By CHLOE TROFATTER
Capital News Service
LANSING — “It is a huge problem in our criminal justice system: We take people who have mental illness, and we punish it rather than treat it,” says Joshua Blanchard, a criminal defense attorney in Grand Rapids.
According to Blanchard, the problem lies in getting inmates evaluated.
Evaluations are performed by the state Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Saline, which completes about 3,000 of them every year.
“I think there are a lot of referrals that may be unfounded. It takes a psychiatrist time every time somebody gets referred,” Blanchard said. “There’s a lot of times when people are mentally ill and not being treated, but not so profoundly mentally ill that they’re not responsible.”
The Michigan Sheriffs’ Association supports state funding of mental health facilities to treat mentally ill jail inmates, according to its executive director, Matthew Saxton.
County jails primarily house suspects awaiting trial, as well as convicted defendants serving sentences of one year or less.
According to Saxton, there are about 100 inmates deemed incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of instanity sitting in county jails across the state and waiting for court-mandated mental health treatment.
For example, an inmate was recently moved from the Benzie County Jail to Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital -– six months after being determined not guilty by reason of insanity.
“Six months of me pressuring them constantly,” said Daniel Smith, the county’s jail administrator.
The inmate was arrested for being disorderly, which is a misdemeanor, but picked up a felony charge after attacking a correctional officer, according to Smith.
“All because they didn’t know what to do with the guy,” he said.
According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, a Virginia-based advocacy group for mental health treatment and accessibility, 20% of inmates in Michigan county and city jails suffer from severe mental illness.
In Wayne County, 80% of incoming jail inmates have “connections to mental health or substance abuse issues,” said Robert Dunlap, the Wayne County chief of jails, in a 2019 article in the Detroit News.
Saxton said county jails offer what services they can, but their capacity varies based on county. Some have 24-hour services, while others must transport their inmates to provide mental health care.
According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, mentally ill inmates tend to have longer incarceration periods and higher infraction and suicide rates – partly due to lack of treatment and an inability to understand rules and manage their behavior.
“Your local jail is not where they need to be. They need to be getting mental health services,” Saxton said.
There are three state adult psychiatric hospitals in Michigan with a total of 480 beds.
In comparison, Wayne County jails alone have six times that capacity with 2,951 beds.
Detroit criminal defense lawyer Hank Greenwood said, “Whatever delays there are, is because of the unwillingness of the legislature to fund these kinds of things.”
According to the Community Mental Health Association, Michigan’s budget for mental health treatment and facilities has increased, but not enough to cover the rising costs – leaving them underfunded since 2012.
Missaukee County Sheriff Wil Yancer said, “Obviously the way we used to do it, warehousing people in mental institutions, isn’t the right way, but the pendulum has swung so far the other way.
“People end up in jail and the temporary fix is Community Mental Health tries to work with them, but as soon as they make bond, they’re dumped back out on the street,” he said.
“To be blunt, the community mental health system is broken,” Yancer said. “Out of 39 mental health facilities in Michigan, only nine will accept an incarcerated individual in crisis.”