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(The Center Square) – While still in its early stages, legislation to conduct a study of mental health treatment in Pennsylvania’s county jails has been proposed in Harrisburg with bipartisan support.
Sponsored by Democratic Rep. Sean Dougherty, the mental health study would pull funds obtained from the Johnson and Johnson lawsuits conducted during Gov. Josh Shapiro’s term as attorney general, to inform future state policy.
"We’re hoping to use the opioid trust money on this," said co-sponsor Rep. Jamie Flick, a Republican and member of the Shapiro-appointed Opioid Task Force. "Money that was gathered from big pharma that was getting our neighbors and families addicted."
Despite tending to be smaller and holding inmates for shorter sentences, county jails report suicide rates of more than double the average experienced in state or federal prisons. While many factors contribute to this statistic, a county’s funds or lack thereof for mental health treatment can play a significant role.
"There’s a high incidence of serious mental illness and mental health diagnosis in county jails," said Noah Barth, Prison Monitoring Director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society. "Some counties are wealthy and are able to resource their jails well, while other counties are not."
While some jails, like in Philadelphia County, hold approximately 3,500 inmates, others like Montour County hold closer to 10. This disparity may mean some jails are sufficiently funded to provide adequate mental health treatment, but Barth noted that across the state, support has been found significantly lacking.
"There are significant gaps in mental health treatment in county jails across the state," Barth said. "This is an area where wardens consistently report as a place where they would like more resources and more support in order to take care of the people in their custody and perform their duty."
Having now "roughly $2 billion to work with", according to Flick, increased support for the study may soon be on the way.
"I will work with people on my side of the aisle," Flick said. "I think you'll see much broader bipartisan support in the upcoming weeks."
For Barth, county jails will need all the support they can get, as "the key to effective treatment.” Having access to both trained mental health professionals and counselors is still a difficulty for many.
"They’re under-resourced in both areas and corrections officers with no background in mental health end up filling gaps and trying the best they can to take care of people," Barth said. "It is woefully insufficient."
Inmates suffering from a mental illness, however, often have more than one diagnosis to manage. Flick hopes that this study finally brings Pennsylvania's separate departments, The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and The Department of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, together.
"I would love to see more of a concerted effort between the two branches," Flick said. "I think we know that more so now than ever, substance abuse issues and mental health issues intertwine."
Currently, nearly half of individuals in prison report comorbid diagnoses for substance and mental health disorders, but Pennsylvania, unlike many other states, keeps these two departments isolated from each other, with separate funding and administration.
"Let’s pull our resources, let’s pull our caseworkers and work together to look at these numbers to see what we can do to improve it," Flick said.
Although a far cry from immediate increased funding, Barth sees this study as a positive step toward addressing a seemingly forgotten issue. An issue, he believes, not only affects the health of inmates but the success of one's community.
"It's a mistake to view jails as isolated places that are not connected to the world outside. The vast majority of people in jail will leave jail," Flick said. "If we want to meaningfully address those gaps and provide better services to our fellow citizens, the first thing is to understand the scale of the problem."