Jail Diversion Programs : Prison Diversion Program

Given the number of incarcerated inmates who suffer from some form of mental illness, there are growing concerns and questions in the medical field about treatment of the mentally ill in the prison system. When a person with a mental illness commits a crime or break the law, they are immediately taken to jail or sent off to prison instead of being evaluated and placed in a hospital or other mental health facility. “I have always wondered if the number of mentally ill inmates increased since deinstitutionalization” Since prison main focus is on the crimes inmates are incarcerated; the actual treatment needed for the mentally ill is secondary. Mentally ill prisoners on the surface may appear to be just difficult inmates depending on the

There are numerous programs available for inmates who are incarcerated, and the individuals who capitalize on these programs show subsequent improvement after being released. However, these programs only help those prisoners who are willing to change. While incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, there are numerous programs inmates can take advantage of that will help them in a variety of fields such as, “Education and Vocational Training, English-as-a-Second Language Program, Drug Abuse Education, Sex Offender Treatment Programs – Nonresidential, Skills Programs,” and more (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2015). On the educational side, the BOP offers a program called the Bureau Literacy Program (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2015).

The United States criminal justice system has been continuously increasing incarceration among individuals who suffer from a sever mental illness. As of 2007 individuals with severe mental illness were over twice as likely to be found in prisons than in society (National Commission of Correctional Health Care, 2002, as cited in Litschge &Vaughn, 2009). The offenses that lead to their commitment in a criminal facility, in the majority of cases, derive from symptoms of their mental illness instead of deviant behavior. Our criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from the care of a psychiatric rehabilitation facility or psychiatric hospital by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.

In the United States, over 90,000 juveniles are incarcerated in juvenile justice facilities. To house 90,000 juveniles, majority non-violent offenders, it costs the states roughly 5.7 billion dollars annually. “With states facing serious budgetary constraints, it is an opportune time or policymakers to consider ways to reduce juvenile justice spending that won’t compromise public safety.” In the effort to reduce juvenile justice costs, community-based programs known as pretrial diversion programs were implemented. Pretrial diversion programs did not only reduce funding costs, but benefited the juvenile as well. Pretrial diversion programs main objective is to rehabilitate juvenile offenders, which ultimately led to lower recidivism rates and safer communities. As a result of the benefits to all parties involved, today’s juvenile judicial system offers more juveniles the opportunity to attend these diversion programs; rather than proceed through traditional criminal justice processes. (Justice Policy Institution)

I hypothesize that diversion programs will decrease recidivism rates, especially one that is created to have the individual as the focus. I will create my own diversion program that will have focus on individual approach while providing the same services to everyone. There will be medical/mental health advisor, an educational advisor, social skills advisor, someone from the law enforcement/court system, an advisor to focus on restorative justice and a program coordinator who will work on group programing and creative ways in which the juveniles can get involved to work on skills that are needed in everyday life. I believe that these are essential within a diversion program because the individual that enters the program may be lacking in one

True diversion programs allow an individual for intake in the best interest of that individual. For example someone demonstrating drug use for adolescents would be suggested a recovery or 12 step program and someone suffering from chronic insubordinate behavior, may be considered some counseling and therapy. Minimization of system penetration means to analyze all options before court ordering one to be on probation and strict supervision, possibly by suggesting community service as part of restorative justice or a mentoring program to keep the court absent as much as possible until absolutely necessary.

There is a lack of desire to help one another. This is part of the prison culture. When money is required to buy items that are needed or wanted, the requirement to give up prison job in order to enter treatment is a huge endeavor. Offenders can face physical threats of violence from other offenders if they participate. Treatment inside the prison system is inadequate to the community if there are no services available upon release for the offender and they are more likely to drop out of any treatment program that not related to their needs. Limited treatment resources can be related to the lack of trained staff and available treatment models. Many offenders want treatment, but worried that programs may cause them to have lower status within the prison setting (9 Treatment Issues, 2005).

My field placement is at the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office the Diversion Program. Diversion is a program offered to chosen minors that have been referred by the District Attorney or the Juvenile Court. After an arrest, in some cases the District Attorney extends an invitation to participate in a program which will result in the charges being dropped.

Pretrial release and diversion programs are meant to handle defendants prior to them standing trial. Pretrial release and diversion programs developed to deal with jail overcrowding because jails simply could not handle the number of defendants that were incarcerated prior to trial. There are four types of diversion programs: diversion from arrest, diversion from prosecution, diversion from jail, and diversion from imprisonment. The goal of pretrial release and diversion is to identify those defendants who do not pose a substantial danger to society and are good candidates for being released on their own recognizance. In addition to releasing the defendants from jails and freeing up critical space, pretrial diversion programs have to consider things like community safety. Therefore, not all defendants awaiting trial are eligible for pretrial diversion. Those in charge of pretrial diversion programs are have to consider the defendant's prior history, life experience, and the nature of the accusations against the defendant.

A Pew study found that several states utilized diversion programs that reduced the imprisonment of nonviolent offenders. These states include Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin (Pew Research Center, 2012). Results show public safety was not jeopardized, fewer incarcerated offenders resulted in savings to corrections, and crime rates declined after the utilization of diversion programs.

In the 1970s diversion became a widely acclaimed strategy for reducing the numbers of offenders appearing in court and avoiding the stigma and labelling that resulted from judicial processes.

The specific inclusion criteria for program enrollment included (a) offenders who reported for Level 2 or 3 probation, (b) had a recommendation or mandate for substance abuse screening in their sentencing order or had a substance abuse screen ordered by the PO at intake, (c) had a probation duration of 6 months or longer, (d) were age 18 years or older, (e) spoke English, and (f) failed their initial urinalysis. Exclusion criteria were (a) diagnosed current and known DSM-IV-R psychotic disorder, (b) current conviction for sex offense (specialized caseload), (c) evidence of neuropsychological dysfunction, (d) life expectancy of less than 6 months, and (e) probation or parole requirements that prevented protocol participation. The final sample

What is the process of diversion? “When pretrial diversion is used, a written agreement between the U.S. attorney and the chief pretrial services or probation officer defines aspects of its implementation” (Ulrich, 2002). Once implemented, the offender’s compliance is needed to move forward and there are rules, guidelines and expectations to be met on the offender’s behalf. Once critical issue noted is that of critics. We have learned that it helps with keeping jails less crowded but Is diversion helping or hurting recidivism? According to (Rivera, 2013), “McMurran and Theodosi (2007) found through a metaanalysis of 16 different

Wright, K. A., Pratt, T. C., Lowenkamp, C. T., & Latessa, E. J. (2012). The Importance of Ecological Context for Correctional Rehabilitation Programs: Understanding the Micro- and Macro-Level Dimensions of Successful Offender Treatment. JQ: Justice Quarterly, 29(6), 775-798. doi:10.1080/07418825.2011.583933

According to a review from the U.S. Department of Justice, at the yearend of 2015 there were approximately 6,741,400 subjects under the supervision of some form of corrections across the United States. Adult corrections centers had a decrease of 115,600 from their 2014 yearend total of 6,856,900. There has been a steady decrease of approximately 1.7% per year in the number of subjects under the supervision of corrections since a peak high in 2007 of 7,339,600. The 62,300 declines in the number of persons under correctional supervision during 2015 was attributed by a decline in the community supervision population. This happened even though there was a slight increase in the incarcerated population. In 2015 the number of persons in local jails decreased by 2.2%, while the prison population had a small