A local nonprofit organization will be getting a $350,000 shot in the arm from Tennessee government as part of a statewide effort to divert individuals with mental health or substance abuse concerns away from incarceration.
The money was awarded to Volunteer Behavioral Health by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, which was given $15 million in nonrecurring funds for the fiscal year to administer the state's pre-arrest diversion infrastructure.
The goal, as outlined by the department, is to funnel the money into regional programs that serve individuals struggling with behavioral health needs to care for those people more effectively while saving resources otherwise gobbled up in the criminal justice system.
"If you talk to any jail administrator across the country, they'll say between 16 and 25 percent of the people in their jail consist of people with mental illnesses," said Matt Yancey, assistant commissioner for the department. "This will alleviate jail overcrowding and, as a result, it will help reduce costs related to prosecution and incarceration."
Police vehicles line the street Wednesday, June 15, 2016, outside of the Hamilton County Jail.In addition to cutting per diem costs associated with arresting and housing people who don't necessarily need to be in jail, diversion programs address the source of the problem rather than the symptoms. They can provide effective treatment for behavioral health needs instead of cycling people through the justice system.
"Jail is not a good place for people with mental illness to be," Yancey said. "This way, we can connect them with supportive housing opportunities and with employment opportunities. We can prevent them from interacting with the criminal justice system."
Kandy Templeton, senior vice president at Volunteer Behavioral Health, said that's the ultimate goal of the organization. She said it's unknown exactly what expenses the grant will cover, but said it will go toward expanding operations at the organization's facility on the 400 block of Spring Street.
"What we would do is there will be a place at [Volunteer Behavioral Health] where individuals can come and be observed for up to 23 hours, and during that 23 hours, we will work to try and get them an appropriate treatment," she said. "The whole plan is to have open-door access for individuals."
Templeton said such a model also would present alternative options to patrol officers who are often on the front lines, handling situations involving people with behavioral health needs who are in crisis. Rather than booking them, officers can bring those individuals to the nonprofit.
"If law enforcement picks somebody up and their main issue is a behavioral health issue and not a criminal offense, then they can bring them to us," she said. "The whole practical side of this is to be able to decrease the number of individuals who need treatment more than incarceration."
That treatment varies from person to person and could involve inpatient work, outpatient work or both, but it also requires the active participation of the client.
"We can't force treatment on somebody that doesn't want treatment, so if they choose that they don't want treatment and there's some petty crime that they have committed, then the officer may choose to arrest them," Templeton said.
The grant comes at a time when concerns about future jail needs in Hamilton County have moved to the forefront in public discourse.
A study presented to the Hamilton County Commission on Wednesday highlighted that it is untenable to continue relying on the overcrowded downtown jail, and local officials are taking the first steps toward expanding the Silverdale workhouse to build a combined jail facility.
Diversion efforts have been praised by Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond and members of his office who see them as a means by which to relieve pressure on the downtown jail and the Silverdale workhouse while addressing the needs of residents.
"Basically, I believe we can reduce our county jail and Silverdale inmate population numbers - if we can begin to think differently about the way we use these facilities," said G.A. Bennett, director of support services for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
"There are jurisdictions all over the country who have committed to finding ways to safely reduce jail incarceration by keeping people out of jail who don't really belong there, and there is no reason we cannot do the same. But this will call for creating alternatives that truly can make our communities healthier, fairer and safer."
Bennett praised Hamilton County's mental health court and crisis intervention team, among other initiatives, as effective diversion efforts already in place and said the agency would be studying other programs in the future.
"The sheriff's office wants to divert the mentally ill and substance abuse offenders from coming into the jail and get the ones in jail released by redirecting them to community-based treatment programs," Bennett said. "The sheriff's office is ready to aggressively look into these types of alternatives and diversions that can accomplish a reduction in both the jail and Silverdale now while management and physical changes will be taking place."
Contact staff writer Emmett Gienapp at egienapp@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731. Follow him on Twitter @emmettgienapp.