Attorneys for mentally ill and transient former county jail prisoners are expected to argue before a judge Monday that emotionally disabled inmates should not be discharged in the middle of the night without the benefit of support services.
The action filed in Los Angeles federal court seeks to modify some provisions of a recent settlement between the county and the U.S. Justice Department over treatment of mentally ill jail inmates.
The former inmates contend that current requirements fail to adequately address the needs of mentally disabled prisoners under the Americans with Disabilities Act when inmates are released from custody by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies.
A sheriff’s spokesman said policy prohibits discussion of pending litigation.
“This case is about homelessness prevention,” said Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel, a Los Angeles pro bono law firm that helped file the former inmates’ motion to intervene.
“By failing to provide needed assistance to the mentally disabled when they are released from jail, the county sends mentally disabled homeless people back to the streets of Skid Row and exacerbates the expensive Skid Row-to-jail cycle — the cycle of arrest, release, and re-arrest of mentally disabled individuals,” he said. “This is a tragedy for these individuals and their families and costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year. The county’s jail discharge planning policy is a homelessness manufacturing machine.”
Los Angeles county jails have frequently been referred to as the largest de facto mental health facility in the country. On any given day, the jails house and treat an average of 3,500 to 4,000 mentally ill inmates — more than the number of patients managed in the entire California State Hospital system, according to Sheriff Jim McDonnell.
“When I was arrested, I was forced to leave my personal possessions on the sidewalk, including all my medications, legal documents, and my backpack,” said Royal Williams, 44, who’s been homeless for 20 years and suffers from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression.
“When I was released, I was given a 30-day prescription for (the anti- psychotic medication) Risperdal, which I couldn’t fill because I had no money and didn’t know there were free pharmacies, and three pieces of paper listing maybe 50 places for housing, mental health care, and drug and alcohol treatment,” he said. “I didn’t know which ones would be good for me. Mentally, I wasn’t in a place where I could figure out who to call or where to go, so I threw the lists away.”
Alisa Hartz, a Public Counsel attorney, said that the transition point from custody back to society “is a very vulnerable moment, and that moment is an opportunity to connect mentally disabled people with the services that will keep them out of jail and off the streets.”
“As a society, we must confront the hard truths about how the jails’ practice of discharging mentally disabled people with no resources increases homelessness on Skid Row and keeps the jails full of people who mainly need mental health treatment,” she said.
—City News Service