(Nov. 20, 2017) Two years after David Mahoney, sheriff of Dane County, Wisconsin wrote that the mentally ill do not belong behind bars (Mentally Ill Do Not Belong Behind Bars – guest commentary, July 16, 2015), his own county is now taking steps forward to end the criminalization of those with mental illness.
In January, Dane County officials will participate in a workshop designed to help identify opportunities and resources in the criminal justice system in which people with mental illness and substance use disorders can be diverted into treatment using the Sequential Intercept Model as the foundation for the exercise. ("'People with mental illness do not belong in jail,' Dane County board chair says," Wisconsin State Journal, November 9, 2017). This workshop will provide the framework for helping those with serious mental illness resume their lives and alleviate the burden on law enforcement in the way that Sheriff Mahoney had envisioned in his guest commentary in 2015.
Dane County is ahead of the curve because it has an assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) program already established. The workshop will help community leaders determine how to effectively use AOT to prevent those involved in criminal justice from getting caught in that system’s revolving door upon release from jail.
In Wisconsin, individuals with serious mental illness are almost four times more likely to end up incarcerated than in a hospital according to More Mentally Ill Are in Jails and Prisons Than Hospitals: A Survey of the States; and in Dane County alone, more than one inmate in three is receiving psychiatric care.
We agree with the Dane County sheriff; people with serious mental illness do not belong behind bars. Please help us in the fight to end criminalization of those with mental illness and help ensure that they get treatment, not jail, this holiday season. Make a donation today.
by Heather Carroll