Plan to Reduce Incarceration of Mentally Ill

Following years of controversy surrounding the treatment of mentally ill inmates at the Ventura County Jail, county officials are launching a new program aimed at diverting them to outside psychiatric treatment facilities.

A $2.4-million state grant will pay for a multi-agency team of police and local mental health workers who will intercept mentally ill offenders and place them in customized treatment programs.

“It will reduce incarceration and criminal activity, particularly criminal activity that is due to untreated mental illness,” said Dr. David Gudeman, executive director of the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department.

Under the new program, offenders will be identified at the time of booking and evaluated for participation in the program. Behavioral Health Department and probation department workers will design a treatment schedule with maximum supervision with the goal of keeping them from becoming repeat offenders.

“It will enable us to refer individuals out of the criminal justice system who are there because of their mental disease and don’t really belong there,” Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Greg Totten said. “We will better serve them because often they can’t speak for themselves.”

Although designed to target mentally ill people who have committed misdemeanors, the grant will also monitor people who could eventually commit more serious offenses.

“The hope is to break the cycle of individuals who are typically in custody on nuisance crimes, arrested for trespassing or maybe committing minor petty thefts in the community,” said Sheriff’s Cmdr. Mark Ball, who oversees the County Jail. “A lot of years of experience tells me there is a stronger chance than not that this will have an effect on the individuals.”

The state grant is part of a $50-million package from the corrections agency for counties throughout the state.

The grant program began in 1998 as a way to reduce jail overcrowding and pinpoint treatment programs for the mentally ill who often end up behind bars and receive little or no access to medication.

Wednesday’s announcement that Ventura County had been awarded the money came as officials grapple with the unpredictable nature of the mentally ill living on the streets.

Law enforcement agencies in Ventura County have a troubled history of dealing with the mentally ill.

Nearly a decade ago, a 19-year-old mentally retarded teenager was reunited with his frightened mother after he had been arrested by deputies in Fillmore and later released--without supervision--from Ventura County Jail. The man, Eric Schimmel of Frazier Park, wandered about 20 miles along California 126 from the jail to Fillmore. After the incident, the Sheriff’s Department examined its policies on releasing prisoners, including the mentally ill.

Seven years later the Sheriff’s Department came under scrutiny for a series of deadly shootings of mentally ill suspects. And the problem has flared up again this year.

The most recent incident occurred May 7 when 23-year-old Rutilio Gracida Castillo was shot and killed by Oxnard police officers responding to a report of a person peering into a window on 5th Street. Relatives of the dead man later said that in recent weeks, he had talked about being depressed and hearing voices.

In January, a member of the Oxnard SWAT team shot and killed a teenage gunman at Hueneme High School as he held a female student hostage. In the days after the shooting, it was revealed that the gunman, Richard “Midget” Lopez, had lived on the streets and had been treated repeatedly for mental illness.

In February, the district attorney’s office determined that Ventura police officers were justified when they shot and killed a man last September who had a history of mental illness after he had stabbed three employees of Community Memorial Hospital.

The incidents have pointed up the need for increased supervision of the mentally ill, and several officials say the state grant is a good first step.

While he has repeatedly defended the actions of his officers, Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez said the new program could prevent similar shootings in the future.

He said Oxnard police are continually trained in how to deal with the mentally ill, but every situation on the street is unpredictable and potentially deadly.

“We need to do whatever we can do to ensure [the mentally ill] don’t hit the streets and if they do that they are taking their medication and as a result be more productive citizens,” Lopez said. “I don’t want to end up in a situation where there is a violent confrontation.”

Only 150 people a year will be served by the program and only those with misdemeanor violations will be considered, said Ball of the Sheriff’s Department.

Up to 15 new positions--divided between the probation department and Behavioral Health Department--will be created with the grant money, officials said. Offenders who are eligible will be immediately released from jail into a treatment program, where they will be evaluated by a team of psychiatric workers and assigned a probation officer.

“I certainly think it is a step in the right direction, and we have great hope that it works,” said Kathleen O’Brien, a deputy district attorney involved in applying for the grant.