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| Prison pilot program under way |
| By Daily Local News |
| Published: 10/13/2003 |
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The Chester County, Penn., commissioners recently approved a $40,000 consulting contract to improve efforts to divert mentally ill, nonviolent offenders from the criminal justice system. This contract with a Seattle-based consultant is part of a $250,000 state grant the county received last year to develop a pilot program that will help determine the feasibility of establishing similar programs statewide. "In the long run, it will hopefully reduce overcrowding in prisons," said state Sen. Robert J. Thompson, R-19th, of West Goshen. Thompson was involved in a national two-year study of the relationship between mental illness and the criminal justice system. Nationwide, he said, 15 to 18 percent of prison inmates have some type of mental illness. About 12 percent of the state prison population suffers from mental illness, he said, and less than 10 percent of Chester County prisoners have a form of mental illness. Of the roughly 10 percent of the prison's 830 inmates that suffer from serious mental illness, said Elaine Ziegler, a Chester County Prison psychotherapist, 10 to 15 percent of them could benefit from a diversion program. Thompson said the inmate population in Pennsylvania grew by 5.5 percent last year. The inmate population increase has been the fastest-growing line item in the state budget for the last four years, he said. The county has formed a Forensic Diversion Committee to review other programs across the country before developing a pilot program, said Larry Scherff, county adult probation and parole director. He said the committee hopes to make its recommendations by January. He said the committee is exploring three possible approaches. In a front-to-end diversion program, he said, an offender would receive mental health treatment prior to entering the criminal justice system. The county also could divert offenders in the criminal justice system to mental health treatment before they are convicted, he said. Under the third option, the county could divert offenders to community probation or the parole office after their convictions. The county already has a strong post-conviction program in which two probation officers oversee about 120 cases, he said. Under this mental health protocol, which was established in the late 1990s, a county case worker closely monitors a mentally ill offender by ensuring the offender attends treatment programs and takes medications regularly. While the mental health protocol has helped divert mentally ill offenders from the criminal justice system, Ziegler said, their numbers have started to climb up again. She attributed this increase to the rising number of inmates in the general prison population and to the fact that many of these offenders are homeless. "I think the time is right ... to really hit it at the front end as well as the back end," she said. "That will stop the revolving door." |
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