Jail Diversion 2004-2005
CMHs are required by the Mental Health Code to provide jail diversion services for adults with serious mental illness or developmental disabilities. For the past five years the Department of Community Mental Health has required CMHs to track information on persons evaluated for jail diversion.
| Year |
2004-2005 |
2003-04 |
2002-03 |
2001-02 |
2000-01 |
1999-2000 |
Referrals for diversion evaluation |
61 |
41 |
41 |
32 |
26 |
22 |
Diversions from jail to treatment |
16 |
19 |
21 |
18 |
13 |
12 |
| |
FY2004-2005 |
FY2003-2004 |
| Post-Booking Referrals |
53 |
37 |
| Pre-Booking Referrals |
8 |
4 |
In FY 2004-2005 CMH recommended divering 16 of the 61 persons evaluated into treatment. This was 19 of 41 in FY 2003-04.
In 45 of the 61 evaluations CMH recommended not diverting the person.
The legal system followed CMH recommendation 60 of 61 times during FY 2004-05. In FY 2003-04 this number was 41 of 41 times.
Summary:
The cooperation between CMH and county law enforcement is rated very highly by both CMH staff and law enforcement. Both the legal and mental health systems are committed to moving persons better served in mental health treatment out of the jail system.
The number of jail diversion evaluations has increased over the years. Some of the increase is due to ongoing education efforts which encourage law enforcement to ask for an evaluation and some of the increase is due to improvements in the internal tracking system (allowing a more accurate count of all evaluations completed).
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