CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE PRESS RELEASE
		www.cjcj.org

For Immediate Release: Friday March 25, 2003

Mentally Ill Offenders Aided Strongly by Post-Release Community Treatment, Study Shows

CONTACT: Daniel Macallair
E-mail: [dmacallair@cjcj.org]
Tel: (415) 621-5661 x310

SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Mentally ill offenders are a unique group in that they straddle the worlds of both mental health and criminal justice; however they often fall through the cracks without the proper services and programs. 16% of offenders in prison are mentally ill, compared to 5% of the general population. California spends between $1.2-1.8 billion a year in criminal justice and corrections costs on mentally ill offenders, while the same population could be treated in the community between $4,000-7,000 a person.

The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice analyzed San Francisco's first Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grant (MIOCRG) Program, a joint state project of the California State Sheriffs' Association and the Mental Health Association, created to address the problem that 94% of mentally ill offenders on parole have their parole revoked and are returned to prison. San Francisco's programs use intensive case management techniques, which help mentally ill offenders achieve stability in the community and avoid re-incarceration. Dan Macallair, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, states, "Intensive case management of mentally ill offenders is building bridges in criminal justice and mental health, and doing much to protect public safety and reduce prison overcrowding and costs. It stands to provide mentally ill offenders with the greatest possibility for success in the community without re-incarceration."

CJCJ examined how these programs used graduated sanctions within a holistic, harm reduction policy to keep mentally ill offenders from re-incarceration. Major findings include:

· Mental health treatment often lessens mentally ill offenders' dependence on illicit drugs and provides the skills necessary to build a life free from drug dependence

· Harm reduction, a philosophy of reducing harm in drug use but still holding drug abstinence as a long-term goal, has been found to be more realistic and effective with the severely mentally ill population than a strict abstinence model

· Clients under increased supervision have been found to violate parole more often than those in less intensive treatment programs, however higher rates of recidivism can likely be explained by the higher degree of interaction with clients in an intensive case management and the strict abstinence model probation officers are used to insisting parolees follow

· The decision to treat or incarcerate for technical violations has grave consequences for the client, such that if he or she is sent back to prison, he or she may be later released without treatment

· A close working relationship between probation and mental health and the sharing of treatment methods can lead to a decrease in probation violations for mentally ill offender clients

Overall, the city of San Francisco has demonstrated considerable success in addressing the gaps in post-release services for mentally ill offenders. # #

This site and its contents © 2002 Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice