President Obama has called for extensive criminal justice reform and recommended that Congress pass legislation to reduce mass incarceration by the end of the year. His announcement was met with applause from both sides of the aisle and some of the nation’s most prominent voices on criminal justice reform.
The Treatment Advocacy Center urges lawmakers to focus on reducing the jail and prison population that suffers with severe mental illness and makes six recommendations:
The Treatment Advocacy Center urges lawmakers to focus on reducing the jail and prison population that suffers with severe mental illness and makes six recommendations:
- Make the reduction of mentally ill inmates in US jails and prisons a national priority. At least 1 in 5 jail and prison inmates – and as many as half in some institutions - suffers from disordered thinking caused by severe mental illness. Reducing incarceration driven by untreated mental illness will reduce inmate populations significantly.
- Foster adoption of assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) laws for people with severe mental illness who struggle with voluntary adherence to treatment. AOT provides court-ordered treatment in the community and has been shown to significantly reduce crime and violence among its target population.
- Implement evidence-based practices to divert individuals from the criminal justice system to the mental health system. Fewer than half the US population lives in jurisdictions where the most basic methods of diversion are practiced.
- Restore public psychiatric hospital beds. By 2010 (the latest year for which data is available), only 14.1 public hospital beds remained for every 100,000 US residents – the lowest total since 1850, when construction of state psychiatric hospitals began. A minimum of 50 beds per 100,000 people is a consensus target for ensuring minimally adequate availability of inpatient care.
- Promote understanding and use of civil commitment laws by funding educational programs for judges, law enforcement, school officials and others in a position to use them. Court-ordered treatment options exist to safeguard those with the most severe mental illness, their families and their communities. As long as these laws remain unfamiliar, misunderstood or overlooked, the public will remain needlessly at risk.