Sheriff Mark Curran is pleased to announce the receipt of a $100,000.00 grant from Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office was awarded the grant from Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County to continue partnering with Nicasa to provide the jail’s “high utilizer” population with treatment services to prevent re-arrest and reincarceration.
In 2016, the Sheriff’s Office received a $50,000.00 grant from the Safety and Justice Challenge, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, following a highly competitive selection process which drew applications from across the country.
Through the Safety and Justice Challenge, Lake County’s innovations focused on intensive case management to 30 ‘high utilizers’ of the Lake County Jail. The intensive case management is geared to treat and educate ‘high utilizers’ upon reentry to the community. Upon release, ‘high utilizers’ are provided a “warm handoff” of individualized coordinated multi-agency existing services, with the goal of diverting the ‘high utilizers’ from re-arrest and reincarceration.
Throughout the year, Lake County Jail staff and Nicasa Behavioral Health Services worked together developing a criteria and protocol to identify and assist 30 ‘high utilizers’ of the jail. A ‘high utilizer’ is identified as an inmate who was booked into the Lake County Jail on three or more occasions in a 12-month period.
The program proved successful with the following results:
• 17 inmates (57%) are successfully cycling through the program and haven’t been re-booked into the jail.
• Seven inmates (23%) remain in custody in programming, pending their release into the program.
• Six inmates (20%) were discharged from the program after becoming non-compliant.
Locally, there were 8,203 bookings into the jail last year. The Lake County Sheriff’s office reports, based on screenings given at the time of entry into jail, at any given time, 60% of the inmates either have a substance use disorder (SUD) or are in jail due to substance abuse. Eighteen percent are on psychotropic medication while incarcerated. This figure does not reflect those with undiagnosed mental illnesses upon booking.
Issues of health, housing, and behavioral health services destabilize individuals and families and have a direct result on the recidivism rate among the target population. This Jail Diversion Program is designed to meet the needs of its clients through a coordinated multi-agency approach aimed at a successful reentry and reducing recidivism.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is excited to partner with Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County to further expand the program developed in partnership with Nicasa. This grant allows the program to continue to grow.
Sheriff Mark Curran said, “I am grateful for the support and the confidence of Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County. These resources allow us to continue working with Nicasa to provide the much-needed support to the jail’s ‘high-utilizers’ to address their obstacles and reduce recidivism. Ultimately, this program benefits society, reduces jail population, and saves taxpayer dollars.”