A five-year study by the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at Wayne State University’s School of Social Work found that diverting individuals with mental health disorders into treatment programs rather than simply jailing them significantly reduces the jail population and reduces the chances of recidivism.
The two-phase study, recently released by the state of Michigan, is based on research conducted between 2014 and this year. Titled “Mental Health Across the Criminal Legal Continuum: A Summary of Five Years of Research in Ten Counties,” the study examines the impact of a series of pilot intervention programs and improved jail-diversion efforts in several Michigan counties and calls for greater investment in mental health and drug treatment statewide.
The programs studied were organized by the Michigan Mental Health Diversion Council and focused on five areas of interaction between the criminal justice system and offenders facing substance abuse and mental health challenges: initial arrest by law enforcement, early jail detention and court hearings, access to jail-based services, prison and jail re-entry processes and parole and probation.
The study found that 54 percent of all individuals booked into jails in the target counties reported some variation of a substance abuse problem, 45 percent described themselves as housing insecure, 42 percent said they recently were incarcerated and 34 percent had some indication of mental illness.
Among other findings highlighted in the report:
· Individuals struggling with both serious mental illnesses and substance abuse were twice as likely to be recidivists as those with only a mental health problem.
· Offenders with serious mental illnesses on average spent 14 days longer in jail than those without serious mental health problems.
