Mental illness and drug dependency plan the focus of Town Hall Meeting

The audience of more than 400 that spilled out of the Shoreline Conference Center’s Shoreline Room spoke with one voice at the June 25 Metropolitan King County Council Town Hall meeting. Speaker after speaker told Councilmembers of a growing need for the County to support programs that divert people suffering from mental illnesses and chemical dependency away from jail cells and into proper treatment facilities.

An individual booked into the King County Jail on a criminal charge or conviction will stay for an average of 20 days. Someone with a mental illness booked on an identical charge will spend an average of 158 days in jail, often waiting for a competency evaluation that may take months.

The Town Hall was an opportunity to examine the innovative Mental Illness & Drug Dependency Action Plan — a countywide effort to provide treatment as opposed to jail time for the mentally ill or chemically dependent. The public and Councilmembers heard from a panel representing the perspectives of clients, providers, and the King County Jail on the implementation of the plan.p>

Individuals suffering from mental illnesses or drug and alcohol dependencies now fill our jails, courts and hospitals. On any given day, the King County Jail houses more mentally ill individuals than any other institution in the state, except Western State Hospital. The criminalization of mental illness and the cycle of drug dependency are nationwide problems that deeply impact King County.

The King County Council met in Shoreline on June 25 for a special Town Hall Meeting on the innovative Mental Illness & Drug Dependency Action Plan — a countywide effort to shift the focus from incarcerating the mentally ill and chemically dependent to providing resources for treatment and community and justice alternatives that keep them from recycling through the criminal justice system.

The Town Hall Meeting focused on the third and final stage of the Action Plan, which includes:

• determining the services that will best serve the needs of the target populations;
• recommending options for early identification and prevention of mental illness and chemical dependency;
• setting priorities for system changes and services; and
• estimating costs for needed services and identifying a potential funding source;

The public and Council were briefed on the Action Plan by Kelli Carroll, staff for the Council’s Law, Justice and Human Services Committee, and Amnon Shoenfeld, Director of the King County Division of Mental Health and Chemical Abuse Dependency Services.

A panel representing the client, provider, and jail perspectives discussed the recommendations in the Action Plan. Panel members included:

• Two clients of mental health providers;