Jailing violent suspects with severe mental illness instead of sending them to a hospital for stabilization is commonplace nationwide, but one county sheriff has finally drawn the line.
Ohio Sheriff Drew Alexander announced this week that the Summit County Jail no longer will accept violent mentally ill and mentally disabled people arrested by area police. As Alexander put it, “We’re not going to be a dumping ground anymore for these people” (“Jail will no longer accept mentally ill arrestees” by Rick Armon, Akron Beacon Journal, Feb. 14).
Alexander’s announcement came after a consultant for the National Institute of Corrections recommended that violent mentally ill detainees at the jail “be referred to the hospital emergency room or the psychiatric crisis center for evaluation prior to being accepted into the jail.”
“Officers and nurses should refuse to accept persons who are obviously significantly psychiatrically unstable at the time of booking, particularly if there are signs of acute psychosis or imminent suicide risk,” consultant Margaret Severson wrote in her technical assistance report. “Such detainees should be referred to the hospital emergency room or the psychiatric crisis center for evaluation prior to being accepted into the jail.”
This strikes us as a perfectly reasonable recommendation. After all, if a suspect arrived at the jail in cardiac arrest – or suffering a stroke, in insulin shock or giving birth – the situation would be viewed as a medical emergency, and he or she would be whisked off to a hospital posthaste.
That this is not the protocol for individuals in psychiatric crisis is a national scandal that thrives on antiquated notions that severe mental illness is “behavioral” and doesn’t merit intervention until people become dangerous and upon foolhardy public policies that avoid treating the mentally ill on the pretense it will save money.
Alexander’s position is neither antiquated nor foolhardy. The sheriff told a Cleveland TV reporter that he hopes his action will “lead to reforms in the treatment of those who have fallen between the cracks of the mental health system.”
We do, too.
Questions remain, including how detainees will be deemed “violent” and where they will go without a jail cell available, but if any county can tackle that question constructively, it’s Summit County, which has built a national reputation for its progressive work on mental health issues.
Here’s hoping the answers they find will provide answers far beyond their county lines.
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