Board to Back Mentally Ill Inmates Study

Spurred by the deaths of three mentally disturbed people who were shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies last year, county supervisors today are expected to endorse a state grant designed to develop a plan for treating mentally ill offenders.

The supervisors’ endorsement of the $62,500 state grant would also pave the way for the Sheriff’s Department to apply for a portion of a $25-million grant, meant to reduce the number of mentally ill offenders in California.

“I think there’s a general understanding on the board about the need for changes,” Supervisor Frank Schillo said Monday, adding that he will vote to approve the grant.

“The protection of the officer is important, but at the same time there has got to be a sensitivity for offenders who are mentally ill,” Schillo said. “There has got to be a better approach than just using direct force.”

Supervisor John Flynn sits on the statewide committee that will ultimately determine which counties will receive part of the bigger grant. He is vacationing in Hawaii and will be absent during today’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

Sheriff Bob Brooks said the county stands to receive roughly $2 million from the larger grant.

The $62,500 grant--allocated through the state Board of Corrections--would allow the Sheriff’s Department to research ways to change how officers deal with offenders who are mentally ill, Brooks said.

One new method would be to provide intensified mental health training for officers. Currently, new deputies are given about 10 hours of instruction concerning mental illnesses. Under the new strategy, Brooks said, training would be more extensive and ongoing.

Another strategy might be to have mental health experts working inside jails to help identify mentally ill inmates--or in some cases to accompany officers to a disturbance scene.

Mental health experts also could be placed at the County Jail so they could diagnose suspects as soon as they arrive.

Currently, as many as 15% of the 1,400 people in the jail--or about 210 inmates--have been diagnosed with a mental illness, Brooks said.

“We know we have a problem with the mentally ill,” Brooks said. “But it’s like saying we have a problem with the homeless. We can’t solve anything with the homeless until we analyze and identify the homeless population.”

Brooks said the goal is to get mentally ill suspects properly diagnosed and into a treatment program as quickly as possible.

“Right now, because of confidentiality requirements, we often don’t know when an inmate is mentally ill, and therefore we can’t treat them appropriately,” Brooks said. “Mental health workers could make that identification without violating anything. It could lessen the chance that they will come back.”

Deputies last used deadly force on a person with a history of mental illness in September. Han Huynh, 29, was shot and killed in a normally tranquil Thousand Oaks neighborhood after he reached into a plastic bag and pulled out a kitchen knife.

Later, deputies learned that Huynh was a schizophrenic who had wandered away from the Camarillo home he shared with his mother and sister.

In May, a 26-year-old man was fatally shot in Thousand Oaks after threatening a deputy with a paint-ball gun. Later, authorities determined that he had a long history of depression.

And in February, a 50-year-old man was shot in Thousand Oaks after he refused to put down two large knives.

In addition, several mentally ill people were killed last year by police officers in cities not patrolled by deputies, Brooks said.