that perpetuate poverty and the conditions that foster violence often...
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Does the death penalty target people who are mentally ill? We checked. [WashingtonPost.com]
In January, Dylann Roof was sentenced to death for killing nine black churchgoers at a prayer meeting in Charleston, S.C. Since then, some commentators have debated whether Roof should have had the right to fire his attorneys when they wished to introduce evidence of mental illness — and whether, or when, mental illness should disqualify someone for capital punishment. Most Americans oppose the death penalty for the mentally ill, a category that ranges from mild to severe. But our research...
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Nevada County therapist helps incarcerated practice mindfulness behind bars [TheUnion.com]
At first glance, jails and prisons may not seem like the best environment for a mindfulness program. The noise level alone can be unsettling, let alone the windowless, cinder block walls. But John Eby turned that notion on its head. Instead, he asked, what better place could there be for a mindfulness class? In 2014, Eby, a psychotherapist who has worked for many years with Nevada County’s incarcerated and mentally ill, introduced an eight-week pilot mindfulness program in the jail at the...
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Presentation to Philadelphia Defenders Association
On October 17th I gave a presentation to 70 + attorneys from the Defenders Association. Several members of this group assisted me by sending me great information about ACEs and the criminal justice system for which I am grateful. The 3...
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Proposition 47: A failure to learn history’s lesson (sacbee.com)
In their laudable effort to reverse mass incarceration, California policymakers have been too slow to provide felons with necessary care and treatment upon their release. That’s among the conclusions to be gleaned from an important reporting project by newspapers in Palm Springs, Ventura, Salinas and Redding analyzing Proposition 47, the 2014 initiative that cut penalties for drug possession and property theft, and reduced many crimes to misdemeanors. “Thousands of addicts and mentally ill...
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Reducing Harm for People in the Corrections System [Trauma Informed Oregon]
When I entered Framingham State Prison for the first time at age 19, I was placed in a cold, dark holding cell with 9 other women. Most of us were in bad shape, experiencing withdrawal symptoms, bruised from domestic violence, and simply scared to death of what we would experience after entering our designated cellblocks. After almost an entire day of being crammed in that cell, I was finally moved and asked to remove my clothes in front of an intimidating, angry-looking woman and then to...
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Riverside County aims to help mentally ill stop cycle of incarceration (cafwd.org)
When a national report was issued this summer that showed incarceration has largely replaced hospitalization for the severely mentally ill, the analysis reinforced what many counties across the country had been experiencing, including Riverside County. And according the Riverside County Jail Utilization Study conducted by CA Fwd, mentally ill offenders stayed in Riverside County jails for longer periods of time and were booked more often. The national report and the Riverside County jail...
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Riverside County Takes Proactive Approach to Transitioning Inmates Back into Community (cafwd.org)
One key to successfully transitioning an inmate with mental illness from jail back into the community is what’s called a “warm hand-off.” It is when jail staff and the county’s behavioral health department work hand-in-hand to ensure that inmates have the resources they need immediately upon their release, including transportation, housing, medication and assistance setting up appointments. For nearly a year, Riverside County’s Sheriff’s Department and the Riverside University Health...
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San Diego County jails make changes to treat mentally ill inmates, curb suicides (sandiegouniontribune.com)
For decades, jails throughout the state have operated as de facto mental health facilities, a trend that intensified in recent years after California changed its laws to keep some offenders out of the state’s overcrowded prison system. In San Diego County, where there were 12 inmate suicides in 2014 and 2015, Sheriff Bill Gore and his staff have been working to improve mental health services at the county jails to prevent more deaths. The department has modified the mental health screening...
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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How Can America Reduce Mass Incarceration? [npr.org]
Julian Adler, co-author of Start Here, and Judge Victoria Pratt discuss alternatives to jail, including community service, social services and even personal essays. TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. My guest Judge Victoria Pratt is known for having done her best to avoid sending people to jail by offering alternatives such as community service, social services and even writing a personal essay. She served as chief judge of Newark's municipal court and presided over...
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How The Juvenile Justice System is Failing Girls [yr.media]
By Susie Armitage, YR Media, October 16, 2019 When Bree was booked into a juvenile detention center as a teen, they were subject to a strip search. “The staff had to take off my clothes and started patting me down, touching me, and making me feel uncomfortable,” said Bree, who asked that their last name not be used for privacy reasons. As a youth advocate with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, Bree recounted their experience of incarceration in a report. “I felt violated, like I...
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Illness, incarcerated: As residents with mental illnesses cycle from the streets to cells, county officials struggle to create a new system (santamariasun.com)
The county’s current plan of action for decriminalizing mental illness is the Stepping Up Initiative, which aims to reduce the number of mentally ill inmates nationwide. The initiative brings together leaders in mental health, law enforcement, and criminal justice to help provide nonviolent mentally ill offenders with treatment, not jail time. The Sun spoke with mental health experts and county representatives who are vying to improve law enforcement’s approach to mentally ill offenders. At...
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In California, Criminal Justice Reform Offers a Lesson for the Nation [nytimes.com]
LOS ANGELES — A police officer is shot dead in Whittier by a gang member . A mentally ill homeless man walks into a steakhouse in Ventura and stabs a man to death in front of his family. In Bakersfield, a man angry over his divorce goes on a shooting rampage , killing his ex-wife and four others. In the aftermath of these high-profile killings, some police officers, district attorneys and politicians were quick to use them as examples to show that criminal justice reform had let dangerous...
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Taking the Cops Out of Mental Health-Related 911 Rescues [khn.org]
By LJ Dawson, Kaiser Health News, October 11, 2019 Every day that Janet van der Laak drives between car dealerships in her sales job, she keeps size 12 shoes, some clothes and a packed lunch — a PB&J sandwich, fruit and a granola bar — beside her in case she sees her 27-year-old son on the streets. “’Jito, come home,” she always tells him, using a Spanish endearment. There he can have a bed and food, but her son, Matt Vinnola, rarely returns home. If he does, it is temporary. The streets...
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Trauma informed education in juvenile justice settings
Jane Stevens contacted me about posting our presentation delivered at the correctional educators conference this last spring. We have been delivering online professional development to all of the educators in the Ohio Juvenile Justice setting in order...
Ask the Community
Those transitioning out of Porterville
Greetings...Wanted to say, hi and thank you for all of your ongoing group. I am an attorney with Disability Rights CA and am working to help transition those with developmental disabilities out of Porterville and back out into the community. I am also a former SF Public Defender who worked with many in the IST process. Please drop me a line if you would like to chat/have coffee, etc. Thanks....Stephen Zollman
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Re: Why Are We Using Prisons to Treat the Mentally Ill? • OverCriminalized #1 • BRAVE NEW FILMS (8 min)
Thank you so much for these clips. Each brought me to tears over the contrast between the wisdom and compassion shown here (and the results) vs. the punitive responses to trauma I've witnessed in years working withing child welfare, criminal justice and domestic-violence intervention systems. What a hopeful, inspiring, restorative vision!
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Re: Why Are We Using Prisons to Treat the Mentally Ill? • OverCriminalized #1 • BRAVE NEW FILMS (8 min)
I just wish I had an answer as to how to get others to see what for me is so obvious. I am glad someone can understand what is true. Why are we criminalizing and hurting already hurt people whether they be homeless, have a mental illness or have an addiction or all three. People in these situations never had it easy or they wouldn't be here. I wish someone had that magic answer that would allow us to open closed eyes, hearts, and minds. It makes me cry too.
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Re: Trauma Informed Education in Juvenile Justice
Here is the powerpoint I delivered. The presentation when well. Lots of interest. I am working with a professional development organization called PESI. They are a non-profit corporation that delivers a lot of professional development. I have my original course on supporting and educating traumatized students submitted to them and it should be available in less than two weeks
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Re: Trauma Informed Education in Juvenile Justice
Jennifer Thank you for your interest in our work Hi Robert, I'd like to hear more about this effort -- specifically, when you say 'educators' do you mean staff who teach within the detention facility? Most of the individuals who took the training are direct teaching staff. Many counselors and administrators took the training as well. And, were any of the detention staff trained in TI as well? What do you mean by TI? No no detention staff were trained. The focus was on improving teacher...
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Re: 7.25+
HI Zachary- thank you for the post and sharing the video. SO POWERFUL and hopeful. We need to change the systems that incarcerate rather than, as you say address what happened to them (and moving upstream, be asking kids this BEFORE they get into the system. (Note, this is the third time today that someone shared this video!)
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Re: 7.25+
Zachary, Thank you for sharing your work, this numbers you offer are critical for understanding the connection. You were on target in sharing the powerful video that we can pass along.
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Re: 7.25+
Thank you Zachary, Yes, I too saw this video posted on facebook last week. As a substitute teacher (nowhere near retired), I see my ability to use trauma informed practices is directly enhanced by my learning to address White Supremacy Culture. I'm happy my state education association recently publicly named that. I'm learning that all the many people who've been directly impacted by incarceration have so many practical solutions! Those of us nearer the decision-making (traditionally-- with...
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Co-responding model takes shape as a new alternative for crisis response [newschannel5.com]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Nashville Police officers will soon share a squad car with mental health professionals, as they co-respond to the scene of a mental health crisis. Sixteen officers between the North and Hermitage precincts volunteered for this new training. That includes six clinicians from the Mental Health Cooperative. Inspector David Imhof of Metro Nashville’s Office of Alternative Policing Strategies joined Chief John Drake to explain how these teams will work in tandem. [...
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Eugene, OR's Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Street Program
Eugene, OR: CAHOOTS 32 years ago the City of Eugene, Oregon developed an innovative community-based public safety system to provide mental health first response for crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. White Bird Clinic started CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) as a community policing initiative in 1989 (White Bird Clinic).* The CAHOOTS model has been in the spotlight recently as the USA struggles to reimagine public safety. From the CAHOOTS...
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Court program for defendants with mental illness eyed for expansion in San Diego County (sandiegouniontribune.com)
The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to explore expanding a special, intensive and in-demand criminal court program that aims to get mentally ill offenders out of jail and into housing and treatment. The board wants to take a closer look at growing what is known as Behavioral Health Court, designed for offenders who have a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia. The 12-year-old program the county funds in San Diego Superior Court is relatively small, capped at...
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What Children Really Need Is Adults That Understand Development
The brain doesn’t fully develop until about the age of 25. This fact is sometimes quite surprising and eye opening to most adults. It can also be somewhat overwhelming for new parents and professionals who are interacting with babies and young children every day, to contemplate. It is essential to realize however, that the greatest time of development occurs in the years prior to kindergarten. And even more critical to understand is that by age three 85 percent of the core structures of the...