Special National Workshop on Mental Health Services in Jails. Service Delivery Models

摘要

Seven models for the evaluation of mental health service delivery programs in jails are described. The emphasis is on the provision of services in intake, screening, and classification; prevention; staff training; crisis intervention; ongoing treatment; and followup referrals. Individuals in need of mental health care have become so prevalent in detention facilities that they are considered a priority management and treatment problem. The release of persons from mental hospitals without proper survival skills, job placements, or supervision has led to encounters with the criminal justice system. Mental health community support programs have been established to assist released patients and to intervene in alternative processing, but jails are too frequently used as a disposal for both the mentally ill and the mentally retarded. Because the link between jails and human services has not traditionally been strong, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and the National Institute of Corrections cosponsored a 1978 national workshop on mental health services in jails. Six individual systems were eventually selected for workshop presentation as model mental health / jail service delivery programs: Marengo County, Ala.; Los Angeles County and Napa County, Calif.; Monmouth County, N.J.; Cuyahoga County, Ohio; and Whitman County, Wash. The State of Michigan was chosen as the seventh model to demonstrate a comprehensive statewide approach to the problem. Issues raised as a result of site visits and personal discussions with program representatives in the course of the survey pertained to special mental health needs of female inmates, separation of competency - sanity evaluation responsibility from treatment responsibility, suicidal inmates, and sheriff - jail manager support for successful program operation. There appeared to be no collaborative effort by jail and mental health personnel to share information despite mutual involvement in programs. Eighty - one programs were implemented, however, in the face of such obstacles. Each program was able to establish institutional services regardless of structural restrictions. Supporting data and illustrations, references, a bibliography, and appended information and forms pertinent to program descriptions are included.