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Overview of Conference from Clippings article More than 16% of persons in jail have a serious mental illness and while most jails screen inmates for mental illness at intake, screening processes are brief and not comprehensive. Persons with mental illness are detained longer, on average, than those without such a diagnosis. Estimates of the percentage of persons in jail with a developmental or learning disability range from 4% to 10%. These and other startling statistics prompted NAMI North Carolina to partner with law enforcement’s Crisis Intervention Team training to sponsor the 2007 Fall Institute. The slate of presenters represented world-class experts in the field of jail diversion strategies and those who attended the conference left empowered to affect change in their own communities. Stephen Bush, the head of the mental health section of the Shelby County Tennessee Public Defender’s Office was our keynote speaker. His brainchild, “The Jericho Project”, is a consumer driven post-booking model based on the principles of recovery and sound public policy. Different in concept than how most mental health courts operate, the Jericho Project leverages indigent defense systems to pursue jail diversion in concert with other strategies. The model encourages safe, supervised release options. Connie Milligan and Ray Sabbatine represented the Kentucky Jail Mental Health Crisis Network to discuss not only intervention, but also the creation of a behavior health safety net. Dr. Anna Scheyett from UNC at Chapel Hill conducted a session on the findings of the North Carolina jail study while Ron Honberg from NAMI national completed the picture by addressing the national perspective of this serious issue. Elaine Alfano from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law focused on the building of bridges for community re-entry after incarceration and how to access federal benefits. Rounding out the stellar presentations, Judge Joe Buckner from Orange County shared success stories from the mental health courts. Collaborative efforts between law enforcement entities and community services will work to maximize resources, provide education, increase diversion, integrate treatment and to connect those individuals with a mental illness to appropriate mental health providers. Although people with serious mental illnesses are currently disproportionately represented in America’s jails and prisons, the movement toward reversing this trend is being adopted by states and communities across the country. Increasing identification of risk to inmates and providing the proper path to treatment for those who are incorrectly incarcerated is not only a more humane direction, but also reduces the financial burden on the corrections system. NAMI North Carolina is honored to have hosted this very timely conference. We feel a great sense of accomplishment in bringing the information to the participants and are encouraged by the positive response we received. We are hopeful that the NAMI family will be instrumental in stemming the tide of this injustice.
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Click here for speakers' presentations We received 2 DVD’s that were made by Robert Ward of our Decriminalization Conference. This DVD has the opening session for Day One (CIT), the opening for Day Two (Decriminalization), and Judge Buckner’s lunchtime address. People are able to borrow the DVD’s through a sign out sheet at the office. |