Chairman Caltergirone, Representative Leach and members of the House
Judiciary Committee, thank you for scheduling this hearing on House
Bill 80 and thank you for inviting the National Alliance on Mental
Illness, (NAMI PA). HB 80 creates an opportunity for the court of
common pleas of any county or judicial district to establish a mental
health court division.
NAMI PA is a statewide grass roots non-profit organization dedicated
to helping mental health consumers and their families rebuild their
lives and conquer the challenges posed by severe and persistent mental
illness. Our purpose is to help all people who are affected by mental
illnesses. We know that help comes in a variety of ways - educating
the public, members of the criminal justice system, families and consumers,
and by networking through national organizations, and participating
in government programs.
We strive to educate the public about the true nature of mental illness
to combat the stigma and discrimination often faced by persons with
mental illness. We have 60 affiliates across the Commonwealth who
meet monthly. These affiliates provide support, education and advocacy
in their communities
NAMI Pennsylvania strongly supports the creation of mental health
courts. We believe that HB 80 will increase opportunities for establishing
additional mental health courts. We also support the bills primary
goal which is to increase cooperation between the criminal justice
and mental health systems. We believe that increasing cooperation
between these two systems is essential for the effective implementation
of mental health courts which will help to place, more appropriately,
persons who are in need of mental health treatment.
Consistent with this goal to improve communications between systems,
several years ago, NAMI PA established a Forensic Interagency Task
Force (FITF). The primary purpose of the FITF is to facilitate communications
between state agencies, counties, providers and advocates. Participants
include the state departments of Correction, Welfare, Health, Board
of Probation and Parole. Several counties including both Philadelphia
and Allegheny participate. In addition, service providers from across
the state and county prison officials are to be counted as members
of this task force.
The growing trend to incarcerate the mentally ill places an unrealistic
burden on our corrections facilities, with minimal hope of reducing
recidivism. By diverting individuals with mental illness into mental
health courts, not only do you reduce the burden on our criminal justice
system, but you also help these individuals receive the services that
are most likely to change their behavior.
Effective establishment of mental health courts will help families,
consumers, and communities, the State Departments of Corrections,
Welfare, Health and the Board of Probation and Parole. In addition,
County MH/MR programs and County jails will benefit. We believe that
everyone will benefit from this effort.
Mental health courts are critical to reducing the number of individuals
with mental illness in Pennsylvania’s correctional institutions
and to providing more appropriate treatment for this population. A
1999 U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report indicates that 3 out
of 4 mentally ill inmates have been sentenced to time in prison or
probation at least once prior to their current sentence. That same
report found that 16 percent of all inmates in state and local prisons
suffer from mental illness. This is an increase from an estimate of
10 percent in the late 1980s.
As unbelievable as it may sound, correctional facilities house more
individuals with mental illness than hospitals and psychiatric institutions.
Again referring to U.S. Justice Department statistics, approximately
283,800 individuals with severe mental illness are currently housed
in our nation’s jails, compared to 70,000 persons with severe
mental illness being served in public psychiatric hospitals, 30% of
whom are forensic patients. Currently, the largest mental health treatment
facility in the United States is the Los Angeles County Jail.
In Pennsylvania, the most recent statistics available indicate that
the total inmate population is 45,130. The total inmate population
reporting some mental health issue is 18.1%, of this percentage approximately
3.5 % has a serious mental illness. In 2001 the overall percentage
for those with mental illness was approximately 13 %.
In Pennsylvania there are over 10,000 persons with mental illness
in our state and county prisons and jails while less than 2,000 individuals
are being treated in our state psychiatric hospitals.
Many psychology and law enforcement experts believe this increase
is primarily a result of the closing of state psychiatric hospitals
and the lack of adequately funded comprehensive care and support in
the community mental health system.
By diverting individuals with mental illness into mental health courts,
not only do you reduce the burden on our criminal justice system,
but you also help these individuals receive the services that are
most likely to change their behavior in becoming productive members
of their communities.
We believe some minor changes could strengthen the proposed bill
and to help ensure that individuals with mental illness are diverted
to appropriate services instead of being incarcerated in state or
local facilities.
First, for mental health courts to be effective, each community must
have the resources necessary to comply with directions from the court.
This bill calls for the following: faster case processing time, increased
services for offenders, improved access to services and support. The
bill also calls for specialized training for law enforcement and judicial
personnel. It also calls for life skills training for inmates.
We would like the Committee to discuss funding options which would
support these important recommendations.
In order to implement these proposals, a funding mechanism will have
to be established.
One option we encourage you to consider is the use of funds generated
by the sale or lease of existing psychiatric hospitals. We also believe
that, as state hospitals are closed, there will be a need to commit
the full transfer of funds used to operate these hospitals into communities
they serve. Use of funds that are currently set aside for hospital
operations will move the community forward and make them better able
to meet the service and support needs. These funds should not be diverted
to other program areas.
We believe a combination of existing appropriated funds and the addition
of revenues generated by sale or lease of the land would preclude
the need to increase taxes. Something we would all like to avoid.
In addition, we encourage the committee to explore options that would
enable small rural communities to pool resources so that community
services are available to persons who are in need. Rural communities
are limited in terms of available services due primarily to their
size. They, however, face the same challenges experienced in larger
communities.
Our court and jail systems have become overburdened with treatment
responsibilities they were never intended to meet.
We commend the members of the House Judiciary Committee for considering
this bill and urge your ongoing support. Most importantly, we applaud
the efforts being made here today, which will provide relief to families,
and consumers who are in need of appropriate treatment for mental
illness and to our court and jail systems, which have become overburdened
with treatment responsibilities they were never intended to meet.
Thank you.
