Sheriff's program to ID mentally ill inmates

By October, inmates in Highlands County Jail will have a clerk dedicated to identifying which are mentally ill.

"We've been working very hard over the last two years on figuring out ways to move folks out of the jail more quickly and efficiently and with more support in the field, specifically for those with mental health issues," Sheriff Susan Benton told the Highlands County commissioners on Tuesday.

This year alone, 700 prisoners have been Baker Acted, involuntarily committed because they were a danger to themselves or others.

By using a $17,000 grant to hire a part-time clerk to watch for mentally ill prisoners, the sheriff is solving several problems at once, said her chief jailor and a mental health professional.

Some, said Maj. David Paeplow, are being prosecuted for a crime for which they may not be mentally competent to answer.

"The real issue is not their intent to violate the law," Paeplow said. Some are alcoholics and drug addicts, but often, they're self-medicating to deal with mental health issues, he said.

Robert Irving, the outpatient program director at Tri-County Human Services, agreed.

"Many of those people are in and out of the mental health system for years," Irving said. "They don't need to be in jail, but can't be left on the street."

If they're not treated, Paeplow said, "and you haven't addressed the mental health issues, you're just repeating the cycle again. They need to be someplace more appropriate than jail."

It's also a waste of money, Irving said, to drive 700 inmates to a detox facility in Bartow. "You're pulling an officer off duty."

For that reason alone, Irving said, the county commission got a bargain when they authorized Benton to spend $17,000 from the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant.

"Because she's spending more than that already," Irving said.

"Typically, we try to identify equipment needs, but you're not going to buy a major piece of equipment for $17,000," Benton said.

"Unfortunately, the way our system is set up, it's almost set up where we retraumatize our victims. We put them in a car and we haul them all the way to Bartow. And these are our most vulnerable citizens that just get dumped off in Bartow, if they don't have a family support system, and there's no transportation," she said.

Worse, she said, the sheriff's office isn't notified when inmates are released from Bartow. "We know that 70 percent of the ones we take there, they get some meds and they get appointments, and then they're released... We also know that 60 percent of them never keep their appointments."

The part-time clerk will review daily jail bookings, coordinate with the full-time mental health nurse, the sheriff's attorney, the state attorney and the public defender to speed the mentally ill through the system, Benton said.

"We want to create our own version of mental health court," she said. "And then we can make sure they are taking their meds and meeting their appointments so they don't just sit in jail."

Paeplow said the money will be available on Oct. 1, so he's hoping to start the hiring process now.