• GAZLO
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Mental health and criminal justice advocates swap ideas

BELOIT — Rock County advocates for criminal justice got the chance Monday to learn about problems facing mentally ill people in courts or in jail.

They heard from mental health advocates who might have gone through the criminal justice system themselves or had a family member do so.

“The people who don’t get in trouble or don’t get in jail … don’t get help,” said Laura Binkley of Janesville, who was one of 30 people at the monthly meeting of the Rock County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

NAMI members heard from and shared ideas with Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Chairman Neil Deupree and Elizabeth Pohlman McQuillen, the county’s newly hired criminal justice system planner and analyst.

The CJCC is made up of county officials and residents working to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system and address crowding at the Rock County Jail.

McQuillen was hired to support the council’s work.

Deupree and McQuillen talked about jail alternatives in Rock County and described a grant McQuillen wrote recently to research how the county’s criminal justice system handles mentally ill people. If the county receives the grant, it will begin keeping track of statistics on mentally ill people and their encounters with the law, McQuillen said.

Binkley asked if the Rock County Jail has a person on staff trained to deal with the mentally ill. Deupree said no, but that Rock County Crisis Intervention has a liaison that works with the jail.

Rock County Crisis Intervention is not a treatment facility but has workers that provide support to callers with a drug, alcohol or mental health emergency. Crisis workers help callers access services or treatment, according to a center brochure.

Many in the audience talked about the need for better training for police and correctional officers who might deal with mentally ill people.

Mental illness is one of the few illnesses that can land a person in jail, said Brad Munger, supervisor of the county’s community support program.

“There are very few illnesses in our society that are the genesis of incarceration,” Munger said. “Mental health is one of them. If grandpa has Alzheimer’s and he hits you, he won’t go to jail. If someone has mental illness, and they flail their arms and hit someone, they’re going to go to jail.”

TO LEARN MORE

Many people attending a meeting of the Rock County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health on Monday wanted to know how they could get the word out about the struggles people with mental illness have in dealing with courts and law enforcement.

The answer is to contact the Rock County Criminal Justice Coordinating Counsel.

Write to Elizabeth Pohlman McQuillen at the Rock County Courthouse, 51 S. Main St., Janesville, WI 53545. Call her at (608) 757-5511, or e-mail pohlman@co.rock.wi.us.

MORE INFORMATION

The Rock County chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness meets monthly to learn about and advocate for people with mental illness.

To learn more, click on www.namiwisconsin.org. Click on the “Services” link and find Rock County on the map.