By Jim Hunter
Citrus County Public Information Officer

The jailing of the mentally ill is an old problem that hasn’t been dealt with very well historically, but that is changing in Citrus County.

The dilemma is that jails are not designed to be capable of handling, much less treating, the mentally ill. Plus, it is much more expensive to incarcerate these defendants because of their condition.

In the month of October in the Citrus County jail facility, of an average inmate population at the jail of 631, the mental health case load was 124. There were 382 mental health encounters with a psychologist or psychiatrist recorded during the month. About 17 percent of the inmates were on psychotropic medications.

Through the determination of a number of agencies and officials and the help of a second and sizable grant; however, Citrus County is breaking out of that old predicament.

Citrus County judges, law enforcement officials and many others have said for years that jailing the mentally ill not only adds to the crowding in jails, contributes to the overloaded dockets and cost the taxpayers plenty, but it doesn’t do anything to help the people suffering from an illness.

Citrus County Circuit Judge Ric Howard and his fellow Citrus judges point out that beyond being the right thing to do, beyond helping people suffering from mental illness to become stabilized and get treatment, that jailing them costs at least twice as much as other inmates because of their medical needs.

So jailing the mentally ill doesn’t just fly in the face of common sense, it slaps common sense in the face.

That’s why Citrus judges, the Public Safety Coordinating Council and other officials worked for a number of years on developing a alternative court program for non-violent, mentally ill offenders.

In 2008, they created the Citrus County Mental Health Court. Not long after they received their first grant from the state. Now, in what they see as a major milestone, they just received a larger federal grant that will allow the program to continue and expand to more mentally ill defendants.

An alternative court like Drug Court and Teen Court, Mental Health Court is for those people suffering from mental illness who have wound up in the criminal justice system because of their illness.

They get referred to the program by law enforcement, jail officials, the State Attorney’s office, the Public Defender’s
office and the courts. Employing a team of professionals, the program aims to stabilize the person in the first few weeks and get him or her on medications that provide more normality in their lives and behavior.

There is a case manager and a mental health counselor who work with Mental Health Court Circuit Judge Sandy Kautz and the rest of the team to begin a program that can last nine to 12 - or even 24 months - to get the person into a stabilized lifestyle with the treatment and support they need to keep them out of the judicial system.

The recent grant is a Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program allocation for $235,647 to be matched by $116,798 with in-kind services from various agencies involved locally. It was a prestigious award because there were 246 applicants for the federal grant and only 43 given. Only two were in Florida.

Stephanie Kibler, Court Alternatives Supervisor and Mental Health Court Administrator, sees the award as an affirmation of the program’s success. Other Florida counties have asked the Citrus group how they did it.

“I think we’re cutting edge,” Judge Howard said, comparing Citrus to other counties in the state.

Citrus officials are excited about the new grant because it pays for crisis intervention training for agencies so that they can identify defendants for the Mental Health Court, as well as a part-time case manager to help the person and will allow the program to double its clients. It buys more hours for treatment by psychiatrists and eventually, Howard said, it saves the county $1,070 a day for not incarcerating 10 mentally ill inmates. Over their six month sentences, he noted, that would mean $192,600 saved.

County Judge Mark Yerman said treatment today of mental illness can be very effective once established and continued for a patient, and so intervening through Mental Health Court can have benefits for everyone from law enforcement to courts to the jail.

Howard summed it up, saying about Mental health Court, “It’s an investment that pays off for everyone.”