Sheriff goes to D.C. to tackle issue of mentally ill inmates

Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau was one of a handful of speakers to address a congressional briefing Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that focused on the high number of mentally ill inmates warehoused in America’s jails and prisons.

Many cycle in and out of the jail system again and again, at enormous cost in both dollars and human suffering, she said.

“Jails are not the places for people with mental illness, but they’ve become our de facto mental institutions,” Pamerleau told those gathered at the briefing, which also served to launch a new nationwide initiative aimed at reducing the number of mentally ill people in jail, especially those who simultaneously struggle with substance abuse disorders.

Pamerleau spoke about some of the programs in Bexar County that are regarded as national models, from its mental health court and jail diversion program to the growth in crisis intervention training, which has enabled law enforcement officers to drastically reduce the level of force used when apprehending mentally ill people, she said.

“Before training in 2009, officers used force around 50 times a year,” she said. “After the training, officers have used force twice in the past five and a half years. So we know these programs work.”

Studies show that some 2 million people with serious mental illness are booked into jails in counties across the nation each year. In Bexar County, of some 4,000 jail inmates, around 800 are being treated for some kind of mental illness at any time, Pamerleau said.

Almost three-quarters of imprisoned adults with mental illness also struggle with a substance abuse disorder. They tend to stay longer in jail and are more at risk for returning once released, studies show.

The financial cost of this situation is staggering, said Tuesday’s speakers, with jails spending two to three times more on prisoners with mental illness when compared with those without such issues. Yet solutions have been elusive, with jail administrators hamstrung by lack of resources, poor coordination among agencies and other problems.

The Stepping Up initiative, sponsored by the National Association of Counties and the Council of State Governments Justice Center, aims to build on successful programs that already exist across the nation, such as those in Bexar County.

This “call to action” includes sheriffs, jail administrators, judges, corrections officials, mental health and substance abuse professionals, advocates and others. It features a number of key components, such as gathering and tracking data on mentally ill people who come into the justice system, identifying the most effective programs and providing technical assistance to those at all levels of government to tackle the problem. A national summit is also in the works.

The initiative comes as a bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota and Republican Rep. Rich Nugent of Florida, seeks to reauthorize and expand on existing legislation that addresses the mentally ill in the nation’s jails and prisons.

Pamerleau, who said a new program in the county seeks to screen for mental health issues every person arrested, ended her speech on a personal note.

“I have a brother with bipolar disorder, so I have a personal stake in this,” she said.

mstoeltje@express-news.net