CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Jail mental-health program has January start-up target

The Blade - 11/8/2021

Nov. 8—For many people detained in the Lucas County jail, their first day of incarceration brings a halt to any mental-health care they may be receiving — and the end of any related medicine they may be taking.

A $3.6 million federal grant will be used largely to address that care gap, both by sending mental-health professionals into the jail to provide in-person therapies and paying for ongoing medication, including sending in nurses to administer injections, officials from Unison Health told an audience of criminal justice and county officials during a lunchtime presentation Monday.

The two-year program is scheduled to reach full operation by the end of January, and Jeff De Lay, Unison's chief executive officer, said he already is considering the process to apply for the grant's renewal with the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration.

While the grant also includes funding for mental-health services for Toledo Public Schools students in kindergarten through eighth grade, its primary target is the criminal-justice system, Mr. De Lay said.

Unison was inspired to apply for the current grant, he said, by Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Lindsay Navarre, who recounted to him a high incidence of untreated — and often undiagnosed — mental illnesses among defendants who appear before her, along with her observations of defendants' mental deterioration from one court appearance to the next.

"We believe that this grant is going to be a game-changer in the community" Mr. De Lay said, because it will break the cycle of offenders' behavioral-health issues that underlie recidivism for many, and longer detention, increasingly expensive hospital care, or both for some.

Judge Navarre, who was among the audience of about 20 in a conference room at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library'sMain Library, said afterward that conditions creating mental-health problems in the jails include that anyone receiving mental-health medication through Medicaid loses that coverage the instant they're incarcerated.

The current dearth of behavioral care in the jails, she said, ultimately costs "hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars — needlessly, quite frankly" because of inmates whose court cases take longer than they otherwise would, have longer incarcerations, or end up in state psychiatric hospitals.

"What we see so often in the criminal-justice system is people who either come in with undiagnosed, serious, persistent mental-health problems that tend to get worse while they're in jail, or their ongoing treatment stops," the judge said.

Without access to services or medications, their mental conditions deteriorate, and "that really creates crisis" on top of stress from the criminal charges they face, she said.

Sarah Gruner, Unison's project director, said a program manager has already been hired, and the program also will employ 1.5 licensed clinicians, three case managers, and a peer-support specialist — a person who has been on the inmates' side of the table and can tell them "I've come out on the other side."

The program's goals, Ms. Gruner said, will be to maintain inmates' mental health while they're in jail and reduce the risk of "decompensation," increase referrals to behavioral treatment, support follow-through after their release from jail that should reduce repeat offenses, and increase the numbers who are diverted to programs outside the criminal-justice system.

Unison staff will be introduced to the jail environment next month, followed by a "soft launch" of program services in early January, Ms. Gruner said. "Focus group" sessions with jail staff and judges are planned for January's third week to assess the "soft launch," she said, so any recommended adjustments can be made during the full-service startup in the month's final week.

Amanda Kern, Unison's vice president for clinical services, said the nonprofit has piloted a smaller version of its program in the Wood County jail with demonstrable success. She cited in particular the example of an inmate who was being considered for transfer into a state psychiatric hospital, but now is a candidate for placement in a group home because of improved behavior.

Since late 2019, all Lucas County jail inmates have received a brief screening for mental-health and substance-abuse issues during intake. Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre asked if all would also now be assessed by Unison staff, to which Ms. Gruner responded that the program would take referrals from jail staff.

Unison personnel will be on-hand early enough in the day to visit with new inmates who have 9 a.m. preliminary court hearings, she said.

The sheriff also noted that the county's post-sentencing inmates transfer either to the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio in Stryker or to the state prison system, and Ms. Gruner said "preliminary discussions" have been held with regional-jail officials about the program's applicability to that facility.

First Published November 8, 2021, 5:04pm

___

(c)2021 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)

Visit The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) at www.toledoblade.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.