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October 27, 2008
MA: State cuts endanger jail diversion program
State cuts endanger jail diversion program
By Dan McDonald/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Oct 21, 2008 @ 11:44 PM
FRAMINGHAM —
Gov. Deval Patrick's recent budget cuts effectively eliminated an innovative jail diversion program that aimed to help the mentally ill in town.
The program partnered the police department with the nonprofit agency Advocates Inc. Lauded as a first-of-its-kind initiative and a model for other departments in the state for the past six years, the program saw $60,000 of its funding, or 50 percent, cut in last week's Beacon Hill belt-tightening, meaning the program will likely end Dec. 31.
The original $120,000 state allotment had allowed Advocates to have two medical clinicians respond with police to situations that may involve the mentally ill.
"It's almost like a paramedic going to the scene of a medical emergency," Deputy Police Chief Craig Davis said yesterday.
Once engaged, clinicians can connect the mentally ill with key services, said Advocates President and CEO Bill Taylor.
"We carry the ball carefully to make sure they're involved with treatment before we let go of them," said Taylor. "But we don't provide the ongoing treatment."
In 2007, Davis said, there were 457 joint interventions of police and clinicians under the program.
That same year, 82 people were diverted from arrest for nuisance-related crimes.
"We wanted to deliver compassionate justice for the mentally ill," said Davis.
The program is designed to divert individuals with mental illness, substance abuse or behavioral problems from the more expensive and less effective criminal system to the less expensive and very effective human services system for appropriate treatment and case management, wrote Taylor in an e-mail.
It was established with private foundation money six years ago and received state funding for the last three.
Now in its sixth year, the collaboration has evolved into a nationally recognized pilot program replicated by numerous other communities.
Framingham Police have traveled to Milford, Lawrence, and Quincy to advise those police departments about the program.
"We had established ourselves as a proven commodity and we're confident that this is a proper approach that we hope is a model not only in a state but nationally," he said.
He added,"Now more than ever it's a crucial partnership."
Taylor had similar thoughts.
"The seed must remain to be replanted, once funds are again available," wrote Taylor in an e-mail. "At $120,000 per year, only $60,000 stands between closure and an ongoing Jail Diversion program in Framingham and Massachusetts."
Funding for a handful of other jail diversion programs was also cut in half, said state Rep. Ruth Balser, D-Newton. Balser is the house chairwoman of the joint committee for Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
"Rather than just prosecute and incarcerate there's a growing awareness of the phenomenon of the mentally ill people...that comes from closing hospitals and treatment centers," said Balser.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x849595537/State-cuts-endanger-jail-diversion-program
Posted by lois at October 27, 2008 03:42 PM