Florida Partners in Crisis

Diversion Programs

As community-based mental health services have failed to keep pace with demands for treatment services in Florida and across the United States, law enforcement departments and jails have become de facto service providers to people with mental illnesses and/or co-occurring substance use disorders.

Over the past two decades, jail diversion programs have emerged as a viable and humane solution to the criminalization and inappropriate criminal detention of individuals with mental disorders. Diverting appropriate individuals from jail to community-based mental health treatment has been heralded for its potential benefits to the criminal justice system, the community and the diverted individual.

The term "jail diversion" refers to programs that divert individuals with serious mental illness (and often co-occurring substance use disorders) away from jail and provide linkages to community-based treatment and support services. The individual thus avoids arrest or spends a significantly reduced time period in jail and/or lockups on the current charge or on violations of probation resulting from previous charges.

Because each community's needs, size and resources differ, a variety of jail diversion strategies are being used in Florida and other states.

Florida's Reinvestment Act Grants Aid Jail Diversion Programs

Florida’s Reinvestment Act Program is spurring development of innovative strategies to divert people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders from Florida’s criminal justice system.

Under this new grant program, 23 Florida counties have received more than $3.8 million in state funds in FY 2008-09 to collaboratively plan and manage services to provide effective, cost-efficient alternatives to jails, prisons and state forensic hospitals. Counties are required to match state funding to maximize resources for these programs.

Legislators created the grant program in 2007 in response to the growing number of people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders in Florida’s county jails and prisons.

The cost to incarcerate these individuals—but not adequately treat their illnesses ― is diverting funds from counties’ public safety functions and eating up an increasing share of the state’s adult mental health budget. The lack of coordinated and effective treatment services also exacts a human toll from the large number of individuals whose minor crimes are often symptoms of their illnesses.

Reinvestment Act grants support local cross-system partnerships that identify which treatment services will most effectively meet the needs of the legal system, law enforcement and the community. The required joint planning process enables participating counties to identify areas of duplication that can be eliminated, better coordinate services and find ways to get the most from tax dollars for treatment.

By investing in front-end treatment and diversion programs, counties expect to decrease the recidivism rate of people with mental illnesses and/or substance use disorders, reducing the burden on the criminal justice system and effectively maximizing state and local resources.  

Early results in those limited Florida counties that offer some of these innovative programs show they can:

• Reduce re-arrest rates.
  
• Increase public safety.
  
• Provide effective and cost-efficient treatment
  
• Divert people from state forensic facilities and improve their chances of recovery.
  
• Save money for law enforcement agencies and county jails.

You can download a copy of the 2008 Annual Report on the Reinvestment Act grant program here.

Florida’s information clearinghouse

The Florida Legislature has designated the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI), as a site for the Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Technical Assistance Center.  FMHI is a research and training center within the University of South Florida with a long history of collaborative relationships with state and local government.

Among its responsibilities are to act as a clearinghouse for information and resources related to criminal justice, juvenile justice, mental health, and substance abuse and to coordinate and assist state interagency work groups in issues related to criminal and juvenile justice, mental health, and substance abuse.

The TAC website has an interactive map for searching for data on Florida counties, including the number of people using mental health and substance abuse services and data on Baker Act commitments.  The website address is http://www.floridatac.org/Default.aspx

The Council of State Government Justice Center also has developed a national database cataloguing several communities throughout the nation who have various police based, jail based, court based and re-entry based programs addressing the needs of people with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders who come in contact with the criminal justice system. Go to www.cjmh-infonet.org for more information.

For more information about Pre-booking, the CIT model, Post-booking and Re-Entry click on the links to the left under Diversion Programs.