Officials confident placements will be found for mentally ill detainees
A state official Wednesday was confident that the problem of mentally ill detainees kept at the Clark County Detention Center because of a lack of residential placements for them can be resolved.
The issue was spotlighted after subpoenas were issued to officials who testified Friday in District Judge Linda Bell’s courtroom. The detainees are those who, in lieu of jail time, were sentenced to probation for various nonviolent crimes and enrolled in Bell’s mental health court, which aims to get treatment for defendants.
Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services provides residential or supported living arrangements to those in the program who are being released from jail. But department officials didn’t inform Bell or the defendants’ lawyers that funding had run out, which left patients waiting in jail for months.
“They were just lingering in jail,” Clark County Deputy Public Defender Christy Craig said.
Involved parties met Monday to come up with solutions to fix the problem.
About four patients have a scheduled court date today, and officials are confident they will be able to provide the services needed, said Ellen Richardson-Adams, deputy administrator of clinical services for the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.
“It looks possible,” she said of being able to provide supported living arrangements to those individuals.
Richardson-Adams said the meeting Monday had been planned before Friday’s hearing. She said officials were already aware of the issue and wanted to come together.
She acknowledged that state officials could have had a more direct conversation with the court about the funding.
Craig said the Monday meeting included Bell, state officials and other county officials.
Richardson-Adams said that during the meeting, officials discussed what they will do to try to prevent the problem from reoccurring. The Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services agency will provide quarterly reports to the mental health court. Parties involved will keep communications open and try to identify alternatives.
The state’s Interim Finance Committee on Feb. 6 approved $4.5 million in grants and other funds that will go toward mental health housing. A portion of that money will fund mental health court beds specifically, said Richardson-Adams, who couldn’t provide the specific amount.
There are about three people who are placed in weekly motels and need to be placed in housing as well, Craig said.
On Friday, Bell decided the parties should return to testify again about the problem March 7. But Craig said it’s unknown if that hearing will still take place.
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