Inmate Mental Health Is Focus Of New California Bill

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —A Garden Grove state senator, OC Supervisor, and the Orange County Sheriff are working together to aid the mentally ill who end up in Orange County Jails. Ahead of a key committee vote on Monday in Sacramento, state Sen. Tom Umberg's bill would provide more mental health services for jail inmates, something Sheriff Don Barnes says is desperately needed.

The three recently gathered to speak on behalf of the bill, and why it is needed.

The number of inmates requiring mental health services has grown "exponentially" in recent years, according to Barnes.

"Currently, the Orange County jail is serving as a "de facto mental health facility," Barnes said. "If we're going to be a mental health hospital, then we're going to be a good one."

Umberg -- a Garden Grove Democrat who wrote the bill -- is seeking more funding for mental health services in jails statewide.

The bill allows officials to use money from the Mental Health Services Act on inmates charged with a misdemeanor or who have not been convicted of a felony. It was expected to be considered before the senate appropriations committee before heading to the Assembly.

The "ultimate goal" of the program would be to help inmates while in custody and to stabilize them when they exit the jail.

"I'm in the business of putting myself out of business," Barnes said of the program's other goal, which is to cut down on repeat offenses, or recidivism.

"This is an investment to ensure that those released from our county jails have the mental health treatment they may require," Umberg said. "With this, the odds of recidivism decrease dramatically.

About one-third of the jail population has some mental health issue, statistics show.

Last year, the sheriff handled about 61,000 bookings -- including inmates booked multiple times -- with 9,200 people classified as mentally ill and about 2,200 considered severely or chronically mentally ill, Barnes said.

The mentally ill move from the streets to jail and back again in a never-ending cycle, according to a report from the LAist

Civil rights activists feel the government should increase mental health funds and build supportive housing to combat this cycle, while others worry that "more mental health patients mean straining an already fragile mental health system," Professor David Meyer of the USC School of Medicine told the LAist. "Immense investmentsin these things need to be made" to meet the mental health care demand.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department has seen its share of cyclical arrests. It is there, while in custody that the differentiation should be made between criminal and mental health issues.
"Jails are not the place to treat the mentally ill, but it is the place where they sometimes end up," Barnes said.

Supervisor Andrew Do feels that while a person is in custody, "we have the best opportunity" to help them.

The county is "beefing up our entire mental health delivery system, Do said. His hope? Coordination of all components of care from physical health, mental health, to substance abuse.

Umberg's bill makes it easier for county officials to help inmates "transition into our system of care once they are out of custody."
"We have learned through the homeless crisis how important it is to provide access to services immediately and conveniently," Do said. "We need to do what we can to help individuals living with mental illness. (Homeless people) are suffering, and the lack of adequate and effective care is the reason many (return to bad behavior), further draining limited resources from our system. We must do all we can to provide them with the opportunity to reenter successfully into society. Otherwise, we will continue cycling people through our jails and putting our community at risk in the process."

City News Service with Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig